Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Curtin, John Thomas 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 13, 2006, 5:41 pm

Author: History of Grundy County, 1914

Curtin, John Thomas – The owner of a farm of 120 acres of land in Greenfield 
Township, which has been brought to a high state of cultivation through his 
skill, industry and good management, John Thomas Curtin is recognized as one 
of the substantial farmer-citizens of Grundy County, and as a man whose 
interest in the welfare of his community entitles him to the respect and 
esteem of his fellow-citizens.  He is a native of the Prairie State, having 
been born in La Salle County, in 1856, a son of John and Catherine (Maloney) 
Curtin, natives of Limerick, Ireland.  His father, who was a farmer in his 
native Erin, emigrated to the United States at the age of twenty-one years, 
and almost immediately settled in LaSalle County, where he commenced farming.  
In 1869 the family transferred to Grundy County, and there the father took up 
land in Highland Township, that locality being the scene of his subsequent 
activities.  Shortly prior to his death, which occurred in 1899, he retired 
from active pursuits and moved to Kinsman, Ill.  Mrs. Curtin died in 1905, and 
was laid to rest beside her husband in the family cemetery at Ottawa.  They 
were the parents of nine children:  John Thomas; Mary, Timothy and Thomas, all 
three deceased and buried at Ottawa; Mrs. Katherine O. Levi; Margaret; 
Jeremiah, deceased; Mrs. Mary Leahy; and Thomas (II), a resident of Reed 
Township, Will County, Ill.

John Thomas Curtin attended the district school in La Salle County until 
eleven years old and later the school in Highland Township, Grundy County, his 
attendance being confined to the short winter terms as his services were 
needed on the home farm during the summer months.  He was brought up to the 
honest and healthy work of tilling the soil, and continued with his father 
until his marriage, at the age of twenty-six years, to Miss Martha Lamping, a 
native of Wilmington, Ill.  Following this he embarked upon his own career as 
a farmer on rented land, and by 1885 was able to purchase a tract of land in 
Garfield Township.  This he continued to operate for nine years, but in 1894 
disposed of it and bought his present property.  During the past twenty years 
he has made this one of the best farms of its size in the township, and its 
numerous improvements and buildings make it very valuable.  He is a believer 
in the use of modern methods and machinery, keeps fully abreast of the various 
advancements made in his adopted calling, and has won his way to affluence 
solely through the force of individual effort and merit.  With his family, he 
attends the Catholic Church at South Wilmington.  His political belief is that 
of the Democratic party, and for nine years he has served efficiently as a 
member of the school board of Greenfield Township.  Mr. and Mrs. Curtin have 
been the parents of ten children:  Julia, Covney, John, Katherine, Maud, 
Nellie, Mary, Loretta, William and Terrence, of whom the two last named are 
now deceased.

pages 799-800

Additional Comments:
Source:  History of Grundy County, Illinois, Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. 
Publishers; 1914

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