Sebastian-Newton County ArArchives Biographies.....Curtis, W. L. 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ar/arfiles.html
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 July 31, 2009, 6:49 pm

Source: Full Citation Below Biography
Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

W. L. CURTIS.
    W. L. Curtis, who has engaged in the practice of law since 1898, became a
representative of the Fort Smith bar on the 30th of June, 1916, and is today
recognized as one of the prominent attorneys of the city, specializing largely
in corporation law. He is a native of northwestern Arkansas, his birth having
occurred in Newton county, March 6, 1874, his parents being J. H. and Sarah C.
Curtis, who still reside on the old homestead in Newton county, where the father
has long followed the occupation of farming.

    The boyhood days of W. L. Curtis were passed in the usual manner of the
farm-bred lad, who divides his time between the acquirement of a public school
education, the pleasures of the playground and the work of the fields. Later he
had the advantage of a course in Jasper Academy and then started out to provide
for his own support by serving as circuit court clerk of Newton county. While
thus engaged he took up the study of law, devoting his leisure hours to the
mastery of the principles of jurisprudence. In 1898 he was admitted to the bar
and then opened an office in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, then a part of the Indian
Territory, where he remained in active practice for almost two decades, or from
1898 until the 30th of June, 1916. During that period he built up and enjoyed an
extensive practice, connecting him with much important litigation tried in the
courts of the district. He was also quite prominent in public affairs, served as
county attorney and on three different occasions was elected mayor of Sallisaw,
giving to the city a businesslike and progressive administration which greatly
furthered public welfare. He was also chosen a member of the state legislature
and gave thoughtful and earnest consideration to the vital questions which came
up for settlement while in the general assembly. Seeking the broader field of
labor offered in a larger city, Mr. Curtis removed to Port Smith on the 30th of
June, 1916, and through the intervening period of five years has successfully
engaged in practice here. His clientage is large and of a distinctively
representative character. He has to a considerable extent specialized in
corporation law and is now trial attorney for the Missouri Pacific Railroad
Company in Oklahoma, also general counsel for the Commonwealth Public Service
Company, attorney for the Brown-Hinton Wholesale Grocery Company and for the O.
K. Transfer & Storage Company.

    Mr. Curtis was united in marriage in 1893 to Miss Hattie Harrison, a
daughter of Robert Harrison of Jasper, Arkansas, and a granddaughter of Robert
Harrison, who was a prominent representative of the Newton county bar and served
as county judge. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis have become parents of six daughters:
Alpha, who is now the wife of Fred G. Beckman of Oklahoma; Mrs. Maude Shipley;
Willie, who died June 22, 1920; Jessie, a teacher in the public schools of
Sallisaw, Oklahoma; Katherine B. and Anna Louise, both in school.

    Mr. and Mrs. Curtis have become widely known in Fort Smith since taking up
their abode in this city and occupy an enviable position in its social circles.
As a citizen he stands for all those activities and interests which are a matter
of civic virtue and of civic pride, while in his profession he has ever held to
the highest deals and standards, practicing along ethical lines, so that he
enjoys the highest respect and confidence of his contemporaries and colleagues
in the profession. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons, belonging to
all bodies of the order, including the Mystic Shrine.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922



File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ar/sebastian/bios/curtis353bs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/arfiles/

File size: 4.3 Kb