Page:One of a thousand.djvu/171

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CURTIS. CUSHMAX. 157 connection with William Gardner Reed, under the firm name of Reed <S: Curtis. In 1889 he was elected city clerk of Boston. EDWIN U. CURTIS. Mr. Curtis was secretary of the Repub- lican city committee in 1888. He is a mem- ber of Rabboni Lodge, F. & A. M., St. Matthew's Chapter, R. A. M., and of St. Omer Commandery of Knights Templar. He is a director of the Roxbury Club, and assistant secretary of Bowdoin College Alumni Association, Boston. Mr. Curtis is unmarried. CURTIS, GEORGE, was born in West- minster, Worcester county, September 3, 1817. His mother was Lydia Gilbert of Sharon. His father, Francis Curtis, was a native of Walpole, the fifth in descent from William Curtis, the ancestor who came from England, September 16, 1632. The subject of this sketch was educated in the common schools and academy of his native town. At the age of seventeen he left his home to learn the carpenter's trade of William Merrifield of Worcester, where he remained until twenty years of age, when he went to Boston. He continued working at his trade, with intervals of teaching school, until the age of twenty- eight, when he engaged in business for him- self as builder, in Roxbury. Many of the large buildings destroyed by the fire of '72 were built by him, as were also many fine residences in the towns of Milton, Canton, Waltham, Stoneham. He served as alder- man four years in Roxbury before it was annexed to Boston. After the annexation, he was also alderman of Boston during the years i88i-'82 and '84. He was overseer of the poor in Roxbury and Boston nearly a score of years. In the year 1857, owing to a partial sun-stroke, he left the building business and engaged in the lumber trade. Mr. Curtis represented his district in the General Court for the years 1S61 and '62, and again in 1886. He was connected with several military organizations, and was actively engaged in enlisting soldiers for the war. He was commander of the Roxbury Horse Guards for four years, and was subsequently appointed major of cavalry. He retired from active business in 1883, succeeded by the firm of Curtis & Pope. He is director in the Rockland Bank, and one of the trustees of the Roxbury Club. Mr. Curtis was married in Fitchburg, September iS, 1S45, to Martha Ann, daugh- ter of Joseph and Susan Thurston Upton, of Fitchburg. Of this union are four children living: Henry Clifford, Martha Gertrude (now Mrs. Cate), Edwin Upton, and Nelson Curtis. CUSHMAN, SOLOMON FRANCIS, son of Solomon and Harriet (Adams) Cush- man, was born in Monson, Piscataquis county, Maine, November iS, 1826. For his early education he was depend- ent upon the public schools and the acad- emy. Through his boyhood, besides the time required for study, his leisure hours were expended upon the farm, and in early youth he found employment working in the Maine pineries, and for seven years was engaged as a clerk in a country store. In 1856 he became connected as book- keeper with the Monson Woolen Manu- facturing Company, at Monson. In 1866 Mr. Cushman formed a co-partnership with Horatio Lyon, succeeding to the business of the Monson Woolen Manufactory. This co-partnership continued for twelve years, when he purchased the entire business and became sole proprietor, which position he still holds, being an extensive manufacturer of woolen goods. On the 16th of November, 1852, Mr. Cushman was married in Monson, Maine, to Candace Brown Packard, and is now the father of six children : Edward Dick- inson, Rufus Packard, Solomon Fred.,