Founders Day program to be held April 18

The Jackson County Historical and Genealogical Society invites the public to join in celebrating its 45th anniversary with a special dinner and a presentation on the life of a colorful Kansan.

Historian Deb Goodrich will present “A Rake, A Rambler And A Jayhawker: Capt. Jack Curtis, Father Of Vice President Charles Curtis” as part of the historical society’s 45th-anniversary dinner, to be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 18 at the Courtyard Event Center on Holton’s Town Square.

The focus of the evening is on territorial Kansas and the events of the Civil War with Kansas becoming a state in 1861. Jackson County played a role in pre-war events, most notably the Lane Trail and the Battle of the Spurs.

Goodrich’s presentation focuses on Oran Curtis, who came to Kansas to seek his fortune and married the French/Kaw Helen Pappan, a descendant of Osage chief White Plume and Kaw chief White Plume. He operated the Pappans’ ferry across the Kansas River, connecting north and south Topeka. Helen died leaving him with two small children in the midst of the Civil War.

Curtis became a captain in the 15th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. Following the war, he enlisted in the 19th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry under Col. Samuel Crawford — who later went on to be Kansas’ third governor — in the Plains Indian Wars. Curtis’ colorful life would not appear to be conducive to raising a man like Charles Curtis, who achieved such prominence. The ledgers at Hotel Josephine indicate that Charles Curtis stayed in Holton.

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