Editing Charles Curtis (section)

== Early life and education ==
Born on January 25, 1860, in [[North Topeka]], [[Kansas Territory]],<ref>{{cite news |title=From a Kansas Log Cabin to Leadership in the Senate |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/649198630/ |newspaper=[[The Kansas City Times]] |location=Kansas City, Missouri |date=June 16, 1928 |pages=6–7 |via=Newspapers.com |language=en}} - [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/65449305/ Clipping of first] and [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/163472820/ of second page] at [[Newspapers.com]].</ref> a year before Kansas was admitted as a state, Charles Curtis had three-eighths Native American ancestry and five-eighths European American ancestry.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Estes |first1=Roberta |date=August 14, 2013 |title=Charles "Indian Charley" Curtis – 1st Native American in the White House |url=https://nativeheritageproject.com/2013/08/14/charles-indian-charley-curtis-1st-native-american-in-the-white-house/ |access-date=December 2, 2021 |website=Native Heritage Project |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Andrews|2002|loc=online}}.</ref> His mother, Ellen Papin (also spelled Pappan), was [[Kaw people|Kaw]], [[Osage Nation|Osage]], [[Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation|Potawatomi]], and [[French American|French]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=McKie |first1=Scott |title=Charles Curtis: America's Indian Vice President |url=https://theonefeather.com/2014/02/charles-curtis-americas-indian-vice-president/ |access-date=June 20, 2016 |work=Cherokee One Feather |date=February 4, 2014 |archive-date=June 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630041902/https://theonefeather.com/2014/02/charles-curtis-americas-indian-vice-president/ |url-status=live |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=January 29 – This Date in History: Kaw Member Charles Curtis Becomes US Senator |url=http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/january-29-date-history-kaw-member-charles-curtis-becomes-us-senator/ |access-date=June 20, 2016 |work=Native News Online |date=January 29, 2014 |archive-date=August 10, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810032315/http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/january-29-date-history-kaw-member-charles-curtis-becomes-us-senator/ |url-status=dead |language=en}}</ref> His father, Orren Curtis, was of [[English American|English]], [[Scottish American|Scots]], and [[Welsh American|Welsh]] ancestry.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Christensen |first1=Lee R. |url=https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3592549W |title=The Curtis Peet Ancestry of Charles Curtis Vice-President of the United States 4 March 1929 – 3 March 1933 |access-date=December 26, 2019 |archive-date=November 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107181919/https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3592549W/The_Curtis_Peet_ancestry_of_Charles_Curtis_Vice-President_of_the_United_States_4_March_1929-3_March_ |url-status=live |language=en}}</ref> On his mother's side, Curtis was a descendant of chief [[White Plume]] of the Kaw Nation and chief [[White Hair|Pawhuska]] of the Osage.<ref>{{harvnb|Andrews|2012|loc=online}}.</ref>

Curtis's first words as an infant were in French and [[Kansa language|Kansa]], both languages that he learned from his mother. She died in 1863, when he was 3 years old, but he lived for some time thereafter with his maternal grandparents on the Kaw reservation and returned to them in later years. He learned to love racing horses and was later a highly successful jockey in prairie horse races.<ref name="sho">{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Charles_Curtis.htm |title=Charles Curtis, 31st Vice President (1929–1933) |work=U.S. Senate: Art & History |publisher=US Senate.gov |access-date=December 14, 2011 |archive-date=January 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118135359/http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Charles_Curtis.htm |url-status=live |language=en}}, reprinted from {{cite book |title=Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789–1993 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=US Government Printing Office |year=1997 |language=en}}</ref>

After Curtis's mother died in 1863, his father remarried but soon divorced. While serving in the [[Union army]] during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Orren Curtis was captured and imprisoned. During that period, the toddler Charles was cared for by his maternal grandparents. They also later helped him gain possession of his mother's land in North Topeka; under the Kaw [[matrilineal]] system, he inherited it from her. His father tried unsuccessfully to get control of that land. Orren Curtis married a third time and had a daughter, Theresa Permelia "Dolly" Curtis, who was born in 1866, after the end of the war.<ref name="sho" />

On June 1, 1868, one hundred [[Cheyenne]] warriors invaded the Kaw Reservation. The Kaw men painted their faces, donned regalia, and rode out on horseback to confront the Cheyenne. The rival Indian warriors put on a display of superb horsemanship, accompanied with war cries and volleys of bullets and arrows. Terrified white settlers took refuge in nearby [[Council Grove, Kansas|Council Grove]]. After about four hours, the Cheyenne retired with a few stolen horses and a peace offering of coffee and sugar from the Council Grove merchants. No one had been injured on either side. During the battle, [[Joseph James and Joseph James Jr.|Joe Jim]], a Kaw interpreter, galloped {{convert|60|mi}} to Topeka to seek assistance from the governor. Riding with Jim was the eight-year-old Charles Curtis, then nicknamed "Indian Charley."<ref>{{harvnb|Unrau|1971|pp=72–75}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Crawford|1911|p=289}}.</ref>

Curtis re-enrolled in the [[Kaw Nation]], which had been removed from Kansas to the [[Indian Territory]] when he was in his teens. Curtis was strongly influenced by both sets of grandparents. After living on the reservation with his maternal grandparents, M. Papin and Julie Gonville, he returned to the city of Topeka. There, he lived with his paternal grandparents while he attended [[Topeka High School]]. Both grandmothers encouraged his education.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Gershon |first1=Livia |date=January 13, 2021 |title=Who Was Charles Curtis, the First Vice President of Color? |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-was-charles-curtis-first-non-white-vice-president-180976742/ |url-status=live |access-date=December 2, 2021 |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113163645/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-was-charles-curtis-first-non-white-vice-president-180976742/ |archive-date=January 13, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

Curtis [[read law]] in an established firm, where he worked part time. He was admitted to the bar in 1881<ref name="sho" /> and began his practice in Topeka.<ref>{{cite news |title=Curtis, Quarter Indian, Began His Ride To Fame as a Jockey; Roamed Plains With Kaws When a Boy; Fought Way Upward |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/100500336/ |work=Cincinnati Enquirer |agency=Associated Press |date=June 6, 1928 |page=6 |via=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref> He served as prosecuting attorney of [[Shawnee County, Kansas]], from 1885 to 1889.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 2015 |title=Charles Curtis |url=https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/charles-curtis/12029 |url-status=live |access-date=December 2, 2021 |website=Kansas Historical Society |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217134309/http://kshs.org/kansapedia/charles-curtis/12029 |archive-date=December 17, 2010 |language=en}}</ref>