Bio- Sawyers

SURNAMES;  HUMPHREY., BRIONES,

The son of pioneer parents who crossed the plains  in 1850, George M  Curtis can well take pride in the state of his birth, the development of  which has come about through sturdy settlers , such as his forbears were.  He was born at Bodega Corners, Sonoma county, October 6, 1868, the son of Benjamin A. and Rebecca (Humphrey) Curtis, who left their Pennsylvania home to pioneer in the Far West more than seventy years ago, settling in Sonoma County on their arrival here, where they engaged in farming.

In 1872 the family removed to Mendocino County, where they took up their home in the pine and redwood district, and here George M. attended school, entering the sawmills as soon as he was large enough to do the work  He soon became the head planer for the Gualala Lumber Company, and he followed this responsible line of work until 1908, when he resigned to take up his residence at SAn Martin on the ranch which he had purchased in 1893, when his parents had come to SAn Martin to make their home.  The San Martin district was surveyed and sold off in small tracts, beginning in 1892,  so that the Curtis family are among the earliest settlers there. This as a stubblefield and now is a fine prune orchard of thirteen acres, which was among the first to be planted. Benjamin A. Curtis lived to be sevnety-eight years old, passing away in June, 1914, at San Martin, survived by his widow, who makes her home with George M. Curtis at the comfortable family residence on Church Avenue.

Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin A. Curtis, as follows:  George M., of this sketch; Lilie married F. W. Briones; they have four children and reside in San Francisco; William resides at Albin, Mendocino County; Charles is a well driller and resides at San Martin with his wife and two children; Cora died aged two years' and Edna when she was eighteen.  A fine type of public spirited citizen, Mr. Curtis can well look back with satisfaction on his years of hard, honest work that have brought him a competence he may now enjoy, knowing that it has come about entirely through his own efforts.  He is a charter member of the  California Prune and Apricot Association. Well liked and esteemed by his many friends and neighbors he performs his civic duties under the banner of the Republican party.

History of Santa Clara County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present
Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic Record Co., 1922, 1776 pgs.
Page 766
transcribed by CDF