Merced-Los Angeles-Mendocino County CA Archives Biographies.....Castle, Curtis H. 1848 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 6, 2006, 11:56 pm Author: John Outcalt (1925) HON. CURTIS H. CASTLE, A. M., M. D. During the pioneer history of Illinois Henry Castle brought his family to that State from West Virginia and settled in Knox County in 1833, being among the early inhabitants of that locality, where he made his home until his death. He had a son Reuben, who was born in West Virginia and devoted all of his active life to farming in Knox County, where he died in 1894. Reuben Castle married Miss Mary A. Long, born in Pennsylvania, whence she accompanied her father, George Long, to Zanesville, Ohio, and from there, in 1835, to Knox County, Ill., where she married Mr. Castle. They had four children. Rufus served as a member of Company E, Eighty-third Illinois Infantry during the Civil War, and afterwards settled near Healdsburg, Cal., where he died. George H. was a lieutenant in the Fifty-ninth Illinois Infantry, from the beginning to the close of the war, being severely wounded before Atlanta. In later years he was an attorney in Shenandoah, Iowa. The only daughter, Mrs. Griffith, made her home in Omaha, Nebr., and it was at her home that the mother died in 1904. Curtis H., the youngest son, was born near Galesburg, Ill., on October 4, 1848. He received an excellent schooling, attending Knox College until the close of his sophomore year, after which he became a student in the Northwestern University, from which he was graduated in 1872, with the degree of A. B.; later the degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by the same institution. After graduation he served as principal of the schools of Washington, Texas, for four years, during which time he spent all of his spare time in the study of medicine, which he supplemented with a course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Keokuk, Iowa. Graduating in 1878, he took up professional work in Fulton County, Ill., but soon removed to Wayland, Henry County, Iowa, and in 1882 came to California. He stopped in Los Angeles, then with a population of some 10,000 souls, at the beginning of the boom in that part of the State. The town was literally overrun with doctors and our subject decided he would seek some other location and accordingly went to Point Arena in Mendocino County. At that time it was a wild and undeveloped region and many times he rode thirty miles to see a patient, over trails on horseback through dense timber. He bought a dairy ranch of 120 acres, but this he sold when he came to Merced County in the winter of 1887. Upon locating in Merced Dr. Castle built up a good medical practice. Merced was then a town of some 2000 people, had five doctors and the outlook was not promising until the following February, when the irrigation canals from Lake Yosemite were opened up. Dr. Castle was far-sighted and decided he would remain and take his chances, and although he has made several pilgrimages away from this county, he has always maintained it as his home. His first office was located on Front Street, later he moved to larger quarters on Main Street. It was during a temporary absence that he lost all of his equipment and a fine library in the fire of 1894, but he became reestablished in the Puritan Block, and later took as a partner, Dr. W. N. Sherman, and together they built up and maintained one of the leading practices in the county. He had established his residence on Nineteenth Street, then built a home on Twenty-first Street, selling that to take up the family home on Bear Creek, where he lived until moving to Bakersfield in January, 1925. His home was a model of convenience for a country estate. While living in Illinois Dr. Castle was united in marriage with Miss Alma Tabor, born in Rhode Island and died in Illinois, leaving two children: Grace Imogene Schlief of Calistoga, who has four children; and Curtis H., of Merced, who has a daughter. His second marriage was solemnized in Merced and united him with Miss Virginia Wills, born in Mariposa County, by whom he has three children: Chandos Barrett, a graduate of the University of Oregon, an ensign in U. S. N. radio station at Pensacola, Fla., who has a wife and two children; Mary Mercedes Mahon, who has a son; and Genevieve Wills, class of 1924, San Jose Teachers' College. The Doctor is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and served on the local school board and as a member of the county board of education. Until 1892 Dr. Castle was a Republican, but in that year he voted for the Populist candidate, and ever since he has been active in that party. He was a member of the Populist National Committee being chosen a delegate in 1896 and in 1904, but each time pressure of business made it impossible for him to attend. He was nominated for Congress at the convention of the Populist party held in Sacramento in 1896; later there was a fusion with the Democrats and he was the nominee on the joint ticket, and was elected by a majority of 240 votes, took his seat in March, 1897, and served through the extra session and through the regular session, until March 4, 1899. He was a member of the Committee on Pensions and did much to pass the pension bill for private pensions. The old Seventh Congressional district then included Stanislaus, San Benito, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Kern, Tulare, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and San Diego Counties. At the end of his first term he was once more nominated by the Democratic and the regular Populist conventions, but was defeated by Needham by 125 votes. His service in the interest of the people had been one of fidelity. He carefully looked after the interest of his constituents and he retired to private life with an enviable record. Additional Comments: From: HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY CALIFORNIA WITH A Biographical Review OF The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present HISTORY BY JOHN OUTCALT ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 1925 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/merced/bios/castle454bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 6.6 Kb