Charles Stuart Curtis was a storekeeper and local politician in Taranaki, New Zealand, and played a leading role in the development of the town of Stratford.
Background
Charles Stuart Curtis was born to George Curtis and Eliza Curtis (née Newsham) in Omata, Taranaki, on December 15, 1850. Arriving at Portuguese Nicholson, his father had walked overland from Wellington to New Plymouth, and made preparations for his family, who arrived there on February 7, 1850.
Career
Family background
First Taranaki War
George remained at the Omata stockade, but after seeing his home burned to the ground, and to avoid the epidemics plaguing the crowded town of New Plymouth, the Curtis family evacuated to Nelson. They remained there until the hostilities ceased in 1861, then returned to their land at Omata. Business
George Curtis became a prominent leader in commercial matters in the province of Taranaki, representing Omata on the Taranaki Provincial Council.
Charles worked with his father in their Omata store, and quickly picked up the same business acumen which proved invaluable to his own commercial ventures in the new settlement of Stratford.
Pioneers at Stratford
The business operated as a butchery, a merchant store, and also a bakery, and due to its quick growth the Curtis Brothers replaced their temporary premises with a two-storey building and bakehouse in January 1879. The store also provided postal services for the town until a railway station was erected in 1880.
On April 3, 1880, Curtis married Emma Clara Low at Omata Church. Together they had two children.
Minnie and Henry. Charles continued as Town Board chairman, or Town Clerk, until 1890.
A private development of Curtistown was named for the family, as was a street in this development. The streets of Curtistown remained in private ownership until 1899. With T. H. Penn and Frank Arden he completed the first recorded alpine circuit of the mountain over Christmas 1888, during which they named an eastern ridge and a Manganui River waterfall after Curtis.
Charles" wife Emma was also a mountaineer, and was the first woman known to reach the summit by the Stratford Road track.
He died on April 4, 1923, aged 72.
Membership
Curtis was also a founding member of the Stratford Bowling Club.