James Freeman Curtis

James Freeman Curtis II (December 19, 1825 – March 1, 1914), participant in the 1849 California Gold Rush, Chief of Police of San Francisco, officer in the California state militia and volunteer in the American Civil War. Biography James Freeman Curtis was born December 19, 1825, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father died in a train accident in 1839. Not much is known about his father, except he was a midshipman on the in the War of 1812. Curtis went to sea and in 1849 sailed around Cape Horn, and settled in San Francisco. In the 1850s, he was a leading member of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance and was a member of the Society of California Pioneers. He was also an active member of the California Militia and in 1854, was elected First Lieutenant of the California Guard, Light Battery, the oldest military company in the state organized in 1849. Curtis was the Chief of Police of San Francisco with his election to the office November 4, 1856, which he held until 1858.