Oren Arms Curtis was married to Isabelle Jane Quick at Eugene, Ind., Feb. 1, 1849. According to genealogical record, Isabelle’s father had died in 1838 and her mother, Naomie Quick, lived with them. Oren was said to have “spent time with the circuses after his first marriage,” which is particularly interesting considering his father had a love of horses with a knack for training. Circus performances at that time were primarily equestrian shows that combined human and equine talents in “horse dramas,” delighting audiences beyond the confines of the commercial theater.

Three children, Milo, John and Eva, were produced from Oren and Isabelle’s union from 1849 to 1853. Life with a traveling troupe of entertainers may have instilled the roving spirit that so exemplified the life of Oren Curtis in his later years.

Kansas was on the lips of anyone who paid attention to developing events in the 1850s. Like so many other young men, Curtis caught “Kansas fever” and decided to see the conflict for himself. Curtis landed on Kansas soil on April 1, 1856, taking a job in Lawrence.

Shortly, he tried his luck in Leavenworth, but his Free State sentiments brought him afoul of Leavenworth’s pro-slavery element. Never one to keep his views to himself, and in the interest of selfpreservation, he left the territory.

At Iowa City, Preston B. Plumb was organizing men to escort several wagons bound for Kansas Territory. The National Kansas Committee, an organization active in directing emigration to Kansas, had arranged for three wagons to be shipped by rail to Iowa City, pre-packed with 250 Sharp rifles, 250 Colt revolvers, one brass 12-pounder cannon and its carriage. Supplies for use on the way were included.

Plumb left Iowa City with eight men. Oren Curtis joined them at Winterset, Iowa, and three or four others were added before they reached Kansas. Plumb called his company The Grizzlies. The company was organized according to military regulations. It was drilled every day, for each man was expected to have to fight the Border Ruffians when he reached Kansas.

The Grizzlies followed the trail earlier established by Jim Lane, bringing emigrants and weapons to Kansas. Along the way, “O. A. Curtis would harangue the company on Kansas and freedom at every opportunity.” Settlers fleeing from Kansas were met, “but this did not affect the enthusiasm of the company.” Other companies were encountered, but Plumb was careful to keep his men apart and to themselves.

The company camped near Indianola the night of Sept. 24, 1856, remaining there until morning of Sept. 26, when the arms were delivered to James Redpath and others at Topeka by crossing the Kansas River at Pappan’s Ferry. Plumb, just short of his 19th birthday, had become an important operative in the effort to free Kansas. Oren Curtis was 27.

Curtis found employment with Louis Pappan, helping operate the ferry from the north bank of the Kansas (Kaw) River. According to 1859 settler Thomas F. Doran, the north bottom was “at that time a dense forest of heavy oak and walnut timber through which a narrow wagon road had been cut.”

In the ensuing months, Curtis worked several jobs around Topeka, returning to work for Pappan in 1857. Pappan’s wife was of Kaw-Osage descent. Of the Pappans, William Allen White wrote “The black-eyed, black-haired daughter of Louis Pappan, Ellen, played games with the Indian children in wild surroundings ‘where business buildings now line Kansas Avenue, Topeka,’ ... of course, she often used the ferry to cross the river.”

Whether Oren attempted to bring his family to Kansas or if he abandoned them is not known. He and Isabelle were divorced in 1858. One thing led to another, and Oren Curtis married the 19-year-old Ellen Pappan. Most accounts give only the month of February 1859 for their marriage, although one genealogical site gives the date May 8, 1859, “in a ceremony performed by Father Ignatius Maes at the Immaculate Conception Church in St. Marys, Kan.” To their union two children were born in a log cabin near the ferry — Charles (1860) and Elizabeth (1861). Charles Curtis would go on to become vice president of the United States in Herbert Hoover’s administration.

Oren took over operation of the ferry from 1859 until 1863, renaming it the Topeka Ferry. Tragedy struck the family when Ellen died from black fever, believed to be cholera in April of 1863. Oren’s parents were nearby at Mount Florence, about 10 miles north of the ferry, and his mother assumed the role of surrogate mother for his two children.

A few months later, the terrible news of Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence swept across the prairie like wildfire. The morning Topeka Tribune exclaimed “Lawrence in Ashes!” Oren had already raised a company of mounted troops. The paper noted, “We take pride in calling attention to O.A. Curtis and his company of cavalry … which have been recruited, mounted and armed in the space of a very few hours, and are now at this point ready to march towards the foe, whenever and wherever they may show themselves.”

Oren Arms Curtis was about to leave the banks of the Kaw to embark upon a new chapter in his life; one that we will follow in the next installment of The Way West.