Need to get-a way? I invite you to experience the Curtiss and the Keuka Lake basin. Here's some special Curtiss events planned for the next few months:
June 11 - Members only opening for Art at War (Become a member now)
June 23 - FREE ADMISSION all day as we celebrate our anniversary.
June 25 - Members only Anniversary Party, Champlin Beach
August 2-16 - Curtiss Classic Golf Tournament registration opens soon
As Mother's Day Approaches, The Women of the Curtiss Family
The women of the Curtiss family played significant parts in the shaping the twists and turns of Glenn’s early life. The family came from humble beginnings. Grandfather Claudius G. Curtiss, a Methodist minister, moved to Hammondsport from Canada around1867 with his wife Ruth and sons Claudius A. and Frank.
Frank would marry a local girl, Lua Andrews in 1876, and went into in business as a harness maker in Hammondsport. They had two children, Glenn born in 1878 and Rutha in 1881. Sadly, Frank would pass away in January of 1883 at the age of 27 when Glenn was nearly five years old. Lua was left to raise two children a widow on her own.
When she was six years old, Rutha contracted meningitis, resulting in the loss of her hearing. Two years later, in 1889, Lua moved her daughter to Rochester where Rutha was enrolled in the Western New York Institution for Deaf Mutes. Glenn stayed behind in Hammondsport with his grandmother Ruth to finish his formal schooling. After graduating the 8th grade in 1892, Glenn moved up to Rochester full time to help his mother with Rutha and add financial support to the family.
Lua remarried in 1895 to J. Charles Adams and, with Glenn, moved back in 1896 to the Hammondsport area while Rutha remained in Rochester to finish her schooling. Glenn’s half-brother G. Carl Adams would be born that same year.
Just before his 20th birthday, Glenn would fall in love with and marry a local girl by the name of Lina Neff, in 1898. They would have two sons, Carlton born in 1901, who unfortunately would die 11 months later of a congenital heart defect and Glenn, Jr. born in 1912. Glenn’s grandmother, Ruth, whom the couple lived with and took care of, would pass away in 1903 leaving him the homestead in Hammondsport. Here he would take care of much of his family and other relatives.
Glenn Hammond Curtiss’ amazing life would only span a short 52 years with him passing away in 1930. During his lifetime, Glenn was a devoted family man and generously supported not only his immediate family but his mother, grandmother, sister, half-brother, mother-in-law and any other relative or friend that needed a home.
