Local figure
Curtis took up the rectorship of St. Matthew's Church in Hillsborough in June 1841 and held it for the rest of his life, apart from 1847 to 1856 at Society Hill, S.C. Alongside his parish work he became a recognized authority on fungi. He died in 1872 and was buried in the St. Matthew's churchyard.
Source: NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Curtis, Moses Ashley
Also found in catalogs as M. A. (Moses Ashley) Curtis.
1808–1872 as the Library of Congress records it · Library of Congress authority record ↗
6 indexed works are connected with this person, and the index includes 2 works by Moses Ashley Curtis.
Works in the index that concern this person directly, or were written by them. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it; background reading with wider context sits further down.
Moses Ashley Curtis, a botanist, works through the natural history in Francis L. Hawks's History of North Carolina and comments on what he finds there. John B. Neathery printed it at Chapel Hill, probably about 1860.
Papers of Moses Ashley Curtis, the Hillsborough botanist and Episcopal clergyman, 1840 to 1869. They consist of botanical lists sent to Alvin Wentworth Chapman, Charles James Sprague and other naturalists, and a letter from Montreal that came with the diploma naming him a corresponding member of that city's Natural History Society. William M. Canby and Ezra Michener also figure.
Address by Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire at St. Matthew's Church in Hillsborough on 24 August 1924, marking the parish's hundredth anniversary. Printed in Durham in 1925 at the vestry's order, with a foreword by the rector. Cheshire discusses George Micklejohn, William Mercer Green and Moses Ashley Curtis.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Curtis, M. A. (Moses Ashley), 1808-1872.
An annual wall calendar issued by the Eno River Association at Durham, each year combining photographs and history of the river with botanical illustrations by Jennie Nygard. The 1974 edition is dedicated to the botanist Moses Ashley Curtis, who died in 1872. Large format, 28 by 36 centimeters.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Curtis, M. A. (Moses Ashley), 1808-1872.
A pamphlet from the Friends of the Library of UNC marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Moses Ashley Curtis, botanist and clergyman, who spent most of his adult life in Hillsborough.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the OpenAlex record: Curtis, M. A. (Moses Ashley), 1808-1872.
Nash, DeRosset and Curtis entries appear together in a Bible record whose dates fall between 1863 and 1897, one of the Bible Records of the State Archives of North Carolina. Moses Ashley Curtis, William Lord DeRosset and Elizabeth Simpson, Mary Kollock and Susan Read Nash are named. Orange, New Hanover and Edgecombe counties appear as places.
Why this is here: Their name appears in the record.
Letters and papers of Cornelia Phillips Spencer, the Chapel Hill writer and historian and daughter of professor James Phillips, 1857 to 1905. Most of the correspondence, from 1859 to 1895, concerns the university and life in the village, with letters exchanged with Swain, Kemp P. Battle and George T. Winston, successive heads of the university, and with Mrs. Swain and W. C. Kerr. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.7.
Why this is here: Their name appears in the record.
Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this person. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.
Moses Ashley Curtis came from Massachusetts to North Carolina in 1830 and served St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Hillsborough from 1841 until his death in 1872, apart from nine years in South Carolina; he was also a schoolmaster and a botanist known for his work on the state's plants and fungi. William S. Powell's short biography was published by the University of North Carolina Library in 1958; 26 illustrated pages.
Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 6 dated events in the chronology →
Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 3 with a known location.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.
People named in the same dated entries as Moses Ashley Curtis, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.
The index lists works with an Orange County connection. To find everything else about Moses Ashley Curtis, search these catalogs.
Searched with the Library of Congress heading Curtis, M. A. (Moses Ashley), 1808-1872, so the results are about this person and not others with the same name. Each link opens that catalog’s own results in a new tab. The Friends have not reviewed what they return.
Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.
Other catalogs to search and local organizations that can help.
Picture: Moses Ashley Curtis, 1888. Public domain. Popular Science Monthly Volume 34; via Wikimedia Commons
More to discover
The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.
