Curtis Family Correspondence mssHM 50671-50759

Gayle Richardson
The Huntington Library
April 2020
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
reference@huntington.org


Contributing Institution: The Huntington Library
Title: Curtis family correspondence
Creator: Curtis family
Identifier/Call Number: mssHM 50671-50759
Physical Description: 2.4 Linear Feet (2 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1820-1984
Date (bulk): 1855-1892
Abstract: Correspondence of the Curtis family written in the East and Midwest from 1820 to 1868, from Shasta County, California, and environs from 1871 to 1875, 1890, and 1891, and from Arizona Territory and California from 1881 to 1892.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.

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Conditions Governing Use

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item]. Curtis family correspondence, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Elizabeth Curtis McPhail, September 1984.

Biographical / Historical

In 1831, Henry James Curtis (1798-1852) of Cincinnati, Ohio married Clarissa Fisher (1809-1849). The couple had four children: Sarah Henrietta ("Etta") (1835-1908), James Henry (1838-1906), Delia Augusta ("Gussie") (1841-1915), and Benjamin Wisner (1847-1892); a fifth child, Clarissa, died of cholera in 1849. After their father's death in 1852, the children were separated and cared for by aunts and uncles. Sarah Henrietta attended a private school in Boston, worked as a governess for a family in Memphis, Tennessee, and in 1872 graduated from the Boston Normal School for Training Kindergarten Teachers. Delia Augusta went to Hamilton Academy in Ohio, the State Normal School at Salem, Massachusetts, and in 1873, like her sister, graduated from the Boston Normal School for Training Kindergarten Teachers. In 1877, the sisters moved to San Diego, California, where they opened a private kindergarten. James Henry lived with his relatives in Covington and in Memphis, Tennessee where he worked at a general store. At the beginning of the Civil War he had to move to Ohio, despite his Southern sympathies. In 1863 he returned to Memphis. In 1875 he moved to Fall River Mills, Shasta County, California and worked at a general store and post office. In spring of 1861, Benjamin Wisner Curtis ran away from the home of his uncle in Illinois, and, having concealed his name, enlisted in the Union Navy. He served onboard of U.S.S. Indianola and was captured with the rest of the ironclad's crew in February 1863. He was paroled in summer of 1863, having spent several months in Libby prison, and shortly afterwards was discharged from the Navy. He then worked as a store clerk and a postal agent in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Nebraska. In 1875 he went to northern California and took up a homestead at Fall River Mills, in Shasta County. In 1881, he gave it up and went to Arizona on a mining project. Shortly thereafter he moved to San Diego, but in 1884 was back in Arizona, trying his luck in ranching. In 1891, he left his ranch, and returned to San Diego.

Scope and Contents

A collection of family correspondence containing 110 items; the letters are chiefly to Delia Augusta and Sarah Henrietta Curtis from their brothers. The letters include discussion of the Curtis sisters' studies and education, family news, the Civil War, life in Ohio, Tennessee, Arizona, and California, from 1820 to 1892; also included are a few letters of Henry James and Clarissa Fisher Curtis. The collection also contains a typewritten summary and outline of the Curtis family letters (1984) and ephemera.

Processing Information

Processed by Huntington Library Staff, circa 1990; In 2020, Gayle Richardson created the finding aid derived from legacy in-house summary report.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Brothers and sisters -- United States
Clerks (Retail trade) -- United States
Migration, Internal -- California -- History -- 19th century
Postal service -- United States -- Employees
Ranchers -- Arizona
Women teachers -- United States
Arizona -- History -- 19th century
California -- History -- 1850-1950
Memphis (Tenn.) -- History -- 19th century
Ohio -- History -- 19th century
San Diego (Calif.) -- History -- 19th century
Shasta County (Calif.) -- History -- 19th century
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Family papers -- United States -- 19th century
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 19th century
Curtis, B. W. (Benjamin Wisner), 1847-1892
Curtis, Delia Augusta, 1841-1915
Curtis, Janes Henry, 1838-1906
Curtis, Sarah Henrietta, 1835-1908
Indianola (Ironclad)

Box 1, Folder 1-45

Correspondence 1820-1984

Scope and Contents

Contains family letters written from Massachusetts, Ohio, Alabama, Tennessee, Illinois, Nebraska, and California. A number of these letters are photocopies. Also included is a typed summary and outline of Curtis family letters (1984).
Box 2, Folder 1-46

Correspondence and ephemera 1885-1892

Scope and Contents

Contains family letters written from Arizona Territory, California, and Idaho. Also included is a small amount of ephemera.