Asa E. Curtiss served as the postmaster of Wessington, Beadle County, from 1897, earning respect as a prominent citizen. Born on January 21, 1832, in Derby, Connecticut, he was the son of sea captain Joseph Curtiss and Mary (Hart) Curtiss. Moving to New York at age eight, Curtiss pursued education in common schools and later became a master of the steamer “Allegheny” on the Great Lakes by age 21. He married Sarah A. Davison in 1855, who died in 1894, leaving one son, Charles N. Curtiss. In 1898, he married Mary B. Spiller. Curtiss settled in Beadle County in 1882, developing government land claims and actively supporting the Republican Party.
Asa E. Curtiss has been incumbent of the office of postmaster at Wessington, Beadle County, since 1897 and is one of the honored and representative citizens of this section of the state, where the circle of his friends is circumscribed only by that of his acquaintances.
Mr. Curtiss is a native of Derby, Connecticut, where he was born on the 21st of January, 1832, being a scion of stanch old New England stock and a son of Joseph and Mary (Hart) Curtiss. His father was a sea captain, and stood as a representative of that class of sturdy and noble seafaring men which has gained so wide a reputation and respect the world over. He was one of the first captains employed in connection with the navigation of the Great Lakes, having removed to the western part of New York state when the subject of this sketch was a lad of eight years. Asa E. Curtiss received his early educational training in the common schools of New York, and though his advantages were necessarily limited he made the best use of them and thus gained a foundation for that broad and exact fund of information and practical knowledge which he has since gained by personal application and by active association with men and affairs. As a youth he became identified with navigation on the lakes, and continued to be identified with this important industry for many years, being at the age of twenty-one years master of the steamer “Allegheny,” plying between Buffalo and Chicago, and known as the youngest master on the lakes, while he resided in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, until his removal to what is now the state of South Dakota. In 1855 Mr. Curtiss was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Davison, who was born and reared in the state of New York. She proved a devoted wife and helpmeet until her death, which occurred on the 23d of November 1894, and she is survived by her only son, Charles N. Curtiss, of whom specific mention is made on another page of this work. On the 20th of October, 1898, Mr. Curtiss consummated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Mary B. Spiller, of Ashland, Kentucky. No children have been born of this marriage.
Mr. Curtiss came to South Dakota in the year 1882 and settled in Beadle County, where he took up three claims of government land, under homestead, pre-emption and timber-culture entries, and developed the property, where he has maintained his residence since 1882. In politics Mr. Curtiss has ever been aligned as a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and he has been an active factor in the promotion of its cause. In 1897, during the regime of the late lamented President McKinley, he was appointed postmaster at Wessington, and he has ever since continued to serve in this capacity, while he is known as a capable executive and as one whose administration of postal affairs has met with unqualified popular approval. He also served for several years as justice of the peace of Beadle County.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.