Curry Family

Curry Family. Reflections of Manatee. , The Curry Houses are two of the oldest homes in Bradenton still in the location where they were built. Their age and connection to the Curry family make them important markers of the community’s history. Reflections of Manatee is dedicated to their preservation, restoration, and use as historic house museums. , Captain John Curry was a ship builder, mariner, salvager, and cattle trader up and down the west coast of Florida as well as the Atlantic for many years. Curry was born in Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas in 1811. He married Mary Ward Kemp and the migrated to Key West. Their extended family connections continued in both Key West and the Bahamas., While on a cattle trading expedition in 1859, and docked at Andress Tavern on Snead Island, Curry purchased the property known as the Manatee Mineral Spring from Dr. Franklin Branch. By the fall of 1860, 29 members of the Curry family had migrated from Key West to the settlement. Some were married adults with children; some were in-laws with their families. Six Curry homes are listed on the 1860 Census, and sixteen on the Census of 1870. Those Curry members not already married had soon married settlers and by 1870, the Curry’s were related to nearly every family in the settlement. , John Curry captained and built many ships, large and small. Two of Curry’s ships were blockade runners during the Civil War. The 80 ton schooner Dudley has a special place in the family lore. Two Curry boys, William and Amos, made a run with the ship when they were spotted by union forces. Rather then have her captured, they set the ship ablaze. The boys took to the mangroves to hide, carrying the ships barometer, which local descendants still own and prize. , Samuel G. and Amanda (Andress) Curry, who lived in the large house in the 1860s, inherited both these houses when Captain John died in 1884. Although many family homes had been built across his acreage, this was the first time the land itself was subdivided. The little settlement of Manatee had grown and very few of the original land parcels were still intact. Miss Amelia Curry was the nest to inherit the homes. Amelia taught in Manatee schools for 50 years, sometimes serving as Principal. During summers she worked as Post Mistress. She used the two houses as rentals, while living down and across the street in the home her parents had moved to in 1870.