Curtiss Family Information

The house Herbie's family lived in at Basset had a big garden north of the house - where the family raised their 'winter potatoes'. They had a cow, and put the manure on the garden. Finally, after raising potatoes for 30 years straight - the land finally got to where it would not raise potatoes. They used to have an old pump out by the barn - every day at noon, David pumped the tank full, then led the cow out to get a drink. The cow got one drink a day. The cow would have a calf every year. They would put the calf in the back seat of the model A Ford - and take it out to the Gayle's house - eventually they had 17 cattle. Herbie owned several houses around Basset at one time. He really had to stretch to help four kids get through college. When the Gayle's moved to Wyoming, they sold all the cattle.

Herbie's wife was Edna Thurber (from Craig Ne.) they met when they were going to college in Bellvue. Herbie graduated from the 10th grade in Basset - which was as far as it went. He then worked on the railroad for a while. After that, he worked in a store in Basset. A man came in recruiting for Bellvue college. Herbie told him he would love to go but did not have any financial support. The man told Herbie he could make his own way - Herbie said - I'm your man. He then went to Bellvue college and took the last two years of high school. After he completed his high school, he took college courses and got his college degree. Herbie worked as a cook at Bellvue college. He used to break and cook 2000 eggs every morning, and boasted that he could break two eggs in each hand at the same time and put them on a big grill. Herbie was a good football player at Bellvue, and threw the shotput.  He then applied to UNL law school, was accepted, and went to UNL for 3 years to get his Law degree.  Herbie worked nights in the YMCA while he went to the University of Nebraska. Edna taught school. After Herbie graduated, Edna and Herbie got married and moved to Basset. There were 3 or 4 lawyers in Basset so times were pretty hard. Edna taught school for a couple years before David was born. There was building he could rent, and he opened up his law practice. Nobody knows why he came back to Basset - he probably could have had a much easier time of it in Craig where Edna was from.

There were no good roads in or out of Basset - everything came in and out by train. Operator lived in the depot - and he ran the telegraph. Buckendorf was the newspaper man - the Rock County Leader. Basset was unique in that they had a county high school. They had a dormitory next to it, and many of the kids would live in the dorm during the week. Some families lived 30 miles away, and there was no reliable transportation. Most of the land was homesteaded - after they got title, they would gradually sell out to more prosporous neighbors. Herbie was the county atty during prohibition, and would go out with the county sheriff to raid stills - wonder he never got shot..
Herbie loved to fish and hunt. Used to go over to Hart's bayou (Niobrara River) and catch a mess of fish every weekend - drove over in the model T ford. They had to go and seine minnows for bait.  David remembers catching a 4 1/2 pound bass on a grasshopper there - biggest fish he had ever seen.

Electricity came to Basset in about 1922 - before that they had Kerosene lamps. they used a coal stove for heat. Every spring they would borrow the stove mover from the hardware store and haul the stove out to the shed. They had no heat in the house until they moved it back in the fall. After 1922 they had electric lights and a refridgerator.

Herbie's first car was a model T open touring car - $395 brand new. They would drive to Craig, Ne.  in it - 250 miles. Caught in a storm one time and the top was torn off. 16 horsepower. The model T's had the gas tank over the engine - when the gas tank was low it wouldn't feed - you had to turn around and back up the hill. had foot pedals to change gears. Herbie was a bad driver - used to yell WHOA and pull on the steering wheel to make the car stop. Harold and Betty burned the garage down one time - almost burned up the car. Herbie managed to push it out - but they had to re-build a barn. They also burned down a haystack. Harold and Betty cut a pine tree down out of a landscaped hedge and dragged it home through the snow to use as a christmas tree. The owners noticed the tree had been cut down and followed the trail back to the Curtiss house - raised hell with Harold and Betty but nothing they could do since the tree was already cut down. Harold and Betty were always getting in trouble.
Herbie lived with Harold for the last year or so of his life. He had diabetes.

A farmer outside of town had a pond next to his house, and he would wait until January and saw up his ice and pack it in an icehouse in sawdust, then sell it around town all summer. On sunday, they used to go on picknicks a lot, and Edna would fix up a freezer full of ice cream mix. They would go down and get 30-40 pounds of ice for 1 cent a pound, then make homemade ice cream to have after the picknick. They did that practically every sunday all summer. Uncle George went along.

The place for recreation was Hidden Paradise at Long Pine. They had a dance hall and beer garden. Pine Crick flowed right through the center of the place - they had 60 or 70 cabins built in there - David thinks it is still there. One time when David was going to grade school in the early 20's - David got bucked off a teeter-totter and bruised his arm real bad - Local doctors wanted to cut into it to relieve the swelling, but Herbie would not let them. Herbie took David to Norfolk on the train to the hospital - but they said there was nothing broken. David had pneumonia twice when he was little - just barely survived both times. There was no antibiotics and no doctor in town. He had a tumor in his need - they operated on David on the dining room table in their house - they put a tube in his knee and he stayed in bed for months. Had to hang a bucket of sand on his leg to stretch it back out.

Curtiss Family Info