George Curtis (February 23, 1796 – January 9, 1856), was an American banker and politician who served as Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1837 to 1839.
Early life
Curtis was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on February 23, 1796.[1] He was the eldest son of David Curtis and Susannah (née Stone) Curtis.[2]
His paternal grandparents were Elizabeth (née Heywood) Curtis and John Curtis of Worcester, a direct descendant of soldier and politician Ephraim Curtis (himself a nephew of Ephraim Curtis, the prominent colonial soldier who fought in King Philip's War).[2] His maternal grandparents were Dorothy (née Fletcher) Stone and Lt. Samuel Stone of Rutland, Massachusetts.[2]
While in Providence, he served as a member of the Providence school committee from 1828 to 1837, Warden of the Second Ward of Providence; President of the Common Council from 1834 to 1837, Representative from Providence to the General Assembly from May 1832 to October 1832 and, again, in August 1835, serving through January 1839. In October 1837, he was chosen Speaker of the Assembly and served in that role until January 1839 when he moved to New York. From June 1836 to May 1837, he was also a bank commissioner.[2]
Career in New York City
Upon the formation of the Bank of Commerce of New York in 1839, he moved to New York City and became cashier of the Bank, holding that position until 1852 when he resigned to become the senior partner of the private banking house of Curtis, Beals & Fearing.[2]
In 1854, upon the formation of the Continental Bank of New York, he was became president of the bank, holding that position until his death in 1856. In 1841, he was elected a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce of which he served as First Vice-president from 1854 until his death. He was heavily involved in the establishment of the New York Clearing House Association in 1853, of which he drafted the constitution, which was adopted in 1854.[3] In that organization, he served as chairman of various committees. He was a trustee of several public and private trusts in New York and served as a member of the finance committee and vice-president of the New England Society of New York for a number of years.[2]
On March 6, 1821, Curtis was first married to Mary Elizabeth Burrill (1798–1826), a daughter of U.S. SenatorJames Burrill Jr. and Sally (née Arnold) Burrill. Before her death in July 1826, they were the parents of:[2]
Edward Curtis (1838–1912), a physician who performed the autopsy on the body of President Abraham Lincoln with Assistant Surgeon J. J. Woodward; he married Augusta Lawler Stacey, daughter of Davis Bevan Stacey, in 1864.[2]
John Green Curtis (1844–1913), a physiologist who was one of the founding members of the American Physiological Society,[7] he married Martha (née McCook) Davis, widow of Dupont Alexander Davis and daughter of Maj. Daniel McCook, of Ohio. After her death in 1897, he married Netta Easter Blackwood, daughter of Henry James Blackwood, of Norwich, in 1902.[8]
Curtis died in Jacksonville, Florida, where he had gone with his wife and youngest son to restore his health, on January 9, 1856.[1][9] His body was returned to Providence where he was buried in the North Burial Ground there.[2] His widow died in New York City in December 1874.[2]
^Appel, Toby A. (1987). "2". In Brobeck, John R.; Reynolds, Orr E.; Appel, Toby A. (eds.). History of the American Physiological Society the First Century, 1887-1987. New York, NY: Springer New York. p. 16. ISBN9781461475767.
^"Marriages". The Times. No. 36955. London. 19 December 1902. p. 1.
^"Deaths". The Bankers' Magazine, and Statistical Register. Wm. Crosby and H.P. Nicholes: 698. 1862. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
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