Foster, Lou Curtis.

Mary Lizzie Curtis was born to Lyman and Jennett Bennett Curtis on January 22, 1853, near Lexington, Kentucky. When Mary Lizzie was 3 months old, her family left Kentucky and temporarily lived with relatives in Rock Prairie, Wisconsin. Her father purchased a homestead northwest of Independence in Bremer County, Iowa, and spent the next year constructing the house and furnishings while the rest of the family stayed in Wisconsin. The family moved into the house in the spring of 1854.

Mary Lizzie attended Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa, and received her teaching certificate. After a year of teaching at a nearby school, she enrolled at the Iowa Agricultural College (I.A.C., now Iowa State University) in Ames. While at I.A.C., she first started being called Lou. While at I.A.C., Lou worked in the kitchen, assisted in the chemical laboratory, and worked in the college library. She received her B.S. (1875) in the ladies course.

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