Albert Jonathan Curtis (1850 - 1937)

Ancestors Descendants

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Death 1.2 Timeline 2 Sources

Biography

Albert Jonathan Curtis was born during the years that his parents Gates and Roxana were in Berthier, Quebec, 11 Jan 1850, (now referred to as Berthierville). In later years he said he returned to the US in 1858, although 1855 seems more likely^[1]. He married Nellie Bean Robinson on 2 May 1879. ^[2] By this time, his father’s business had moved to Ogdensburg. After Gates built his large home on New York Ave, Albert and Nellie moved into the small house next door at 11 New York Ave. (These street addresses have changed over the years).

Granddaughter Elizabeth (Beth) Seale recalls her mother Edith and Edith’s sister Betty discussing the very formal Sunday dinners they would have at their grandparent Curtis’ home.
Grandfather Gates may also have provided a “hired girl” for Albert and Nellie to “keep up appearances.” ^[3]

Albert did work, but is seems he was lost in the shadow of his more prominent father and uncle. In 1900 he reports that his occupation was “bookkeeper Foundry” - presumably implying that he was a bookkeeper for his father’s company. ^[4] next door to his parents Gates and Roxanna Curtis.

In 1910^[5] the family was still living at 11 New York Avenue. Albert was then 60 years old and employed as an attendant at the State Hospital (which his uncle Newton Martin Curtis helped to establish when he served in Congress). Edith was out of the house (having married the year before, but Betty [“Elizabeth”] was still living at home, teaching school.

In 1920^[6] Nellie and Albert J were living alone. Albert was still working at age 69, as a storekeeper at the State Hospital. They moved to 28 Caroline St., which is where Beth Seale remembers them in her growing up years. By 1926 Albert and Nellie had moved to the Chandler Apartments at 216 Caroline St - just a block or so from their former address. ^[7] Beth Seale remembers visiting them at that location. That building is now gone.

Elizabeth (Beth) also recalls that:

“Nellie could make dandelion wine which she took great delight in offering to her son in law, Sylvan Stocking, who took equal delight in drinking it.”^[8]

Elizabeth (Beth) didn’t like to kiss grandfather Albert because his beard would tickle. Further:

“Getting back to Grandpa, my frequent memory of him was sitting in a rocking chair on the big second floor porch of their apartment on Caroline St., usually with a blanket around his shoulders. I was told he suffered from rose fever which I suppose was the old version of hay fever. His eyes were a little runny and he had false teeth which he would pop out to entertain me. I would watch with fascination but a little turned off. He and Grandma were often with us at the cottage [Morristown Stocking cottage] when Aunt Betty would bring them out or we would bring them back and forth. But I don’t remember him as doing much but sitting. ^[9]

I know that Grandpa Curtis as an adult was involved in lots of different ventures, none of them very successful. As a young man he was considered a very ‘dashing young man around town’ and owned a handsome team with a beautiful carriage, according to grandmother, which no doubt was why she once admonished me to ‘never marry a rich man’s son,’ the implication being that everything was handed to him on a silver platter. As a child I never saw any strain between them and I suspect that grandma enjoyed having a good time as much as he did in their youth, and probably as adults, too.” ^[10]

Death

On 20 Feb 1937 Albert “…died this morning at 10 o’clock at his home in the Chandler apartments in Caroline Street, after a long illness. Mr. Curtis, .... a member of one of Ogdensburg’s most prominent families.... was one of the oldest Masons in Northern New York being a life member of the Acacian Lodge 705.^[11] He was a great lover of horses and dogs.” ^[12]

Albert J and Nellie Bean’s children:

1. Dana Wightman
2. Stanley Jonathon
3. Edith Amelia
4. Bessie Drusilla

Timeline

1851 Canada Census, Albert, age 2.^[13]

1860 Federal Census, Depeyster, St Lawrence, New York.^[14]
• Gates Curtis, 38, machinist, born New York
• Roxana Curtis, 33, born Canada
• Albert Curtis, 10, born Canada
• Amelia R, 6, born Canada
• Cora M, 3, born New York

1865-1866: Listed as student at Union Academy, Belleville, Jefferson, New York, preparatory year, “Albert J Curtiss, De Peyster”^[15]

1870 Federal Census. Oswegatchie, St Lawrence, New York. Post office Ogdensburg. ^[16]
• Gates Curtis, age 48, Foundry and Cartage, born New York
• Roxanna Curtis, age 41, born Canada, parents of foreign birth
• Albert, age 20, "at home" born Canada
• Amelia, age 18, "at home" born Canada
• Cassy, age 13, "at home" born New York Amelia, age 18, was single, living at home with her parents.

1872 Ogdensburg [New York] City Directory, clerk, boards at 17 New York Ave (his parents home)

1880 Federal Census. 121 New York Ave., Ogdensburg, St Lawrence, New York ^[17]
• Gates Curtis, 57, Manufacture of water wheels and foundry, born New York
• Roxana Curtis, 55, born Canada
• Albert Curtis, 30, clerk, born Canada
• Amelie Lawson, age 23, boarder, born Canada
• Cora A Curtis, 23, at home, born New York
• Louis E Lawson, age 27, born Canada, "bookeper" - Albert married Nellie B Robinson in May of 1879. Where is she? RHSeale|2020

1882 Ogdensburg City Directory, Albert, clerk, living at 15 New York Ave.

1894 Ogdensburg City Directory, Albert, bookkeeper, living at 11 New York Ave.

1900 Federal Census, 11 New York Ave. Ogdensburg, New York^[18]

1905 New York census: 11 New York Ave. Ogdensburg, New York. ^[19]
Albert J Curtis, 55, 38 years in the US, b. Canada (English), hospital attendant.
Nellie B, 46;
Dana W, 25, soldier;
Edith A, 21, governess;
Elizabeth D, 17, at school

1910 Federal Census, Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence, New York, 11 New York Ave. ^[20]
Albert, age 60 “attendant at the State Hospital”
Nellie, age 51
Elizabeth, age 21

1920 Federal Census, Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence, New York, 28 Caroline Street.^[21]
Albert, 69, “store keeper at State Hospital”

1926 Ogdensburg, New York telephone directory, living at 216 Caroline St.

1930 Ogdensburg, 216 “Washington Street”. [If you follow the census takers route you can see that he failed to add in “Caroline Street” between Washington and Ford Street, where Albert and Nellie lived].^[22] Albert J, 80, age 30 when married, b. “Canada English”, father b. New York, mother b. Canada English. not employed. “Nellie R”, wife age 70, age 20 when married, b. New York, father b. New Hampshire, mother b. Virginia

Sources

1. ↑ Sister Amelia b. 1852 in Canada, sister Cora b. 1857 in NY
2. ↑ Percival Wood Clement. Ancestors and Descendants of Robert Clement Philadelphia: Patterson & White, 1927 says the month of marriage was June, Gates Curtis recollections say May - I choose May.
3. ↑ Personal recollections of Elizabeth (Stocking) Seale, 2006
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch : 5 August 2014), New York > St. Lawrence > ED 118 Oswegatchie Township, Precinct 1 Ogdensburg city Ward 2 > image 7 of 41; citing NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
5. ↑ Federal census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Ogdensburg Ward 2, Saint Lawrence, New York; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 0151; 11 New York Ave.
6. ↑ 1920 Federal census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Ogdensburg Ward 1, Saint Lawrence, New York; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 152;
7. ↑ 1926 Ogdensburg phone directory. 1930 census has the “216” right, but in the margin the enumerator wrote in “Washington” Street, rather than Caroline Street.
8. ↑ Personal communication Elizabeth/Beth Seale, Nov 2006
9. ↑ He would have been not less than 75 years old at Beth Seale’s first recollections.
10. ↑ Personal communication Elizabeth/Beth Seale, Jun and Nov 2006
11. ↑ He was a member of the lodge for over 60 years, joining in May 1871, Ogdensburg Journal, 13 Nov 1935
12. ↑ From Edith Curtis clipping file, from the Ogdensburg Advance-news, p12, 20 Feb 1937
13. ↑ "Canada Census, 1851", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWR7-KN7 : Fri Oct 06 04:56:55 UTC 2023), Entry for Albert Curtis, 1851.
14. ↑ "United States Census, 1860," database with images, FamilySearch : 24 March 2017), New York > St Lawrence > Depeyster > image 31 of 33; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
15. ↑ Union Academy, Belleville, Jefferson County, New York. Class rosters from 1830-1912, from The “Old Union 1824-1904” by Tom Trumper and Union Academy Catalogs, from archives of Jefferson County Historical Society. Web Site, Jan 2017: http://www.nnygenealogy.com/pages/directories/uab.html
16. ↑ "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch : 14 June 2019), New York > St. Lawrence > Oswegatchie > image 147 of 335; citing NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
17. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch  : 24 December 2015), New York > St Lawrence > Ogdensburg > ED 239 > image 13 of 61; citing NARA microfilm publication T9, (National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., n.d.)
18. ↑ "United States Census, 1900", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSGS-W3P : Fri Oct 06 06:29:47 UTC 2023), Entry for Albert J Curtis and Nellie Curtis, 1900.
19. ↑ "New York State Census, 1905," database with images, FamilySearch : 22 September 2016), St. Lawrence > Ogdensburg > Ward 2, E.D. 1 > image 15 of 24; citing various county clerk offices, New York.
20. ↑ "United States Census, 1910", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M5S2-3LQ : Wed Oct 04 03:28:31 UTC 2023), Entry for Albert Curtis and Nelly Curtis, 1910.
21. ↑ "United States Census, 1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MVSS-JC4 : Thu Oct 05 15:39:30 UTC 2023), Entry for Albert J Curtis and Nellie R Curtis, 1920.
22. ↑ "United States Census, 1930", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4T2-7CT : Tue Oct 03 11:59:29 UTC 2023), Entry for Albert J Curtis and Nellie R Curtis, 1930.

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