children of Oscar Benjamin and Esther Mary [Thompson] Curtis

The photograph of the four children was previously added to the blog by another descendant of Benjamin Kingman Curtis. This copy shows the entire photograph, both front and back, including the shape and details of the Cabinet Card style. The picture was the 21st photo in the Curtis family album owned by Mary Lavantia Curtis and the children were her nieces and nephews. The second photo was the 36th photo in the album and was a Carte de Visite style. The baby, Cora Lavantia Curtis, is the same baby in both pictures, sitting in the same chair and wearing the same dress. A photographer's imprint was not on either photo. See the other photo for details about all the children in the family including those pictured here: left to right, Munson Clyde Curtis, Cora Lavantia Curtis, Minnie Belle Curtis, and Benjamin W. Curtis.

Sons of George and Emily Curtis

The three boys in this picture were the oldest children of George Leslie Curtis and Emily Faith Ash, 1) George Cleveland Curtis, 1884-1955, 2) Leslie Leo Curtis, 1886-1949, and 3) Harvey Benjamin Curtis, 1888-1956. This picture was the 20th picture in the Curtis family album and the boys were nephews of the album's owner, Mary Lavantia Curtis.

Card boys

Willie Card and Steward Card ...

Mary Lavantia Curtis

Florence Harland

Anna Feltstead

Alice

The Reynolds family

The family photo was the 13th photo in Mary Lavantia Curtis' antique album.  The photo of the child standing for her portrait was the 22nd photo in the album. The woman who is standing in the family photo was Mary's sister, Sarah Ellenor Curtis. Sarah married George Robert Reynolds on 22 February 1883 at Bird Island, Renville Co., Minnesota. Why Sarah ended up in Minnesota is a complete mystery. The Curtis family left Michigan sometime around 1883 or 1884, so it's possible that Sarah and George knew each other in Michigan.

Prior to the discovery of Mary's antique photo album, we only knew the name of Sarah's husband. The photographer's imprint on the child's photo was the information we needed to eventually find the marriage record for Sarah and George. The child's name is Leila Belle and she was the oldest of six children: 1) Leila Belle Reynolds, 1887-1981; 2) George Benjamin Reynolds, 1891-1973; 3) Card Lee Reynolds, 1895-1958; 4) Villa Philena Reynolds, 1897-1989; 5) Wiley Bradley Reynolds, 1898-1953; 6) Bennie Reynolds, 1899-unknown.

Villa ended up being the record-keeper in the family. After she passed away, her family records, photographs, old letters, diaries, etc. were given to her daughter Lois Scott. After I found Lois, we corresponded for several years. She let me borrow all her mother's family records and photographs so I could make copies. Lois passed away in 2006.

One of the records kept by Villa was a scrapbook of all the Curtis family reunions held during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Even my grandmother Ada Curtis Johansen was in several of the reunion pictures. The discovery of Curtis family reunions was new information. Villa also kept a list of all the deaths in the family, including names, dates and locations of death. The records kept by Villa helped document several generations of descendants from Benjamin Kingman Curtis. Two of the old letters gave solid clues about Benjamin's extended family and were already posted to this blog.

Rushmer Guy Curtis

This is a photo of one of the children in the third generation of our Curtis family. The child's name is Rushmer Guy Curtis, the oldest child of William Rushmer Curtis and Ella May Canfield.

Rushmer Guy Curtis was born on 31 December 1890 in Ogden, Weber Co., Utah. He died at 86 years of age, on 1 July 1977 in Escondido, San Diego Co., California and was bured on 7 July 1977 in Escondido.

This photograph was the twelfth one in the antique Curtis family album. The original owner of the album was  Rushmer Guy's aunt, Mary Lavantia Curtis. The photo was taken in Ogden, Utah by the Newcomb Brothers at Wright Block located on Washington Ave.

Rushmer Guy was married twice (Teresa Morrice and Annie Elizabeth Gather Bowerman). Originally we only knew of one child, a son named Clinton. But a descendant of Rushmer Guy Curtis saw this blog post and added a comment stating that there four children in the family.

C. Reed and M. A. Reed

Written on the back of the gentleman's photo was C. Reed at 67, 1887 and on the back of the woman's photo was M.A. Reed at 58, 1887. We assume C. and M.A. Reed were husband and wife, although no proof exists. Both photos were taken at 632 Kansas Ave., in Topeka, Kansas and the photographer was Snyder. They were friends of the Curtis family but no other information is known about them. We have no evidence that any of the Curtis family ever lived in Kansas, so we assume the Reed's lived there prior to their friendship with the Curtis family. The location where the Curtis and Reed families met is unknown, but we assume it was possibly in Utah, Idaho, or maybe Montana.

Mr and Mrs Jones

All we know is that Mr. and Mrs. Jones were friends of the Curtis family. The photos were the 8th and 9th in the album. The photographer was T. B. Cardon, taken at his studio in Logan, Utah. The imprint on the back of both photos was the same

Cyrus Jerome Curtis

This is Cyrus Jerome Curtis, the oldest son of Benjamin Kingman Curtis and Sarah Lavantia Card. Cyrus and the owner of the antique photo album, Mary Lavantia Curtis were brother and sister. There are two photographer's imprints on the back of the photograph. One by the Cardon Art Gallery in Logan, Utah. The second one by the Portrait House in San Francisco, California. Since the family was living in the Logan area about the time this photograph was taken, we assume the duplicate work was later done by the Portrait House.

Friend of Mary Lavantia Curtis

Another friend of Mary Lavantia Curtis, original owner of the Curtis family antique photograph album. This was the fifth photo in the book. Note the photographer was Kirkland's Studio in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Audeca Etta Brower

The third photograph in the album was that of Mary Lavantia Curtis, a friend of Mary Curtis, owner of the album. Her name was Audeca Etta Brower and she eventually became Mary's sister-in-law when she married her brother DeWilton Emory Curtis. Audeca Etta Brower was born 19 March 1880 in Lewiston, Cache Co., Utah. Audeca Etta and DeWilton were married 27 March 1901 in Preston, Franklin Co., Idaho. We assume Audeca Etta went by the name "Etta" because of the headstone at the Curtis family plot in Preston that bears the name Etta. DeWilton and Etta had two daughters, but sadly Etta passed away when she was 25, on 18 october 1905 in Preston, Idaho.  Her death occurred shortly after the birth of her second daughter. The story handed down in the family was that Etta's passing was something DeWilton was never able to deal with and he left his two daughters with other family members to be raised without him. The pain of his wife's passing was too hard to bear, so the girls were raised without knowing their father. The two daughters born to DeWilton and Etta were:

Grace Curtis - 1902-1960

Loretta Curtis - birth between 1903-1905, death date unknown

James Conroy Hobbs

James was about 20 years old in this photo. He was born 22 May 1869 in Franklin, Ada County, Idaho. James Conroy Hobbs was the husband of Mary Lavantia Curtis, the original owner of the antique Curtis family photograph album. James and Mary had five children, three girls and two boys:

Phyllis Lovantia Hobbs

Iris Ann Hobbs

Ilah Rose Hobbs

Horace James Hobbs

Noble Curtis Hobbs

Friend William Curtis

Friend William Curtis, son of Friend Charles Curtis, son of Benjamin Kingman Curtis.

This was the very first photograph in the antique album owned by Mary Lavantia Curtis Hobbs. Friend William was Mary's nephew. He was born 15 April 1890 in Preston, Franklin Co., Idaho to Friend William Curtis and Nellie Christena Hansen.