Curtis family.

In 1831, Henry James Curtis (1798-1852) of Cincinnati, Ohio married Clarissa Fisher (1809-1849). The couple had five children: Sarah Henrietta ("Etta") (1835-1908), James Henry (1838-1906), Delia Augusta ("Gussie") (1841-1915), and Benjamin Wisner (1847-1892.) Clarissa died of cholera in 1849. After their father's death, the children were separated and cared for by aunts and uncles.

Sarah Henrietta attended a private school in Boston, worked as a governess for a family in Memphis, Tenn., and in 1872 graduated from the Boston Normal School for Training Kindergarten Teachers. Delia Augusta went to Hamilton Academy in Ohio, the State Normal School at Salem, Mass., and in 1873, like her sister, graduated from the Boston Normal School for Training Kindergarten Teachers. In 1877, the sisters moved to San Diego where they opened a private kindergarten.

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