Southern By Association; J. S. Curtis Revealed

I know we're all disappointed when published errors are made apparent, but I felt I should share some new scholarship on what was previously assumed to be a Memphis, Tennessee silversmith.  I don't wish to discredit the hard work and noble efforts of prior historians, but I hate to see pieces enter the market with spurious attributions, perpetuating misinformation and applying false values based solely upon a presumed but incorrect Southern origin.

Coin Silver Covered Sugar Bowl marked by J S Curtis, image courtesy Neal Auction & Liveauctioneers

No matter how wrong an attribution for a particular artisan might be in the limited but growing field of research into American, primarily Southern, decorative arts, it is hard to refute printed information.  For we trust books and periodicals, thinking them written and edited by "professionals" who know their business better than we, the reader or modest student of a field of study.  But that is a limited and confining mode of thought, for it discourages discovery.  And, the simple fact is that published assessments of art and antiques can contain error. Some, as in recent revelations such as this, reflect dated "good faith" conclusions based upon limited access in years past to data which is more readily available now. We must forgive any such author for middling mistakes when primary sources were not at hand.

Sadly, some erroneous conjecture is given editorial and institutional "approval" merely because the author has professional associations and connections that  infer a superior grasp on a particular subject, whether or not they are adequately versed and read on the matter at hand.  The lesson is to read, and where questions arise, never take unsubstantiated or undocumented conclusions as valid due only to the credentials of the publication itself.  A good student is a good reader, and they should be cued to findings for which no analytical research is cited.  Accurate findings should reflect an underlying logical process of search and discovery.  Where that is missing, beware and do not rush to accept in its entirety because the author is a professional (paid) historian or supported by the institution they write for. 

Such is so very true in regards to the still infantile scholarship into Southern-made, and retailed, silver of the middle 19th century.  Initials books on the subject are valuable resources still, but a lot has been learned in the past 20-30 years, allowing us to take a more critical look at old assumptions and seeing where honest mistakes might have been made, setting the record straight now for old and new collectors alike.

For those passionate about silver from the "Volunteer State,"  there has been for some years now a hesitancy regarding a plethora of examples of surviving silver that some assumed, understandably, were manufactured in Tennessee.  None marked "Memphis" as was so typical in that city, and not a single piece with provenance to that state, yet dozens of examples of antebellum American silver have been labeled as originating there, thanks entirely to an honest, educated assumption based upon a single Census entry and the confusing mark of a legitimate silver maker of the same era but a differing region whose name was, sadly, a tad too similar. 

There are a couple of related 19th firms that the varied "J S Curtis" marks would be associated with which now need clarification and distinction from the very young salesman of the same working name that apparently plied a similar trade very briefly in Memphis, Tennessee but for whom there is NO indication he was ever a trained silversmith or even marked an example of silver made by another artisan for resale. 

James S. Curtis, Jr. was the 2nd son, and 2nd child, born ca. 1830 in South (or North) Carolina to Dr. James S. & M. S. Curtis.  In 1850, at the age of 20, he was enumerated by the Federal Census for Tennessee in his father's Memphis household as a "silversmith"  along with his older brother, J. C. Curtis, a medical student.  A younger brother, J. B. Curtis, was apparently the first of the Curtis children born in Tennessee in 1838, indicating the family had resided there for only about 12 years, as an older sister was born in South Carolina in 1834, the last child born prior to their removal from the Carolinas.

It is interesting that the 1850 Census offers no real estate value for Dr. Curtis, substantiating the theory he was yet a fairly young physician who had not yet established himself in the Memphis community and who owned no office or home.   As well, despite the occupational reference for James Jr. as a silversmith, he also has no real estate value recorded, inferring he owned no shop but was rather more likely working for one of the major jewelry houses there in the city such as F. H. Clark or Clark's partner and then major competitor, J. E. Merriman.  Confirming this theory, the Memphis City Directory for the prior year (1849) lists neither father nor son, implying that they had only recently arrived in Memphis (though living elsewhere in Tennessee for a few years).  The men are likewise absent from the 1855-56 City Directory, confirming a short tenure for the family in the city proper.

These facts call to question the accurate attribution to James Curtis' hand of a large grouping of sophisticated American silver hollow ware that survives bearing a mark of "J. S. Curtis" or "J. S. Curtis & Co."  If James Curtis in 1850, about the time that all the surviving examples of silver bearing a mark with a name similar to his, was but an employee, for a very short time, in an existing jewelry shop in Memphis where the owner's name, not the employee's, would have been stamped on items sold, then is the attribution of the mark to him during his residency in Memphis logical?

A further look at Federal Census records would further dispel the notion that James S. Curtis Jr. was ever a working silversmith capable of manufacturing the many fine pieces of silver credited to him.  Long before turning up in the 1880 California Census, the family had relocated to Yolo, California, where  J. C. Curtis resided in that year with his brother  J. S., head of household, each designated as a "farmer." So, how and when did this transition take place? 

We know from the City Directory for Memphis that the Curtis family had left the city by 1855.  Per the Sacramento Daily Union of 10 Aug 1855, Dr. James Curtis Sr. already resided by that date in Yolo where he was active in local politics as a "Know Nothing" party member and was a local farmer, raising peanuts & tobacco (per the same paper, 29 Sept. 1863).  James. S. Curtis, the physician turned farmer, is listed as a member of the California State Agricultural Society in 1859, and  J. S. Curtis, again we assume Sr., is listed as a member of the California State Assembly from Yolo County from 1857-58.

 Final proof of an extreme vocational change comes in the Washington Township, Sacramento, California Federal Census for 1860, where James S. Curtis Jr. is listed for the second, and final, time in his brief career as a "jeweler," now residing in Yolo County, CA at his father's home (as already inferred, occupation a farmer). Older brother and former medical student J. C. Curtis is also shown as a farmer in the household. (As well, per the same 1860 California Census entry, we see that James, 29, was born in NC, but his next youngest sibling Thomas, a clerk, was born in Tennessee in 1835, while brother Edwin was born in Mississippi in 1837, better establishing the Curtis family migrations prior to settling permanently in California.)

It would seem that the elder James Curtis went west to follow his brother, attorney and noted early California judge N. Greene Curtis.  Judge Curtis' obituary in the 13 July 1897 San Francisco Call said he was born in Beulah, NC, and had come to California in 1850.  The Sacramento Daily Union went on to explain, "He went to Memphis, Tenn. in his youth..."  Dr. Curtis himself died 18 Nov 1872 per the Stockton Daily Independent.

There is no evidence that James Curtis Jr. ever returns to Tennessee in any vocational capacity, much less as a silversmith.  On 13 Sept. 1866 he married Mary Ann Reavis in Yolo, CA and, as already explained, the couple resides there into the 1880s.  

So, what about all that silver marked by J. S. Curtis?

The legitimate and well documented silversmith Joseph S. Curtis, (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~silversmiths/makers/silversmiths/220859.htm) began his career as a Yankee spectacle maker in Hampton, CT during the 1830s,  accounting for the eye glasses which turn up in abundance in the antique silver marketplace.  The rest of the story of Joseph Curtis' career as a silversmith then accounts for the huge amount of hollowware that surfaces bearing the name of an obscure Mississippi/Tennessee jewelry store clerk with a similar name.  

Coin Silver Spectacles bearing the mark of J S Curtis, image courtesy Neal Auction & Liveauctioneers

Joseph Stewart Curtis, a  brother of  better known Hartford, Connecticut silversmith Frederick Curtis (husband of Ms. Wealthy Brown Curtis), ultimately expanded his spectacle & jewelry interests into finer silverware production, even becoming a partner with his brother(F. Curtis & Co) by mid-century.  (It appears an 1840 fire devastated the Curtis factory in Hampton, precipitating his move to Glastonbury, CT.)   Below is a letter from Vermont/California silversmith/jeweler Horace P.  Janes which provides some documentation:

Letter to F. CURTIS & Co. in Hartford CT
Private Collection, courtesy of silver scholar William Voss

San Francisco April 30^th 1850

F. Curtis & Co.
         Gentlemen –
                           Your Mr. J. S. Curtis in New York put in my charge to be transported to this place, a trunk containing merchandise. I arrived here with the trunk, per steamer Ravenna this day one week ago. – Mr. Curtis omitted to procure me from the Custom House, New York, a manifest of the goods, and as all trunks arriving at this port from Panama have to undergo Custom House inspection, this omission occasioned me a great deal of trouble. On my arrival I was forbidden to take the trunk ashore without a Custom House permit. I came on shore and looked about for Mr. Geo. May, the consignee. I spent two days in making inquiries and looking him up, but entirely with out success. As it was necessary to have the trunk landed, I broke open the Consignees letter to look for an

— page two —invoice of the goods, which likewise Mr. Curtis omitted to furnish me. I had previously put a letter in the P. O. addressed to Mr. May requesting him to call upon me and get the goods, and I waited to hear from him till the very last moment that the goods were allowed to remain on board the steamer. On looking at the invoice I saw that the name of “Curtis, Randall & May,” and for this firm I have looked about and inquired, equally without success. – As the last resort, and to prevent the goods being landed and stored at enormous expense, I undertook the Custom House formalities myself. They are these: I was obliged to give a bond in $180, to procure from the Collector at New York a manifest of the goods certifying that they are of American manufacturer &c, -- I got a friend of mine as a personal favor to go as my security on the bond, and upon this was allowed a permit to take them ashore. The manifest must be produced as this port in six months from the date pf the bond, April 18, or the bond is forfeit. You will please therefore take an inventory of the goods to the Collector in NY and

— page three —get the necessary document made out and forward it to me by the very next mail if possible. – No trunks, whether containing baggage or merchandise are allowed to land in this port without inspection. I was therefore obliged to open the trunk to the Custom House Officer and cut the tin enclosure, to show him that the contents corresponded with the invoice. – This exposure compelled me also to pay freight on the trunks to the steamer. I have done the best possible under the circumstances, and subjected myself to a great deal of trouble and expense, which I should have felt very unwilling to do but for my former acquaintance and friendship with your Mr. J. S. Curtis.
    I have the trunk at present under a cheap storage, and shall continue so for a time till I become satisfied that your agents have “vamoosed,” which I think is most likely. – Their names or either of them can be found in the directory, and some of our oldest merchants have not known anything of them. It must be three months before I can hear from you, and if I can not find the consignees, and I can make a profitable sale for you, I shall take the liberty of doing so for you.

— page four —I am in very great haste, and you must therefore excuse further from me at present

I am very truly                                

Your Obed^t Sev^t            

H. P. Janes

Clearly then, the Connecticut Yankee was the large-scale silver producer to whom we must credit everything from coin silver eyeglasses to elaborate pitchers that survive marked by "J. S. Curtis." 

For those interested in genealogical details, Joseph Curtis married Julia May (1809-Aug. 1873), d/o Samuel May & Clarissa Smith.  Joseph Stewart Curtis, and his fellow silversmith and brother Frederick, were two of 10 children of Frederick Curtis Sr. & Persis Brown Curtis of Hampton, CT.  (Frederick Curtis Sr. m., 1784, Persis Brown (b. 1767). Frederick Curtis (1761-1830) enlisted, 1777, and served until 1781, as private in Captain Lee's company, Col. John Durkee's Connecticut regiment. In 1819 he applied for a pension, which was allowed. He died in Chesterfield, Mass. Also No. 62464. -------------------- A Patriot of the American Revolution for CONNECTICUT with the rank of Private. DAR Ancestor #: A028857)

 It seems the Joseph & Julia Curtis in later years moved to California, I assume taking his business there as might be evidenced by the letter of H. P. Janes.  They had a son, Stewart May Curtis. 

Anyhow, after all that rambling, current silver and regional decorative arts scholars may of course determine their own conclusions, but personally I find no association between Joseph S Curtis the New England silversmith and James Curtis who worked as a jeweler for a few short years in the state of Tennessee.  The only tie between the two men would be their initials and the fact they both ultimately resided in California.  And, it is highly unlikely that James marked ANY retailed silver, as he never had a shop of his own during his stay in Tennessee.    For those still in doubt, though, I would recommend asking MESDA to verify whether or not Dr. Ben Caldwell's original attribution is correct.  They could, with their resources and far more educated & experienced research associates & contributors, make a final determination and settle a long-standing concern amongst students of Southern silver.