The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Jonathan Curtis was born in Jun 1754 in Spencer, Massachusetts, and baptized on the 19th day of that month. Among seven children, he was the only son of John and Mary (Spear) Curtis.
As the American Revolution dawned, Jonathan took up arms in the Fall of 1775 and served as a Massachusetts Militia Private during the Siege of Boston. His company commander was Captain John Cowls, and his regimental commander was Colonel Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge, who later served under Major General Benjamin Lincoln during the Pawlet Expedition.
In September 1777, Jonathan commenced service for a second time as a Massachusetts Militia Private during the Saratoga Campaign. Specifically, he served in the Fifth Worcester County Militia Regiment, which Colonel Jonathan Holman, a Continental Army veteran, commanded. In addition, Jonathan’s company commander, Captain John Nichols. The Fifth Worcester County Regiment departed Charlton, Massachusetts, on 27 September 1777 to reinforce the growing army commanded by Major General Horatio Gates at Saratoga. Assigned to a Massachusetts Militia brigade commanded by Brigadier-General Jonathan Warner, it is unclear whether Jonathan and the rest of the Fifth Worcester County Regiment arrived in time to participate in the Second Battle of Saratoga on 7 October 1777. However, they undoubtedly would have witnessed the surrender of General John Burgoyne’s army on October 17th.
Following this service, Jonathan returned to Charlton and, in January 1778, married his first wife, Dolly Wilson, who passed away shortly thereafter. Jonathan then married Sybil (aka Sybilla) Haven in October 1780 and went on to have three known children:
Eli was born in 1784.
Lucinda was born in 1793
Ezra was born in 1797
After the War of 1812, the Curtis clan was among the mass migration of New Englanders who went to Ohio, where they quickly became an established and prosperous pioneer family. Jonathan and Sybil first lived in Marietta, Ohio but later moved to nearby Carlisle, which was located in what is now Noble County.
The last historical reference to Jonathan was in 1833 when he appeared on a Noble County tax list. His year of death is unclear, but it is believed that Jonathan is buried in the Curtis-Ridge Cemetery, located in Noble County’s Stock Township. Considering his Patriotic service from Boston to Saratoga, and his noteworthy role as an early Ohio pioneer, Jonathan Curtis’ life was a life well lived.
Author: Sean Michael Heuvel
Jonathan Curtis was born in June 1754 in Spencer, Massachusetts, and baptized on the 19th day of that month. Among seven children, he was the only son of John Curtis (1708-about 1786) and Mary Spear (1715- about 1786), who both descended from old New England families.
As the American Revolution dawned, Jonathan took up arms in the Fall of 1775 and served as a Massachusetts Militia Private during the Siege of Boston. His company commander was Captain John Cowls (1731-1811), and his regimental commander was Colonel Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge (1739-1819), who later served under Major General Benjamin Lincoln during the Pawlet Expedition.
In September 1777, Jonathan commenced service for a second time as a Massachusetts Militia Private during the Saratoga Campaign. Specifically, he served in the Fifth Worcester County Militia Regiment that was commanded by Colonel Jonathan Holman (1732-1814), a Continental Army veteran who was an ancestor of U.S. President William Howard Taft. In addition, Jonathan’s company commander, Captain John Nichols (1734-1812), was the father-in-law of a niece of Brigadier General Rufus Putnam. The Fifth Worcester County Regiment departed Charlton, Massachusetts, on 27 September 1777 to reinforce the growing army commanded by Major General Horatio Gates at Saratoga. Assigned to a Massachusetts Militia brigade commanded by Brigadier General Jonathan Warner (1741-1803), it is unclear whether Jonathan and the rest of the Fifth Worcester County Regiment arrived in time to participate in the Second Battle of Saratoga on 7 October 1777. However, they undoubtedly would have witnessed General John Burgoyne’s army surrender on 17 October.
Following this service, Jonathan returned to Charlton and, in January 1778, married his first wife, Dolly Wilson, who passed away shortly thereafter. Jonathan then married Sybil (aka Sybilla) Haven in October 1780 and went on to have three known children:
Eli (1784-1852)
Lucinda (1793-1867)
Ezra (1797-1859)
After the War of 1812, the Curtis clan was among the mass migration of New Englanders who went to Ohio, where they quickly became an established and prosperous pioneer family. Jonathan and Sybil first lived in Marietta, Ohio but later moved to nearby Carlisle, which was located in what is now Noble County. The last historical reference to Jonathan was in 1833 when he appeared on a Noble County tax list. His year of death is unclear, but it is believed that Jonathan is buried in the Curtis-Ridge Cemetery in Noble County’s Stock Township. Considering his Patriotic service from Boston to Saratoga, and his noteworthy role as an early Ohio pioneer, Jonathan Curtis’ life was a life well lived.
Author: Michael B. Gunn
Born on June 17, 1754 in Spenser, Worcester County, MA. He served as a Private with Captains' Nichols and Cowls Companies, Colonels' Holman and Woodbridge Regiments, on the Massachusetts Line in the Revolutionary War. He married Sybil Haven; children: Ezra, Lucinda and Eli. He died after 1830 and buried at Curtis Ridge Cemetery, Monroe Co., OH. In the 1840 Censes he was living in Washington Township, Belmont County, OH. 56th-77th Annual Reports DAR. Senate documents (US Congress, Senate). Government Printing Office: Washington, DC; "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the American Revolution", Vol. 4, pp. 264, 281. DAR Patriot Index Centennial Edition, Part 1, p. 737. NSDAR # 793706 & # 748429. No tombstone.
Send a biographical sketch of your patriot!
Patriot biographies must be the original work of the author, and work submitted must not belong to another person or group, in observance with copyright law. Patriot biographies are to be written in complete sentences, follow the established rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, be free of typographical errors, and follow a narrative format. The narrative should unfold in a logical manner (e.g. the narrative does not jump from time period to time period) or have repeated digressions, or tell the history of the patriot's line from the patriot ancestor to the author. The thinking here is that this is a patriot biography, not a lineage report or a kinship determination project or other report published in a genealogy journal. The biography should discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, where the service was rendered, whether this was a specific state or Continental service, as well as significant events (as determined by the author) of the patriot's life. This is the entire purpose of a patriot's biography.
Additional guidelines around the Biography writeup can be found here:
Send your submission1, in a Microsoft Word compatible format, to patriotbios@sar.org for inclusion in this space 1Upon submission of a patriot biography, the patriot biography becomes the property of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and may be edited to conform to the patriot biography submission standards.