The Delahorne/Curtis Family History

Filley · ◉ direct ancestor

⧉ Twin

♀Mary Filley

Born 1752, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. Died after 1790.

Also recorded as Mary Filly, Mary Philley.

Mary Filley (9 July 1752 – after 1790) was a Connecticut-born woman who married John Curtis at Torrington in 1769, moved with him to Worthington, Massachusetts, and was left a widow there in 1790 at the head of a household of young children. Her husband’s sister Marcy Curtis also married into the Filley family, so two Curtis–Filley marriages joined the same two families in one generation. She was the fourth great-grandmother of Frederic Roger Curtis (1928–2007), through her son Jeremiah Curtis (1770–1810).

Early life

Mary Filley was born on 9 July 1752 at Windsor, in Hartford County, Connecticut Colony, a twin with her brother Joseph, the daughter of William Filley (1709–1756) and Abiah Millington (1711–1766). Her parents had married at Windsor in 1730, and her grandfather Josiah Filley was a long-settled Windsor colonist. By 1754 the family had moved to Torrington: an abstract of the Torrington church registers records William Filley and his wife Abiah admitted to the church on 17 July 1754, and their daughter Remembrance, Mary’s younger sister, baptized there on 11 August that year. Mary was about four when her father died and about fourteen when she lost her mother.

Marriage and family

She married John Curtis (1748–1790), son of Zebulon Curtis and Lydia Cole of Torrington, on 4 June 1769 at Torrington, when she was sixteen. The town’s vital records give 4 June; the church record, which names the minister, the Reverend Nathaniel Roberts, gives 5 June. On 19 August 1770 she owned the covenant and was admitted to the Torrington church, the same day her first son, Jeremiah, was baptized.

The couple had seven children, born between 1770 and 1781. The first six were entered in the Torrington records; the youngest, Remembrance, born in 1781, was not, because by then the family had moved to Worthington, in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The name Remembrance was the same as that of Mary’s own younger sister.

Marcy Curtis, John’s sister, married a Filley and lived at Winchester, Connecticut; she had died by June 1790, when her father made his will, which a published family genealogy summarizes as naming the “children of his daughter Marcy Filley late of Winchester deceased”.

Widowhood

John Curtis died at Worthington between 26 June and 4 September 1790; on 4 September Mary, signing by mark, declined to take administration of his estate and asked the probate judge to appoint Ezra Starkweather. The federal census of Worthington that year lists “Mary Curtis” as head of a household of two men over sixteen, three boys under sixteen and four females, with her eldest son Jeremiah, newly married, in the entry immediately next to hers. The three boys fit her sons Lorrain, Thomas and Remembrance; the four females are one more than Mary and her two known daughters, Huldah and Mary, and the records do not say who the fourth was.

A genealogy of Chesterfield, Massachusetts, families records that all of John Curtis’s children later moved from Massachusetts to North Norwich, in Chenango County, New York. Whether Mary went with them is not recorded. No record of her death has been found; her petition of September 1790 is the last record of her.

Notes

An older family chart gave her birthplace as Torrington and her death as before 1798 at Winchester. The Filley household was at Torrington only from about 1754, and the Winchester death appears to belong instead to her sister-in-law Marcy Curtis Filley, “late of Winchester” in 1790. Because the two women carried the same married connection in opposite directions, one a Filley who married a Curtis and the other a Curtis who married a Filley, their records are easily confused.

The Windsor town record of her birth names her parents as “William & Mary”. A history of Windsor published in 1859 lists her and Joseph among the children of William and Abiah, and no other William Filley of an age to marry lived there, so the “Mary” is taken as a clerk’s slip. A death of about 1815 at Windsor, given in some family trees, belongs to another Mary Filley, the wife of Luke Filley, who died in June 1815 aged 67.

Family time line

◉ Mary Filley 1752–aft 1790 ⧉
◉ John Curtis 1748–bef 1790
Married 4 Jun 1769, Torrington, Litchfield, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America, Torrington, Connecticut Colony
◉ Jeremiah Curtis 1770–aft 1810
○ Huldah T. Curtis 1772–1872
○ Junia Curtis 1774–1831
○ Lorrain Curtis 1775–1850
○ Thomas Curtis 1778–abt 1848
○ Mary Mercy Curtis 1779–
○ Remembrance Curtis Sr. 1781–1840

Recorded events

EventWhenWhereEvidence ?on record - the record itself, its image, or a transcript or printed copy of it has been read
from a compiled source - an index, a printed genealogy or a memorial page says so
not yet documented - in the family record, no source attached yet
Birth 9 Jul 1752 Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America from a compiled source
Living at
widow of John Curtis, Worthington; declined administration of his estate (signed by mark)
 4 Sep 1790 Worthington, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States on record
Death aft 1790 not yet documented
17521790 176017701780

Sources

  • Mary Filley, "Connecticut, Births and Christenings, 1649-1906" — Birth
  • Barbour Collection, Windsor, Connecticut Vital Records, printed pp.127-131 — the children of William Filley and Margret, 1643-1665 — Birth
  • Hampshire County, Massachusetts, probate - estate of John Curtis of Worthington, 1790-1791: Mary Curtis's petition of 4 Sep 1790 — Living at
  • Mary in entry for Huldah Curtis, "Connecticut, Births and Christenings, 1649-1906" — about this person
  • Mary in entry for Jeremiah Curtis, "Connecticut, Births and Christenings, 1649-1906" — about this person
  • Mary in entry for Jonny Curtis, "Connecticut, Births and Christenings, 1649-1906" — about this person
  • Mary in entry for Lorrain Curtis, "Connecticut, Births and Christenings, 1649-1906" — about this person
  • Mary in entry for Mary Curtis, "Connecticut, Births and Christenings, 1649-1906" — about this person
  • Mary in entry for Thomas Curtis, "Connecticut, Births and Christenings, 1649-1906" — about this person
  • Connecticut, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 — about this person
  • Barbour Collection, Torrington, Connecticut Vital Records p.17 - birth of Jeremiah Curtis 1770 and marriage of John Curtis & Mary Filley 1769 — Marriage (John Curtis)

Borders as they stood about 1763 (they follow the event under the mouse), from the historical-basemaps project, the Newberry Library's Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (states and territories, 1783 on) and Natural Earth; the colonies and provinces are drawn along today's lines.

Line of descent

  1. William Filley 1709–1756
    1. Josiah Filley 1675–bef 1750
      1. Samuel Filley 1643–1712
        1. William Filley
        2. Margaret (surname unknown)
      2. Anna Gillet 1639–1711
        1. Jonathan Gillett abt 1609–1677 ⚓
          1. William Gillett –bef 1641 ✝
            1. Richard Gylette 1551–1600
            2. Joan Enberg 1555–1583
          2. Abiah Pye 1578–1681
            1. William Tyes 1557–1623
            2. Julian (surname unknown) 1558–1623
        2. Mary Dolbiar 1607–1686
          1. Rawkey Dolbiar 1571–1641
            1. Robert Dolbere –1615
              1. Robert Dolbair 1510–1563
              2. Mary Ann Mitchell 1510–1570
            2. Agnes Sampson –1613
              1. Nicholas Sampson 1515–1553
              2. Alyse Sampson 1517–
          2. Mary Michell 1576–1648
            1. John Michell –1620
              1. John Mychell
              2. Agnes Vye
            2. Emlyn Weeke –1628
    2. Esther Eggleston 1682–aft 1761
      1. John Eggleston 1659–1731
        1. James Eggleston abt 1620–1679
          1. Begat Eggleston 1587–1674 ⚓
            1. James Egleston –1613
            2. not yet known
          2. not yet known
        2. Hester Kelsey abt 1636–1720 ⚭
          1. William Kelsey abt 1609–1675/1676 ⚓
          2. Hester (surname unknown) 1613–1666
      2. Esther Mills abt 1666–1757
        1. Peter Mills –1710 ⚭
        2. Dorcas Messenger 1650–1688
          1. Edward Messenger 1617–1688
          2. Dorcas Bosworth 1620–1702
  2. Abiah Millington 1711–1766 ⚭
    1. Henry Millington
      1. John Millington 1645–1720
      2. Sarah Smith 1648–1698
        1. not yet known
        2. Hannah Blake 1630–
    2. not yet known

Descendants

  1. Jeremiah Curtis 1770–aft 1810
    1. John Curtis 1792–1792 ✧
    2. Waterman Curtis 1793–1859
      1. Thomas Day Curtis 1824–1896 ☘⚭
        1. Alphonse Curtis 1849–1851 ✧
        2. Alfred Curtis 1849–1850 ✧
        3. Mary Ada Curtis abt 1850–1934
        4. George Day Curtis 1852–1922
        5. Frank Lionel Curtis abt 1855–1934 ⚭
        6. Salenia Curtis 1858–1862 ✧
        7. Cristabel Curtis 1859–1862 ✧
        8. Albert Waterman Curtis 1860–1930
        9. Florabel Curtis abt 1863–1885
        10. Bertha E. Curtis 1863–1917
        11. Orcus Allen Curtis 1865– ⚭
        12. Arthur Lee Curtis 1867–1955
        13. Hubert Orestes Curtis 1868–1922 ⚔
        14. Thomas Curtis 1872–1872 ✧
      2. Almira Curtis abt 1826–
      3. Jerusha Curtis 1828–1900
        1. Silas Harvey Chapman 1846–1864 ⚔
        2. Adis E. Young abt 1854–
        3. Alonzo Young 1857–
        4. Frank D. Young
      4. Maria Curtis abt 1831–
        1. Lewis Nash abt 1862–
      5. Jeremiah Curtis 1833–1856
      6. Lauren Curtis 1835–1865
      7. Alfred Curtis 1839–
      8. Junia Curtis abt 1841–1912 ☘
    3. Junia Curtis 1795–1809 ✧
    4. Truman Curtis 1804–1885 ⚭
      1. Sylvia Ann Curtis abt 1826–1893
        1. Wallace Truman Smith 1841–1881
        2. Edwin Rathbone Smith 1844–1862
        3. Curtis S. Smith 1845–1895
        4. Rubie A. Smith 1848–1914
      2. Lawren T. Curtis 1832–1905
      3. Sophia Curtis 1840–1918
        1. Orson N. Kent 1860–1867 ✧
        2. Ole G. Kent 1864–1867 ✧
        3. Otis Kent 1867–1867 ✧
        4. Fred Kent 1869–1934 ⚭
        5. Bert Kent 1871–1942
        6. Emelia Kent 1877–1921
        7. Mary Alice Kent 1882–1938
      4. Melissa A. Curtis 1845–1911
      5. George L. Curtis 1852–1935
        1. Floyd J. Curtis 1887–1927
      6. Charles Curtis abt 1857–
        1. Victor Marr Curtis 1888–1946
        2. Harmon Zabriskie Curtis 1895–1972
      7. Albert Curtis abt 1859–
      8. Ella M. Curtis 1861–1902
      9. John L. Curtis 1867–1953
    5. Electa Curtis 1811–1888
      1. Leander Berry 1832–1919
      2. Justus Berry 1833–1914
      3. Truman C. Berry 1835–1914
        1. Amy Emma Berry 1858–1927
        2. Clarissa Belle Berry 1863–
        3. Ruth E Berry 1871–1964 ⚭
        4. Orpha Berry 1873–1932
        5. Bertha Hope Berry 1875–1916
        6. Oral M Berry 1878–1940
      4. Mary E. Berry abt 1838–
      5. Lester A. Berry 1840–1913
      6. Olive Berry abt 1842–
      7. Edgar Leroy Berry 1843–1929
      8. Arthur Berry 1846–1918
        1. Herbert L. Berry 1872–1947
      9. Dalesky Berry 1848–1907
      10. Herbert W. Berry 1856–1883
  2. Huldah T. Curtis 1772–1872
  3. Junia Curtis 1774–1831
    1. Jacob L. Curtis 1794–1889
      1. Minerva Victoria Curtis 1821–1908 ⚭
        1. Francis M Woodbury 1865–1966
      2. Matilda Curtis 1825–1870
    2. Harriet Curtis 1799–1890
    3. Alonzo Curtis 1810–1860
    4. Lewis Leroy Curtis 1813–1904
  4. Lorrain Curtis 1775–1850
  5. Thomas Curtis 1778–abt 1848
  6. Mary Mercy Curtis 1779–
  7. Remembrance Curtis Sr. 1781–1840
    1. Susan Curtis 1805–1831
      1. Rachel Susan Milliman 1826–1851
      2. Edward Arnold Milliman 1831–1911 ⚭
        1. Mary Emeline Milliman 1857–1928
        2. George Henry Milliman 1859–1932
        3. Matilda Ann Milliman 1860–1931
        4. William S Milliman 1863–1937
        5. Francis Eugene Milliman 1865–1943
        6. John H. Milliman 1868–1870 ✧
        7. Ellen G Milliman 1871–
        8. Carrie May Milliman 1875–
        9. Virginia Beatrice Milliman 1884–1928
    2. Lorena Curtis 1808–1879
      1. Infant Son Milliman 1829–1829 ✧
      2. Lorena Angeline Milliman 1830–1910
        1. Eva Jane Mason 1856–1934
        2. Gardner B Mason 1858–1936
      3. Eliza A. Milliman 1832–1836 ✧
      4. William B. Milliman 1833–1917
      5. Norman Madison Milliman 1835–1916 ⚭
        1. Jennie Milliman 1869–1960
        2. Roy Harrow Milliman 1875–1950
      6. Myron C. Milliman 1837–1848 ✧
      7. Catherine E. Milliman 1842–1926
        1. George Roe 1867–1942
        2. Frank S Roe 1872–1944
      8. Sarah J. Milliman 1844–1848 ✧
      9. Almina Chrysilda Milliman 1845–1886
        1. Effie A. Kimbark 1869–1869 ✧
        2. Lillie May Kimbark 1870–1974
        3. Albert H Kimbark 1872–1898
        4. Claremont D. Kimbark 1874–1899
      10. Euphemia Milliman 1848–
      11. Eveline A Milliman 1850–1852 ✧
      12. Danford Adelbert Milliman 1851–1928
        1. Lorena I Milliman 1898–1988
      13. Henry M. Milliman 1854–1854 ✧
    3. Remembrance Curtis 1818–1890
      1. Melvina L Curtis 1853–1945
      2. Sarah L Curtis 1855–1939
      3. Charles James Curtis 1857–1937
      4. Henry B. Curtis 1861–1946