Mary’s role as the wife of a nineteenth-century clergyman seemed to provide support and affirmation of Curtis’s faith: “I first made choice of you to be the partner of my life … you have higher incentives to holiness than a mere reward for my happiness.” (May 19, 1834) Her life varied from travel to the mountains as a young bride to settling into new rectories as Mr. Curtis changed churches. She returned to Wilmington during times of family illnesses and had extended periods alone with children in the rectory during Curtis’s travels to the mountains in pursuit of his beloved botanical specimens or trips north on Episcopal Church business.

(Source: “By Word and Example” profile of Mary Jane DeRosset Curtis, posted to the website of the Episcopal Church Women of the Diocese of North Carolina, May 16, 2016)