Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

Philo and Huldah (Hubbard) Curtis, was
born September 27, 1784, and died April
20, 1852. He married Sarah Ann Bennett,
daughter of Amos Bennett, of Newtown,
November 3, 1803, and she died October
29, 1858. Nichols Curtis was educated in
the public schools and the Cheshire Academy.
He was a farmer by occupation and
raised sheep on a large scale. A quiet,
modest, retiring man, he was very domes-
tic in his tastes. His education was con-
siderably better than most men of his
vicinity, and he was often called upon to
draw up legal papers and his advice was
sought on many matters.
(VIII) Julius Bolevar Curtis, only son
of Nichols and Sarah Ann (Bennett) Curtis,
was born December 10, 1825, in New-
town, Connecticut. He attended the
public schools of Newtown, the Newtown
Academy, and a private academy. He
studied alone to a large extent, and under
the preceptorship of the Hon. Edward
Hinman, of Southbury, he took up the
study of law. That was in the year 1846,
and Mr. Curtis walked fourteen miles
every day to recite his law lessons. Subsequently
he studied with Isaac M.
Sturges and the Hon. Amos S. Treat. His
legal studies were completed at a law
school in Ballston Springs, Saratoga
county. New York, and in 1850 he was
admitted to the Fairfield county bar. Mr.
Curtis engaged in practice in Greenwich,
Connecticut, and was recognized as one of
the foremost men of his profession in the
State. His knowledge of substantiative
law was broad and deep, and he was a
strong pleader. In ability and accomplishment
he was comparable with the
best lawyers at any period in the history
of the bar of this State. He had an unusually
attractive personality, combined
with great keenness of intellect that was
allied with the judicial temperament, and
won enviable reputation as a strong trial
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370
lawyer. In 1864 Mr. Curtis removed to
Stamford, Connecticut. In his youth he
had been a strong Abolitionist and later a
Free Soiler. He had an extensive correspondence
with Horace Greeley, and
also wrote many strong papers on im-
portant issues of the day. He voted for
Van Buren, and later was a member of
the Republican party. In 1858 and i860
he was a member of the State Senate;
from 1861 to 1864 he served as a member
of the military committee of the town of
Greenwich, at whose meetings he was a
very regular attendant. From 1867 to
1870 Mr. Curtis served as judge of probate
in Stamford; from 1885 to 1889 he was
vice-president of the American Bar Asso-
ciation, and also served as chairman of
the Fairfield County Bar Association.
For several years he was a director of the
Stamford Street Railway Company.
Mr. Curtis entered actively into patri-
otic work at home, and was a warm per-
sonal friend of Connecticut's great Civil
War Governor, W. A. Buckingham, and
was frequently in conference with him.
Mr. Curtis was an earnest, industrious
and thoughtful man. He gave the best
that was in him to the task in hand,
whether a case at law or a matter of
public policy and interest. He was strong
in his attachments. To hear him talk of
his friends or of the Republican party, or
of the bar association, was to feel con-
vinced that love and loyalty were strong
traits of his character. He loved books
and literature, for he had a genuine appreciation
of all true culture. He was
especially devoted to his profession, and
in its practice financial considerations
were entirely secondary. He was not a
lover of money and was not influenced in
his views or activities by mercenary mo-
tives. Such a personality cannot fail to
win and hold friends, and Mr. Curtis was
loved and trusted by all who knew him.