Born in Oxford, Chenango County, New York, April 1, 1844. He was reared on a farm and in 1856 came with his parents to Ogle County, Illinois, and completed his education at Rock River Seminary, Mount Morris. He located at Clinton, Iowa, in 1867 and engaged in the lumber business. In the fall of 1887 he was nominated by the Republicans of Clinton County for Representative in the Twenty-second General Assembly. He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention of 1892 and in 1894 was nominated for Representative in Congress for the Second District. It had long been represented by a Democrat but Mr. Curtis overcame the Democratic majority and was elected by a plurality of 3,320. He was reelected and at the close of his second term declined a third.