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Curtisville has one lonely grave marked only by a tall Lombardy Poplar and a clump of lilac bushes. This grave is situated on the old Curtis farm and contains the remains of Alvin Curtis, oldest son of Ebenezer and Mary Curtis. Alvin Curtis was born in New Brunswick, Canada and died quite young of a lung infection. He left a widow, Lillian Dawes Curtis of Wilbur and a baby daughter, Mary. The Curtisville Cemetery had not been plotted at the time of Alvin's death, so young Alvin was buried on the family farm.
To Alvin
Sleep well my son, beneath the sod
Earth holds you to her breast.
With love we leave you here today,
How silently you sleep, my son
On a country hill top high.
No marker for an epitaph
Just a tree, the grass, the sky.
You never lived to leave your mark
Upon the world of men.
But you were loved by Ma and I
Someday, we'll meet again.
And turning to the mourners few
Ebenezer raised his hand
And led them in the old, old song:
"On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand"
And as the last note died away
He took his Mary in his arms
And wiped away the tears and said,
"We weep no more my girl,
For this, our son of so many years
The Creator gives, He takes away,
He was not ours to keep."
And walking slowly down the hill
They left their son to sleep.
Arbutus (Bell) Milholin
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