William Willis Curtis Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-071

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The papers of William Willis Curtis consist mainly of diaries, notebooks, and correspondence. The diaries and notebooks contain a partial record of events, accounts, and miscellany of which most was kept during the period in Japan, mainly Osaka, Sendai, and Sapporo. Series VII and Series XI contain records related to missionary work in Japan. Curtis was involved in operating boys’ schools and, in the 1890s, he worked in prisons. After 1900, the family letters in Series V. Letters and Miscellany are primarily letters written by Curtis to his family and relatives while he was traveling for the Industrial Mission of Alabama (IMA). The correspondence, which includes letters written by Mrs. Curtis and the Curtis children, concern family history and relatives, Oberlin, and the work of William Curtis. Series VIII contains accounts written by Curtis while working for the IMA (1905-07, 1912).

Note: Entry taken from William E. Bigglestone’s unpublished “[preliminary] Guide to the Oberlin College Archives,” which was prepared as individual entry sheets in a three-ring binder during the early 1980s.

Dates

Creation: 1826-1968, undated
Creation: Majority of material found within 1863 - 1913
Other: Date acquired: 04/19/1973

Creator

Curtis, William Willis (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical or Historical Information

William Willis Curtis, an ordained minister who devoted his professional life to foreign and domestic missionary work, was born in Waukesha, WI on June 29, 1845 to Otis Freeman (1804-1879) and Marilla Wright Curtis (1806-1888). His siblings were Royal Joseph (1830-1844), Asher Wright (1832-1921), Otis Moseley (1836-1837), Sarah Moseley (1838-1844), Diantha Martin (1840-1933), Louisa Marilla (1843-1908), and Charles Burritt (1848-1944). In 1864-65, he enrolled in Beloit College as a preparatory student, during which time he served 100 days as a part of the 40th Wisconsin Infantry Unit to fulfill quota commitments for the Civil War. Following family tradition he entered Beloit, graduating with an AB degree in 1870. He served both at the Junior and Senior Class President and participated in choral and debate groups on campus. Study at the Chicago Theological Seminary resulted in a B-Div degree (1870-73) and in an additional year at Beloit he earned a MA (1874). He then began his pastoral work in churches at Calumet, MI (1873-76), and Hancock, MI (1976-77).

In 1877, he married Delia Eliza Harris of Evansville, WI (1856-1880, O.C. conservatory, 1875-77), director of the choir at his church in Calumet, Michigan. Drawn by a strong drive to become missionaries, the couple left for Japan soon after their wedding to begin their missionary career under the auspices of the American Board and Foreign Missions, teaching in Osaka and Sendai (1877-83). In addition to teaching, they compiled Praise Songs With Music, published in 1882, the first tune book used by Japanese Christians. Delia died suddenly on October 13, 1880. On February 25, 1885, Curtis married Lydia Virginia Cone (1853-1929, O.C., AB 1880) of Madison, OR. The pair continued to work in Japan before Lydia's deteriorating health forced them to return to the United States. They and their four children (Edith, 1886-1960, Otis Freeman, 1888-1949, Ruth Marilla, 1890-1961, and Howard Cone, 1893-1949) moved to Oberlin, OH in 1900, making their home on Woodland Street, although Lydia was in and out of sanitaria for the rest of her life.

Using Oberlin as his base, Curtis spent the next eight years (1905-13) as a field agent for his brother's group, Industrial Mission in Alabama. He died suddenly on April 11, 1913, at a railroad station in Ashtabula, OH, while en route to N. Girard, OH, as part of an extended trip proselytizing for this group. Curtis was buried in Oberlin.

Note written by Roland M. Baumann.