William (Curtis) Curtiss (abt. 1618 - 1702)

Born about 1618 in England

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (UNKNOWN) Curtis — married before 1642 in Stratford, Connecticut

Husband of Sarah (Marvin) Curtiss — married about 1680 in Stratford, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 21 Dec 1702 at about age 84 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut

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William (Curtis) Curtiss migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

It has long been accepted^[1][2] that the parents of John, William, and Thomas Curtis, of Stratford, Connecticut, were John Curtis and Elizabeth Hutchins, who were married 19 April 1610 in Nazeing, England.^[3]

Three children (no parents listed) but of the same three names and aproximate ages as the children of Widow Elizabeth Curtis were baptized at Nazeing, in the next decade.

John Curtis baptized 26 Feb 1614/15^[3]

William Curtis baptized 21 June 1618^[3]

Thomas Curtis baptized 12 March 1619/20^[3]

Barry E Hinman, in a recent article "Widow Elizabeth Curtis of Stratford, Connecticut," TAG Vol. 87, No. 4 (published December 2015), 299ff, pointed out what we already knew, that there really isn't any absolute proof.

He married his first wife, Mary (Unknown) by 1642, in Stratford.^[4]

About 1641, William was married for the first time. He and his first wife had the following children: Sarah, Jonathan, Joshua, Abigail, Daniel, Elizabeth, Ebenezer, Zachariah, and Josiah.

About 1642, William became a proprietor of Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, where he lived for the rest of his life. His first wife having died about 1670, William remarried Sarah Marvin about 1680. Sarah was the daughter of Matthew and Elizabeth Marvin, and the widow of William Goodrich I. William Curtis died in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut on 21 Dec 1702. He was 84.

Children of William and first wife:

1. Sarah CURTIS, born 10 October 1642
2. Jonathan CURTIS, born 14 February 1644, died before 10 October 1681.
3. Joshua CURTISS, born 6 October 1646, died before 22 July 1706.
4. Abigail CURTIS, born 26 April 1650 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut. (BIRTH: Town of Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut Volume 1 (1650-1684), page 23, Abigaill Curtiss daughter of Wiliam Curtiss was borne the twenty sixth of April 1650)
5. Daniel CURTIS, born 16 November 1652, died 6 February 1719.
6. Elizabeth CURTIS, born 16 February 1655 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut. (BIRTH: Town of Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut Volume 1 (1650-1684), page 25, Elisabeth Curtiss the daughter of Wiliam was borne the sixteenth day of feburay 1655)
7. Lieutenant Ebenezer CURTIS, born 26 July 1657, died before 1 October 1751.
8. Zachariah CURTIS, born 14 November 1659, died 12 June 1748.
9. Josiah CURTIS, born 30 August 1662, died before 20 November 1745.

Residence

William lived his adult life in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut^[5] He held the following offices:Deputy for Stratford to the Connecticut Colony Court (multiple times between 1667 and 1692); Commissioner for Stratford 1671-1675 and 1680-87 and Commissioner for Woodbury and Stratford in the intervening years 1676-1679; Lieutenant Oct 1667; Captain Stratford Trainband June 1672; Second Military Officer, Fairfield County June 1672; Captain Fairfiled County Troop Nov 1673, Oct. 1675; Militia Committee, June 1672; War Committee Aug 1673.^[6]

Will

Fairfield County, Connecticut Probate Records Volume (1702-1750), page 9,

In the Name of God, Amen, I, William Curtiss of Stratford in the County of Fairfield in ye Colony of Connecticut being aged and weak of body yet through?ye goodness of God of perfect memory and understanding do make this my last will and testament as followeth:?Imprimis, I Commit my soule to God hpoing for salvation in and through ye righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ my only saviour and redeemer and my body after this life to be decently buried at ye discretion of my surviving?relations and having disposed of all my children in marriage and gave them such portions as I thought fitt according to my ability and having now but little to dispose of my will is that after funerall expenses and just debts being paid my estate be disposed of as followeth:?Item, I give and bequeath to my loving son Daniell Curtiss my common meadow lyeing in the great Neck and my meadow in ye Salt Pond in said Neck and one third part of all my land lyeing in Paquanock field and four acres in the new pasture and a fourth part of all my wood land laid out and to be laid out.?Item, I give and bequeath to my loving son, Ebenezer Curtiss three acres of meadow lying at Nesumpaws being the equall half of my Lot out there and one third of all my land lyeing in Paquanock field and hallf my farme in the woods?on Turky Hill amd one fourth part of all my wood land layd out or to be laid out.?Item, I give and freely bequeath to my loving son Zachariah Curtiss one acre of meadow at Nesumpaws and one acre of land at ye North Ends of the Towne next adjoining to his owne land and one third part of all my land lyeing in?Paquanocke field and half my farme at Turkey Hill and one fourth part of all my wood land laid out or to be laid out.?Item, I give and freely bequeath to my loveing Sonn, Josiah Curtiss one acre of land at the North End of the Towne and four acres of land lyeing next to Samuell French his land and three acres of Land in the Intack and three acres?of Land near Harveys farme in the Ox pasture and two acres and half of land in the farfield and two acres of land of the two miles division near Nesumpaws Creek and one quarter part of all my wood land laid out or to be laid out.?Item, I give to my daughter, Sarah Wells five pounds and to my daughter Elizabeth Rose five pounds and to my son Joshua Curtiss five pounds to be paid by my executors hereafter named: I also give to Jonathan Curtiss the son of?Jonathan Curtiss the summ of twenty shillings, all the rest of my estate within doors and without goods and chattels, I freely give and bequeath to my four sons: Daniell, Ebenezer, Zachariah, and Josiah to be equally divided amongest?them and I do hereby ordaine and make my said sons Daniell Curtiss, Ebenezer Curtiss, Zachariah Curtiss, and Josiah Curtiss sole executors of this my last will and testament allways during life reserving for my comfort to dispose of any of my owne estate that this is my last will and testament revoking all other wills this fifteenth day of December in ye year of our Lord God 1702.?Signed and declared by the said William Curtiss to be his last will and testament in presents of us?Joseph Curtiss William Curtiss Seal?John Beach?Mr Joseph Curtiss and Mr John Beach appeared at ye prorogative Court held in Fairfield on the 31st of Decembr 1702 and made oath that they saw Capt William Curtiss signe ye above instrument and heard him declare it to be his last will and testament and that they judged him to be competent. Captiane William Curtiss of Stratford being deceased his last will and testament being exhibited to ye prorogative court siting in Fairfield December 31st 1702 ye said will being proved is by the court approved and is ordered to be recorded.?Nathan Gold, clerk

Death

Date: 21 DEC 1702

Place: Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut^[7]

DEATH: Town of Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut Volume 2, part 2?(1684-1729), Curtis, William Capt died 21 Dec 1702

? Was he 84, when he died, or was 84 added, believing that he was baptized in 1618. Miss Elizabeth Curtis says: I found in Cothrens' "Stratford Death Records" that John Curtis' was 96 on December 2, 1707 and Captain William Curtis was 84, December 21, 1702. That however is not what is on the printed page no. 690 of Cothren's History of Ancient Woodbury, that includes these records. ^[8] The Barbour Collection contains no notation of his age either.^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ Curtis, Harlow Dunham. A genealogy of the Curtiss-Curtis family of Stratford, Connecticut : a supplement to the 1903 edition. Curtiss-Curtis Society, 1953. Nazing Records p. x cites “State Papers volume 16 # 358 p. 4 Hoppin statement p. xiii
2. ↑ Jacobus, Donald Lines, MA (compiler, editor.) History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield. Fairfield, Conn.: The Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, 1930. p. 169
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Winters, William. Memorials of the Pilgrim Fathers: John Eliot and His Friends, of Nazing and Waltham Abbey. Waltham Abbey, Essex: 1882 pp. 46, 47 from the Nazing registers
4. ↑ Torrey's New England Marriages to 1700", Volume 1, page 409.
5. ↑ Connecticut 1635-1807 Misc. Records. Jackson, Ronald V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp.. Connecticut Census, 1790-1890.
6. ↑ Jacobus, Donald Lines, MA (compiler, editor.) History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield. Fairfield, Conn.: The Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, 1930. p. 170
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Vol. 1-55. Stratford. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002.
8. ↑ Cothren, William, 1819-1898. History of Ancient Woodbury, Connecticut, From the First Indian Deed In 1659 ... Including the Present Towns of Washington, Southbury, Bethlem, Roxbury, And a Part of Oxford And Middlebury. Waterbury, Conn.: Bronson brothers, 1879.

• Donald Lines Jacobus, Families of Ancient New Haven ([CD]Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1981[originally]Rome, N.Y. and New Haven, Conn., 1922-1932), vol 5, p 1219.

• One Bassett Family in America with All Connections in America and Many in Great Britain and France: Principally an Outline of What the Ancestors Did to Help Make America: Mainly from Original Records Heretofore Unpublished, Author: Bassette, Buell Burdett, Publication: F. A. Bassette, Springfield, Mass., 1926, Page: 334-348, "William Goodrich Family"

• The Goodrich Family in America: A Genealogy of the Descendants of John and William Goodrich of Wethersfield, Conn., Richard Goodrich of Guilford, Conn., and William Goodridge of Watertown, Mass. together with a Short Historical Account of the Family in England, the Origin of the Name, a Description of Goodrich Castle, etc., Author: Case, Lafayette Wallace, Author Qualifier: ed., Publication: Fergus Printing, Chicago, Ill., 1889, Page: 34–35, William Goodrich.

• History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Format: reprinted 2 vols. in 3, Author: Jacobus, Donald Lines, Publication: Genealogical Publishing, Baltimore, Md., 1976, Original Date, 1930–1932, Page: 1:169-171, 361-362 (John Curtis, William Curtis and Abraham Kimberly).

• Lineage of Jere. Mead, Jr., of Greenwich, Ct., solider of the Amer. Rev. By Mary Beeler Sawers. Middletown, Ct. 1958. (50p.):11 Gen. Column of the " Boston Transcript". 1906-1941.( The greatest single source of material for gen. Data for the N.E. area and for the period 1600-1800. Completely indexed in the Index.): 4 Nov 1929, 8571. Godfrey Memorial Library. American Genealogical-Biographical Index. Middletown, CT, USA: Godfrey Memorial Library.

• Torrey, Clarence A. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004.

• White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Vol. 1-55. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002.

• A genealogy of the Curtiss family : being a record of the descendants of widow Elizabeth Curtiss, who settled in Stratford, Conn., 1639-1640, by Frederic Haines Curtiss, 1903. pp. xxviii-xxix. [[1]]

• A Genealogy of the Curtiss-Curtis family of Stratford, Connecticut: a supplement to the 1903 edition. Complied by Harlow Dunham Curtis. 1953. [[2]]

• Torrance, Jared Sidney,. The descendants of Lewis Hart and Anne Elliott : with additional genealogical and historical data concerning the families of Hart-Warner, Hart-Curtiss, Hart-McColley, Curtiss-Thompson, Curtiss-Torrance, Curtiss-Vosburgh. Los Angeles: Priv. published by Mrs. J.S. Torrance, 1923. pp. 59-60, 77-78. [NOTE: Some of the information in this source is inaccurate. Verify with another source before using.]

• Barry E Hinman, "Widow Elizabeth Curtis of Stratford, Connecticut," TAG Vol. 87, No. 4 (published December 2015), 299ff.

• Mead, Daniel M., A History of the Town of Greenwich, Fairfield County, Conn. (Baker & Godwin, New York, 1857) Page 309-10