Anna Bondfield Curtis^[1]

1846 - 1906  (60 years)

• Name	Anna Bondfield Curtis
  Born	28 Jan 1846	Belleville, Essex, New Jersey, USA
  Gender	Female
  FindAGrave	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55580711
  Honoured	Anacortes, Skagit, Washington, USA
  	Anacortes named in her honour.
  Name	Anna Bondfield Bowman
  Eby ID Number	00002-296.1
  Died	7 Apr 1906	Berkeley, Alameda, California, USA
  	Cause: heart attack
  Buried	Anacortes, Skagit, Washington, USA
  Person ID	I7643	Generations
  Last Modified	6 Apr 2024

  
  

  Father	M. Mellville Curtis,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Sophia Louisa Allsopp,   b. Abt 1825,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F5807	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Amos B. Bowman,   b. 15 Sep 1839, Blair (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 18 Jun 1894, Fairhaven, Whatcom, Washington, USA  (Age 54 years)
  Married	Apr 1871	Smartsville, Yuba Co. , California
  Children	1. Menno Bowman   2. Wendel Cortez Bowman,   b. 1873, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA ,   d. Yes, date unknown   3. Lucretia Cydie Bowman,   b. 1874, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA ,   d. Yes, date unknown   4. Benjamin Bowman,   b. 4 Dec 1876, Seattle, King, Washington, USA ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Last Modified	7 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F2304	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  Curtis, Anie Bondfield.jpg

  
  

• Notes

  Anne Curtis Bowman, Jan. 28, 1846-April 7, 1906 Partly based on details from an unpublished manuscript by Eunice Darvill Annie Curtis Bowman Anne Bondfield Curtis was born on Jan. 28, 1846, in Belleville, New Jersey, the second youngest of six children. Her parents were M. Mellville Curtis, mill owner, and Sophia Louisa Allsopp, daughter of Robert Allsopp, Commissary General and prominent landowner at Quebec, Canada. Around 1862, life changed greatly for all the Curtis children with the death of their father after a lingering illness, which diminished their financial resources. In 1868, Annie traveled west with her mother and her sister Sallie, with whom she would remain close the rest of her life. They joined her older brother and sister. Brother Allen was a mining superintendent in Austin, Nevada. The younger sisters settled with sister Lucretia and her husband, William Carpenter, near Marysville, California. Annie soon met Amos Bowman there through her brother-in-law. Annie and Sallie later moved to Austin to join their brother but she returned in April 1871 to marry Amos Bowman in Smartsville, California. Soon after their marriage, Annie traveled back to the northeast with family and visited Amos's parents along with her own relatives. Those visits also included itinerary to Canada and Cap Sante near Quebec especially impressed her, a name that she tucked away for future reference. After returning home to Amos at their San Francisco home, Annie gave birth to Wendell Cortez Bowman in 1873, so we can see the early favor of the Spanish Cortez name, possibly due to friendship with Spaniards on the sailing trip back east. He was followed by Clytie Lucretia in 1874. After work with the geological survey in California, Amos traveled to Seattle for another geological survey for railroad interests in Washington territory. While there, Amos combed through the archives of Northern Pacific and discovered the company's interest in Fidalgo island as a possible West Coast terminus. Annie joined Amos in time for Bondfield (Ben) to be born in Seattle on Dec. 4, 1876. In the following year they all moved to a small village named Ship Harbor on Fidalgo island. Annie quickly impressed the handful of families living around the island and they agreed with her husband who named a new town Anacortes, derived from her name and Cortez, which fit in with the original Spanish names for landmarks in the area. They named their new home Cap Sante from Annie's contact in Quebec. Although Anacortes was largely wilderness and remote, the cosmopolitan and educated Annie set about to support her husband's plan for a future metropolis. They were soon joined by her sister Sallie, who mar-ried Dr. T.B. Childs. The honeymooners moved back to Austin, Nevada for a few years but later returned to Fidalgo. Annie's younger brother Melville also joined them in the late 1880s when Anacortes was planning for the railroad and boom times. Annie tended to the family during the 1880s when the local economy lagged and Amos was called away often for geological contracts south of the border and in British Columbia and when he traveled and researched with author Hubert Howe Bancroft. Finally, after 12 years of patient waiting and preparation, the Bowmans's vision finally blossomed in 1889-91 as the Seattle & Northern railroad was built from Ship Harbor to Woolley and various railroad interests boomed Anacortes as a classic example of frontier railroad/real estate promotion. Original settlers made small fortunes from their original homesteads and dozens of substantial buildings and homes sprung up on more than two-dozen plats. But, as with Sedro and Woolley to the east, the railroad boom was brief. James J. Hill of the Great Northern railroad overtook Northern Pacific and built the main north-south rail line and S&N became a spur line. Then a depressed economy began setting in locally in 1892 and a full-blown nationwide depression dried up capital from 1893-96. But worse for Annie was the death of Amos on June 18, 1894, and his doubts in his own success in his last years. Annie's brothers proved to be better businessmen. Annie could no longer live in Anacortes. She soon moved the children to Sumas, Washington, on the Canadian border, and although they returned for visits with family and friends, Anacortes - her name-sake city, would never be home again. As if grief over Amos wasn't bad enough, Annie's son Ben attended the University of California at Berkeley to study mining engineering with his cousin Harold Childs and while there he contracted a spinal illness and Annie went to California to care for him. After Annie died from a heart attack in California in April 1906, with Sallie by her side, her body was returned to Anacortes and she was buried next to Amos. _________________ ANNA CURTIS GAVE NAME TO ANACORTES Mrs. Bowman Buried Today in City Whose Foundation She Helped to Lay. Word was received yesterday by Mrs. J. M. Grittith that the body of Mrs. Anna Bowman. wife of her brother, who died suddenly in Pacific Grove, Cal., had arrived in Anacortes, where interment will take place today. Mrs. Bowman was well known in Bellingham and Whatcom county. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman were the original owners of the townsite of Anacortes. Her malden name was Anna Curtis, and when the town was established on their land Mr. Bowman contracted the name Anna Curtis, making the new word "Anacortes," the name the thriving little city to the south of Bellin ham now bears. Mrs. Bowman was attending her son at a sanitarium at Pacifle Grove when her death occurred. Her death was due to heart trouble. Apr 14, 1908 Paper: Bellingham Held (Begam WA)

  
  

• Sources

  [S3] Book - Vol I A Biographical History of Waterloo Township and other townships of the county : being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin..., 121.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 28 Jan 1846 - Belleville, Essex, New Jersey, USA Honoured - Anacortes named in her honour. - - Anacortes, Skagit, Washington, USA Died - Cause: heart attack - 7 Apr 1906 - Berkeley, Alameda, California, USA Buried - - Anacortes, Skagit, Washington, USA  = Link to Google Earth