T. Spicer Curlett
Portrait of Curlett, c. 1887
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Lancaster and Richmond
In office
December 9, 1885 – December 7, 1887
Preceded byL.R. Stewart
Succeeded byEugene S. Phillips
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Lancaster County
In office
December 6, 1871 – December 1, 1875
Preceded byArmistead S. Nickens
Succeeded byCharles Pitts
Personal details
Born
Thomas Spicer Curlett

1847 (1847)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
DiedMay 7, 1914(1914-05-07) (aged 67)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Susie Chilton
​
(m. 1868)​
ChildrenJohn
EducationLoyola College
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/serviceUnion Army
Unit1st Eastern Shore Infantry
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Thomas Spicer Curlett (1847 – May 7, 1914) was a Republican farmer, postmaster and state legislator in Lancaster County, Virginia, during Reconstruction.[1]

Early and family life

He was born in Baltimore. His father, John Curlett (died February 17, 1896), was a bank director and philanthropist.[2] He was a student at Loyola College in Baltimore in 1864.[3] On November 4, 1868, he married Susie Spicer (1849-1933) of Lancaster County, who would survive him, as would their son John (1870-1944), who would also serve in the Virginia House of Delegates beginning in 1906 and also act as an oyster inspector.

Career

During the American Civil War, Spicer was a private in Company B of the Maryland Volunteers Eastern Shore Infantry.[4] A photograph of him in uniform sold at auction.[5]

On January 6, 1874, he became the postmaster for Litwalton in the Whitechapel district of Lancaster County.[6] Spicer represented Lancaster County in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1875 to 1879, until census reorganization combined it with nearby Richmond County. He represented both counties 1885 to 1887.[7] In 1888-1889 he was one of the principal farmers in the Litwalton division of the county.[8] The Chesapeake Watchman lampooned his candidacy and denounced his previous affiliation with Republicans.[9] Henry Straughan Hathaway who owned Enon Hall wrote to him denouncing his political affiliation with blacks.[10]

Curlett may have returned to Baltimore by 1894 and worked as a salesman,[11] though his wife and son remained in Lancaster County, Virginia. He died on May 7, 1914, in Baltimore.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "House History".
  2. ↑ Forrest, Clarence H. (1898). "Official History of the Fire Department of the City of Baltimore: Together with Biographies and Portraits of Eminent Citizens of Baltimore".
  3. ↑ Loyola college directory on ancestry.com
  4. ↑ History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861-1865, Vols. 1-2 p. 329 of 587 on ancestry.com
  5. ↑ "Products". Archived from the original on 2021-07-10. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
  6. ↑ Postmaster appointments on ancestry.com
  7. ↑ Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978, pp. 522, 526, 542
  8. ↑ Carolyn H. Jett, Lancaster County, Virginia: Where the River meets the Bay, (Lancaster County History Book Committee, 2003) p. 389
  9. ↑ "chesapeake watchman 2". The Free Lance. Newspapers.com. 2019-01-28. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
  10. ↑ "Enon Hall - "Henry Straughan Hathaway -- Portrait in Lancaster Court House"".
  11. ↑ Baltimore Maryland city directory on ancestry.com
  12. ↑ "T. Spicer Curlett Dead". Northern Neck News. May 15, 1914. p. 2. Retrieved March 10, 2022 – via Virginia Chronicle.
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