Bio: Dr. William R. Curtis, Sabine Parish, Louisiana

Source: Biographical & Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana, The Southern

Publishing Company, 1890, Nashville and Chicago

Submitted by: Gaytha Thompson
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DR. WILLIAM R. CURTIS



Dr. William R. Curtis is a physician and surgeon of acknowledged merit

throughout this section, and in the treatment of the cases which have come

under his care he has shown a thorough knowledge of his profession, and

undeniable skill.  He was born in St. Landry Parish, La., in 1832, to William

and Sarah (McAlister) Curtis, natives of Mississippi and North Carolina,

respectively, their marriage taking place in the former State, from which they

moved to St. Landry Parish, La., and in 1834 to what is now Sabine Parish,

where Mr. Curtis died in 1863, still survived by his widow, who is now eighty

two years of age.  They were members of the Baptist Church for many years, and

Mr. Curtis was a successful planter.



His father, William Curtis, was born in Mississippi, and died in Sabine

Parish, La, when the subject of this sketch as a small boy, having been a

tiller of the soil, and a soldier during one of the early Indian wars.  He was

of Dutch decent.  The grandfather, John McAlister, was born in Maine, of

Scotch Irish parents.  He was a merchant by occupation, a soldier in the War

of 1812, being under Jackson, at New Orleans, and passed from life in Sabine

Parish, La.  



Dr. William R. Curtis was the third of nine children, and his youth was spent

on a plantation in the wilds of Sabine Parish, receiving such education as the

country at that early day afforded.  At the age of nineteen years he began the

study of medicine, and in 1855 graduated from the Eclectic Medical College of

Cincinnati, Ohio, since which time his practice has been confined to this

section.  He is one of the oldest physicians in the parish, and his name has

become almost a household word, for in his professional capacity he has

entered many doors.



He was married first in 1863 to Miss Mary Montgomery, a daughter of Joseph and

Lavina Montgomery, early settlers of Sabine Parish from Mississippi, their

deaths occurring in this State.  Mrs. Curtis was born in Sabine Parish, and

died one month and two days after her marriage.  The Doctor's second marriage

took place in December, 1866, his wife being Emily, daughter of Daniel and

Nancy Moore, natives, respectively, of Virginia and Missouri, but in 1836

removed from Texas to Sabine Parish, where they spent the remainder of their

days.  In this parish Mrs. Curtis was born, and in 1881 her death occurred,

she being an earnest member of the Baptist Church.  She left a family of three

sons and one daughter.  



By his own efforts the Doctor is the owner of 300 acres of land, and has an

abundance to provide for his wants during his declining years.  He served as

assistant surgeon in the Confederate Army for four years, being a member of

the Seventeenth Louisiana, and operated in Mississippi, Tennessee and

Louisiana.  He is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and is also a member of the

Baptist Church.



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