George E. Curtis was born in Middleboro, Massachusetts on August 23, 1843. In his early years he owned the General Store of North Bridgewater. He then began to buy and sell real estate in the City of Brockton. In the late nineteenth century he purchased the Palace Hotel, and operated his real estate business from his second floor suite for nearly fifty two years.
On July 19, 1893 when he was 50 years old Mr. Curtis married Mary Alice Benner, who was 22 years younger than he. They lived at the Palace Hotel for a number of years after their marriage.
Between 1909 and 1920 Mr. Curtis purchased land along Jerusalem Road and Black Rock Road in Cohasset, ultimately acquiring some 53 acres. In 1913 he built a house on the property. At his wife’s request, however, he built a small bungalow which the two of them used as a residence. The main house was used as a guest house for visiting friends and relatives.
Mary Alice contracted tuberculosis and was in delicate health until her death on July 14, 1924 at the age of 56. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis had no children; upon his death at 87 on January 20, 1931 as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage, his heirs were his nieces and nephews and their families.
After some small gifts, the residue of Mr. Curtis’ estate was left to a trust designated as “The George Edgar Curtis Fund.” One half of the income of the Fund was set aside to pay annuities for various of his and his wife’s nieces and nephews. The balance of the fund, including the real estate in Cohasset, was to be used to establish the “Curtis Home.” The home was to provide “refuge, free of charge for … women who are without means and are unable to provide for their own living …” When the will was probated the Executors distributed $817.62 to the Trustees along with the 53.4 acre parcel in Cohasset.
Shortly after Mr. Curtis’ death one of the four houses on the property was destroyed by fire; two were encumbered by life estates granted to Mr. Curtis’ employees. The last life estate expired in 1969.
By 1988 the Curtis property in Cohasset was in disrepair. The septic system had failed, and the house itself was in need of substantial renovation. The Trustees did not have the funds to make the necessary repairs. In addition, at the end of the 20th Century, few “women without means” expressed an interest in living in the kind of facility envisioned by Mr. Curtis.
In 1990 the acting Trustees filed a Complaint for Cy Pres seeking authority to sell the real estate and to hold the income and principal and invest the same, and to pay over the income to organizations which are exempt from taxation which are involved in “relieving distress and want among the needy, the elderly, and the infirm in Plymouth County and contiguous towns, with particular emphasis on home, health and housing needs.”
The Court, the Hon. James R. Lawton of the Plymouth County Probate and Family Court, after hearing and with the agreement of the Attorney General of the Commonwealth, entered a judgment allowing the relief sought by the Trustees. Since that time the Trustees have annually made grants to various charitable organizations in Brockton, Plymouth and contiguous towns for the relief principally of the elderly and those in need.
The present Trustees are Attorneys James R. DeGiacomo of Boston, Massachusetts and Richard J. Lawton of Brockton, Massachusetts. They annually review the applications of numerous charitable organizations eligible for assistance, and select the recipients.