Timeline of the William Rushmer Curtis family

• 1866 - William Rushmer Curtis was born In Tallmadge, Michigan
• 1874 - Ella May Canfield was born in Ogden, Utah
• 1884 - some of the Benjamin Kingman Curtis family moved to Logan, Utah from their home in Michigan
• 1890 March - William and Ella May were married in Preston, Idaho
• 1890 Dec 14th - Sarah Lavantia Card, William Rushmer Curtis' mother died in Logan, Utah
• 1890 Dec 31st - Rushmer Guy Curtis was born in Ogden, Utah
• 1892 - Lovantia Curtis was born in Preston, Idaho
• 1893 - Grace Adaline Curtis was born in Preston, Idaho
• 1895 - Florence Albertha was born in Big Timber, Montana
• 1897 - Floyd Augustus was born in Big Timber, Montana
• 1899 January - Luella Curtis was born in Big Timber, Montana
• 1899 March - Floyd Augustus died in Big Timber, Montana
• 1901 - Delbert Canfield Curtis was born in Big Timber, Montana
• 1902 August - Ada Curtis was born in Big Timber, Montana
• 1902 December - Benjamin Kingman Curtis, William Rushmer Curtis' father died at Preston, Idaho
• 1904 - Reed Josiah Curtis was born in Big Timber, Montana
• 1906 April - the family moved to Parker, Fremont Co., Idhao
• 1906 May - Etta May Curtis was born in Parker, Fremont Co., Idaho
• 1907 - Ina Curtis was born in Parker, Fremont Co., Idaho
• 1910 March - the family moved back to Big Timber, Sweet Grass Co., Montana
• 1910 October - Orpha Curtis was born in Big Timber, Montana
• 1914 - Lovantia married Victor Wilhelm Roth at Bonner Co., Idaho
• 1915 - Florence Albertha Curtis married Clifford Ulysses Brown at Big Timber, Montana
• 1916 - the family built a new home in Big Timber, Montana
• 1917 March (in the Spring) - Ella May and the three youngest daughters, Etta, Ina, and Orpha moved to Long Beach, California due to Ella's declining health
• 1917 May - Grace Adaline Curtis married John Cleveland Dearth at Webb, Jasper Co., Missouri
• 1918 - Rushmer Guy married Teresa Morrice, place unknown, later divorced
• 1919 - Lovantia married Laverne Bently Shafer, but the marriage ended in divorce. No known children.
• 1921 - Luella Curtis married Harold Edwin Christensen, place unknown
• 1922 - Delbert Canfield Curtis married Kathleen Miller, later divorced, no known children
• 1925 - Ina Curtis married Alton Porter Spongberg, place unknown
• 1925 - Reed Josiah Curtis married Mildred Evelyn Simpson in Fresno, California
• 1927 - Ada Curtis married Johan Roy Tolve Johansen in Santa Ana, Orange Co., California
• 1930 - Orpha Curtis married Edward Harold Sidlitz, place unknown
• 1933 - Etta May Curtis married Robert Medford Berglund, later divorced
• 1937 - Lovantia married Frank Alonza Sinks, place unknown
• 1938 - William Rushmer Curtis died at age 72 in Long Beach, California
• 1941 - Etta May Curtis married March Roland Hindman, no known children
• 1942 - Delbert Canfield Curtis married Garnet Ravalli Prewin, no known children
• 1945 - Orpha Curtis married Walter George Reuter, place unknown, no known children
• 1947 - Grace Adaline Curtis died at age 53 in Los Angeles Co., California; burial place unknown
• 1949 - Rushmer Guy married Annie Elizabeth Gather Bowerman, no known children
• 1951 - Ella May Canfield Curtis died at age 77 in Long Beach, California
• 1961 - Reed Josiah Curtis died at age 83 in Oregon and was buried at Clovis Cemetery in Clovis, Fresno, California
• 1965 - Luella Curtis died at age 66 in Los Angeles Co., California; burial place unknown
• 1965 - Orpha Curtis died at age 54 in Los Angeles Co., buried at Long Beach, California
• 1965 - Reed Josiah Curtis married Dona Blanche Waters
• 1968 - Delbert Canfield Curtis died at age 67, place unknown, burial place unknown
• 1971 - Reed Josiah Curtis married Mildred A. Truesdale
• 1973 - Florence Curtis died at age 77 in Salt Lake City; buried at Monroe, Sevier Co., Utah
• 1977 - Lovantia Curtis died at age 85 at Long Beach, and was buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, Los Angeles Co., California
• 1977 - Rushmer Guy Curtis died at age 86 in Escondido, San Diego Co., California; Buried at Sunnyside Memorial Gardens in Escondido
• 1993 - Ada Curtis died at age 91 in Sandy, Utah; buried at Valhalla Mortuary, Burbank, California
• 1998 - Etta May Curtis died at age 92 in Fallbrook, San Diego Co., California. Buried where?
• 1999 - Ina Curtis died at age 92 in Reedley, Fresno Co., California. Buried where?
  

Louise and Leversa 11 years old in 1890

While I'm on the subject of unidentified photographs, here is another one. This one was in the antique Curtis family photograph album originally owned by Mary Lavantia Curtis, daughter of Benjamin Kingman Curtis and Sarah Lavantia Card. Written on the back of the photo is "Louise and Leversa age 11 years May 30th 1890." The girls are twins, but that is all we know about them. This photograph was taken in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our Curtis family lived in Tallmadge and Lamont, both of which were in Ottawa county, Michigan. Tallmadge is 11 miles away from Grand Rapids and Lamont is eighteen miles away. Even in the horse and buggy days, the trip into Grand Rapids was possible, although it likely took an entire day to get there.

Maybe the twins were friends of the Curtis family, maybe they were related, possibly cousins. Census records is an option to use when trying to find out who the girls are. The 1890 census was destroyed in a fire, so that's out. They would have been 21 years old during the 1900 census and 31 in 1910. I've tried to find them in the 1900 census, but no luck. If they both were living at home with their parents in 1900, we might be able to find them based entirely upon their given names. Without knowing what their surnames were, it will be harder to find them. It's also possible they were married before the 1900 census, so finding them based upon given name would be more difficult. If anyone knows anything about the the twins, please leave a comment on this blog post. Thank you!!!

I posted this photo on the Dead Fred Genealogy Photo Archive website. Maybe we will find out who these girls are!

I found this on my hard drive tonight

I decided to add another copy of this photograph to the blog. Tonight I found this picture on my hard drive saved as a TIFF image, 10 MB in size. I don't have a scan of the back, and there's no writing on the front. So we still don't know for sure who this is. Although I had saved the file as "WmRushCurtis" and unfortunately I don't remember who had the original. And yes, you guessed it, I can't find any notes that would remind me. Since this copy is larger in size than the other one that's already posted, when you click on this one, the details are much easier to see. I'll keep looking through my notes to see if I can find anything about the location of the original. You can see the other post about this photograph, including the image scanned from another copy of this photo at: Definitely a Curtis

Albert Andrew West

Albert Andrew West, son of Chauncey Walker West and Adaline Amanda Wright. Albert was born 10 June 1862 in Ogden, Weber, Utah. He married Julia Amelia Anderson on 16 April 1887 in Ogden. Albert and Julia had five children, three daughters and two sons:

• Elnora Amelia West (1887-1978)
• Albertha Amanda West (1889-1954)
• Albert Raymond West (1891-1911)
• Clarence Josiah West (1893-1976)
• Juanita May West (?-1967) 

Albert died when he was 31 years old, on 19 April 1894 in Preston, Franklin, Idaho. He was buried 21 April 1894 at the Ogden City Cemetery.

Ten years after Albert passed away, his wife Julia remarried. On 21 December 1904 in Big Timber, Sweet Grass, Montana, Julia Amelia Anderson West married Oscar Benjamin Curtis and they had four children.

• Anita M. Curtis (about 1904- ?)
• Oscar Andersen Curtis (1907-?)
• stillborn male child (1908)
• Jetta Lorraine Curtis (1910-1951)

At age 63, Oscar preceded Julia in death on 22 January 1921. Fifteen years later, Julia passed away on 27 October 1936. She was 70 years old and was buried in the Ogden City Cemetery.

the Reynolds family children, about 1898

The first four children of George Robert Reynolds and Sarah Ellenor Curtis:

Leila Belle Reynolds (1887-1981) was the oldest. She is seated holding her baby sister, Villa Philena Reynolds (1897-1989).

George Benjamin Reynolds (1891-1973) was the oldest son, and is standing on the left.

Card Lee Reynolds (1895-1958) was the third child born to the Reynolds family and is standing on the right.

William and Ella Curtis, about 1906

Ella May Canfield and William Rushmer Curtis

~ about 1905

The Curtis family moved from Big Timber, Sweet Grass, Montana to Parker, Fremont, Idaho sometime between 1904 and May 1906. The family portrait taken at the same time as this photograph included their son Reed Josiah who was born in 1904 in Montana. Reed appears to be about one or 1 1/2 years old in the family portrait, which would date this photo and the family photo to be about June 1905. According to Reed's personal history, the family moved in the spring. Unfortunately, even with all this information about the Curtis family during this time period, we still don't know where this photo was taken.

the Nick and Ella Curtis family

This photograph often appears in the homes of descendants from William Rushmer Curtis and Ella May Canfield. This is their family portrait with eight of their children. William and Ella had twelve children, including a son named Floyd Augustus who passed away just two months shy of being two years old. Based upon the ages of the children in this photo, we assume the eight children pictured are the first eight out of nine who were living about 1905 when this photo was likely taken.

• Rushmer Guy Curtis (standing, centered between mother and father)
  
• Lovantia Curtis - unidentified, but one of the three oldest girls in the photo
  
• Grace Adaline Curtis - unidentified, but one of the three oldest girls in the photo
  
• Florence Albertha Curtis - unidentified, but one of the three oldest girls in the photo
• Luella Curtis - (standing on the far right in front)
  
• Delbert Curtis - (standing in front of father)
  
• Ada Curtis - (standing in front, on the left by her mother)
  
• Reed Josiah Curtis - (seated on mother's lap, about one year old)

If the age estimate is right for Reed Josiah, then this picture was taken about 1905. One thing that Ada always talked about on days that she thought about her mother was the fact that she was raised as an only child but ended up having twelve children. Ella May was raised as an only child because her brother passed away when he was a baby. Ada would always say how amazed she was that her mother raised twelve children after being raised as an only child.  

The Curtis Boys

Nick Curtis and his sons. William Rushmer Curtis, aka Nick, proudly stands with his three boys. Date unknown. Please add a comment to this post if you know anything about the event that brought father and sons together for this photograph. From left to right are:

• Delbert Canfield Curtis
  
• Rushmer Guy Curtis
  
• William Rushmer Curtis
  
• Reed Josiah Curtis
  

Definitely a Curtis

The photographer was J. Pasevitch, located at 274 25th St. in Ogden, Utah. When was Mr. Pasevitch open for business in Ogden? We can search the city directories to find the answer to this question. Knowing when the photographer was open for business in Ogden will help us date when this photograph was taken. We have three different names for this person. Does anyone know for sure who this Curtis family member is? We will have to do some serious photo dating to help us identify who this person is.

1.  Friend Charles Curtis is written on the back of the photo in very light ink or pencil. If this photo was taken in 1890, Friend would have been 37 years old.

2.  Cyrus Jerome Curtis is written on the back of the photo in darker, more recent ink. If this photo was taken in 1890, Cyrus would have been 38 years old.

3.  Benjamin Kingman Curtis -  if this photo was taken about 1890, Benjamin would have been 62 years old. How old do you think the man is in this photo? When the Curtis family moved from Michigan to Utah, they first ended up in Ogden. We don't have exact dates, but suspect they were in Ogden from about 1884 to about 1895. One of Benjamin's descendants, through his son William Rushmer, has three charcoal drawings of the Curtis family. They each measure about 18" x 20" and are done on heavyweight cardboard. On the back of one is written "Family Photographs. Curtis Ancestry. Sarah Lavantia Card Curtis; Benjamin K. Curtis; William R. Curtis; and Ella May Canfield Curtis." The charcoal drawings for Benjamin and Sarah are on separate pieces of cardboard. The one of Sarah has already been uploaded to this blog. The third drawing is a composite of both William and Ella May when they were children, about 3 and 4 years old respectively. So we have four names and three charcoal drawings, which leaves us with the identity of the last one being that of Benjamin Kingman Curtis, the subject in question. With the conflicting identities for this picture, the identified charcoal drawings may not be enough evidence. More detective work is needed, as outlined below. 

Dating this photo by carefully looking at several details:

1.  Style of photograph. I believe this is a Cabinet Card, although I haven't seen the original in person. I have only seen this scanned image. What are the exact measurements of the original photograph? If it's a Cabinet Card, then it should measure about 6 x 4. If the photograph is a Carte de Visite, then it would measure roughly 2 1/2 x 3 inches.

2. The hair style. When did men style their hair the way this person has done?

3.  Clothing. When did men wear clothing like that worn by the person in the photo?

4.  How old do you think this person is?

5.  The photographer. When was this person in business?

6.  The photographer's imprint. How many lines? How ornate is the imprint?

7.  The border, corners, and the card colors both front and back. 

See Estimating When a Cabinet Card Image was Produced for more details in dating old Cabinet Cards. After we have a better idea about when this photo was taken, we can compare it to the ages of the four men to see if we can determine exactly who this person is.

Leila Belle Reynolds

Several years ago I met a second-cousin who was related to me through Benjamin Kingman Curtis. Her ancestor and mine were brother and sister, William Rushmer Curtis and Mary Lavantia Curtis Hobbs. This cousin let me borrow the antique photograph album that originally belonged to her ancestor Mary Lavantia. The album contained 30 Cabinet Card photographs and 21 Carte de Visite style photographs, the kind that were taken during the late 1800's and early 1900's. The antique album was a true goldmine. This is one of the Cabinet Cards that was in the album.

The child in the photo is Leila Belle Reynolds (1887-1981), daughter of George Robert Reynolds and Sarah Ellenor Curtis. She was the oldest child in the family and had four brothers and one sister:

• George Benjamin 1891-1973
• Card Lee 1895-1958
• Villa Philena 1897-1989
• Wiley Bradley 1898-1953
• Bennie 1899-?
  

Before I saw this photograph I didn't know anything about Sarah Ellenor's marriage or who her children were. I also did not know where the family ended up and where they were buried. The only thing I knew was that Sarah Ellenor Curtis married George Reynolds. This picture gave me the clue that I needed to solve the mysteries about this side of the Curtis family. You are probably asking what was so special about this picture that it helped solve several genealogical mysteries? The answer is simple. The bottom of the picture is known as the photographer's imprint, his name and location of his studio. The bottom right corner of the imprint says, "Bird Island, Minn." This told me that Leila Reynolds was actually in Bird Island, Minnesota when this picture was taken of her. I had no idea the family left Idaho and went back east, all the way to Minnesota. That was all I needed, the right location to go looking for records. The records I found and the living descendants that I eventually found was the result of this discovery. All I needed was knowing the right location to go looking for records - in Minnesota no less! Now we know the names George and Sarah's children, grandchildren, and also some living descendants. Plus we have a ton of pictures and documents for this entire branch of the Curtis family. And it all started with this single picture.