John Curtis, Jr.

Quick Facts

Significance:

Clothing dealer, abolitionist, 1850 Boston Vigilance Committee member

Place of Birth:

Hanover, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:

July 10 1817

Date of Death:

April 7, 1900

Place of Burial:

Gloucester, Massachusetts

Cemetery Name:

Mount Adnah Cemetery

Boston clothing dealer and abolitionist, John Curtis, Jr. served in the 1850 Boston Vigilance Committee, an organization that assisted freedom seekers coming to and through Boston on the Underground Railroad.

Born in 1817, John Curtis Jr. grew up in an activist household in the South Shore community of Hanover, Massachusetts. His father served as President of the Hanover Anti-Slavery Society. Like his father, Curtis embraced the anti-slavery movement and closely associated with some of the era’s leading abolitionists. According to one account:

Both father and son early espoused the cause of freedom for the slaves, and both were on intimate terms with Thompson, Garrison, Phillips, and others of that magnificent period. The father was with Mr. Garrison, when the mob tried to destroy that glorious life.¹

Curtis eventually moved to Chelsea, just outside of Boston. He married his wife, Marion Fuller, in 1845 and together they had a daughter, Alice. He established a successful clothing dealership in Boston on Ann Street. As one remembered him, Curtis "by honest, intelligent work; by giving to his customers apparel that adorned and endured, gained their confidence..."² He made a very good living for his family which also allowed him to contribute to causes dear to him. 

In addition to his work and family life, Curtis involved himself in the reform movements of the day. According to a later account, "He was educated in the school of sympathy for the oppressed, in the school of service for others."³ For example, he donated to various causes and organizations including the New England Anti-Slavery Society and petitioned against the death penalty.⁴ 

In 1850, Curtis helped freedom seekers escaping on the Underground Railroad by joining the third and final iteration of the Boston Vigilance Committee. Among other things, the Vigilance Committee raised funds for shelter, clothing, and other necessities for those escaping slavery. Records of the Vigilance Committee indicate that Curtis donated money to the organization in November 1851, and that the Committee reimbursed him $12 "for clothes for Abraham Galloway" in 1861. Other than these two entries, however, Curtis's further involvement in the Vigilance Committee and larger Underground Railroad has yet to be uncovered.⁵ 

In his later years, following the death of his wife, Curtis and his daughter traveled abroad and enjoyed the wealth that he had acquired as a Boston businessman. Yet he continued to give back to the community. In 1887, he donated 1800 books to his hometown of Hanover to establish a Free Library. Additionally, he bequeathed $15,000 to the town to build a library, but only upon the death of his daughter. After his death, however, his daughter changed the plans because she wished to see the library built in her lifetime. She gave the town the promised funds along with additional money to construct the John Curtis Free Library, which is still in use today in Hanover.⁶

John Curtis, Jr. died in 1900. His remains are interred in Mount Adnah Cemetery in Gloucester, Massachusetts.⁷ 

If you are a descendant or researcher of John Curtis, Jr. and can provide any further details of his work on the Vigilance Committee or in the larger Underground Railroad network, please contact us.

Footnotes

1. "Hanover Anti-Slavery Society," Liberator, May 31, 1839, 2; Jedediah Dwelly and John F. Simmons, History of the Town of Hanover, Massachusetts with Family Genealogies (Plymouth, MA: Memorial Press, 1910), Archive.org, 133.
2. Dwelly and Simmons, 134; Boston City Directory, 1850-1851, Boston Athenaeum, 130, NPS map geolocate Curtis at the approximate location of his business address in 1850: 6 Ann Street.
3. Dwelly and Simmons, 134.
4. Liberator, June 5, 1846, 2; Liberator, June 10, 1859, 3; "Clerical Hangmen," Liberator, February 9, 1844, 3.
5. Francis Jackson, Treasurers Account Book of the Boston Vigilance Committee, November 17, 1851 and 1861, Internet Archive, pages 75, 70.
6. "History," Town of Hanover Massachusetts, accessed May 2024, hanover-ma.gov; Dwelling and Simmons, 131.
7. "John Curtis," Find a Grave, accessed May 2024, Find a Grave Memorial.