John Curtis Bush ^{2 3 4 5}

  General Notes:

Entered College: 1860, Entered Howard College, Marion, Perry County, Alabama

Entered College: 1861, Transferred to State University (later to become Univ. of Alabama), Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Military Service: 1862, Appointed drill master in Col. Robert H. Smith's regiment near Mobile, AL., Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama, Appointed drill master in Col. Robert H. Smith's regiment near Mobile, Alabama, 41st Alabama infantry. Fought at battle of Murfreesboro. Later promoted to quartermaster-sergeant. Served until end of war.

Battle of Murfreesboro: 1862/1863, Served with 41st Alabama Infantry, known as the Orphan Brigade, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Graduation: 1867, University of Mississippi, Attended University of Mississippi because University of Alabama had been burned during the war. Graduated valedictorian. His brother, Thomas Greene Bush (b. 19 Aug 1847) graduated the same year taking second place honors as salutatorian.

Entered into business: 1867, Cotton factor in father's firm A. P. Bush & Sons, Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama.

Entered into partnership with James H. Allen and Thomas H. West: 1877. His business developed into one of the largest cotton concerns in the United States. Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama.

Spent the years 1879 and 1880 in New Orleans at a branch house of the firm, moving back to Mobile afterwards. In 1887 the partnership dissolved with each partner taking his branch. The Mobile branch known as J. C. Bush & Company.

Elected to public positions: 1887/1897, President, Cotton Exchange; Director, Chamber of Commerce; Director of three insurance companies, Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama. Also, president of the Quarantine Board of Mobile Bay.

Election: 1897, Mayor, Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama. After winning on a majority of nearly four to one, he changed the previous political approach to administration to one of business based on merit. During his three year administration, he created municipal ownership of the public water system and a public improvements policy to bring suitable sewers and paved streets to the city. He issued municipal bonds and personally managed the never used before conditional contracts which saved millions of dollars and covered the whole improvement project by bonds alone.

Re-elected: 1900, Mayor, Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama. Though he had decided not to become a candidate for re-election, he was induced to reconsider by a petition signed by several thousand citizens. Finally consenting, he was elected without any opposition.

Residence: South East corner of Government and Franklin streets, Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama. This corner of Government and Franklin streets has been occupied by two homes for mayors of Mobile. John Stocking was living on this corner in the wee hours of New Year 1830 when the newly formed Cowbellion de Rankin Society members came to call. Despite the hour the mayor invited them in for refreshments and the oldest mystic society in the United States was born. The Stocking home was replaced in 1872. Henry Bernstein had made a comfortable fortune in the sales of shoes and boots. He hired architect James L. Hutchisson, and some $15,000 later he had a grand new home. Mrs. Bernstein died in 1888 and her death may well have contributed to Bernstein's decision to sell the house in 1891. The new owner was my great grandfather John Curtis Bush, Sr., a prosperous cotton factor who would also serve as the city's mayor.

It was under ownership by Bush that the house was the setting for glittering parties and a regular stop for New Years callers. Each year the street was filled with carriages on that day, filled with ladies and gentlemen in evening clothes, though it was early afternoon. The afternoon was spent going from one great house to another to welcome in the New Year.

After his death, my great grandmother sold the house to Frank Roche.
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  Noted events in his life were:

• He has alternate birth date of June 1847 and a birth location of Alabama.

This birth date was provided on his 1900 US Census.
. ²

• He appeared on the 1850 US Census in Pickensville, AL on 22 October 1850. ³

1850 US Census
Page 7B, Dwelling 12, Family 12, Roll 13
Pickensville, Pickens County, Alabama
Curtis Bush..5..AL
(Living with parents and 2 aunts.)

NOTE - If his birth date was 17 Jun 1845, then his age should have been 4 instead of 5.
.

• He appeared on the 1860 US Census in Pickensville, AL on 12 June 1860. ⁴

1860 US Census
Page 1, Roll 20, Dwelling 7, Family 7
Pickensville, Pickens County, Alabama
J. Curtis Bush..14..AL
(Living with parents.)
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• He appeared on the 1870 US Census in Mobile, AL on 17 June 1870. ⁵

1870 US Census
Page 22, Dwelling 139, Family 146
Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama
J. C. Bush..25..AL..Cotton Factory
(Living with parents.)

NOTE - If his birth date was 17 Jun 1845, then his age should have been 24 instead of 25.
.

• He appeared on the 1900 US Census in Mobile, AL on 2 June 1900. ²

1900 US Census
Sheet 4A, District 99, Dwelling 54, Family 54
Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama
355 17th Street; Ward 4; home owned no mortgage
Married 30 years
John Curtis Bush..Head..Jun 1847..52..AL..Mayor
(Living with wife and 5 children.)

NOTE - If his birth date was 17 Jun 1845, then his age should have been 54 instead of 52.
.

• He was buried after 19 June 1910 in the Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile, AL.

John married Ruth Sarah Tarrant, daughter of Col. Felix Noble Tarrant and Mary Ann E. Smith, on 30 November 1869.^{1 2} (Ruth Sarah Tarrant was born on 10 September 1846 in Marion, AL ^{1 6} and died on 7 December 1940 in Los Angeles, CA ¹.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• They appeared on the 1880 US Census in Marion, AL on 5 June 1880. ⁷

1880 US Census
Page 227A, District 78, Dwelling 147, Family 147, Roll 27
Marion, Perry County, Alabama
May Tarrant..Self..54..AL..Keeping House
Joseph Smith..Other..29..AL..Farmer
Ruth Bush..Dau..31..AL..Keeping House
Green Bush..GSon..9..AL..At School
Felix Bush..GSon..7..AL
Sarah Bush..GDau..6..AL
Curtis Bush..GSon..4..AL

NOTE - While John was in New Orleans during 1879 and 1880 for business purposes, Ruth had taken her children and was living back with her mother. I have not yet found John Curtis Bush in this census.
.

• They appeared on the 1900 US Census in Mobile, AL on 2 June 1900. ²

1900 US Census
Sheet 4A, District 99, Dwelling 54, Family 54
Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama
355 17th Street; Ward 4; home owned no mortgage
Married 30 years
John Curtis Bush..Head..Jun 1847..52..AL..Mayor
Ruth S. Bush..Wife..Sep 1854..45..AL..6/5
Thomas G. Bush..Son..Oct 1871..28..AL..Cotton Factory
Sarah A. Bush..Dau..May 1876..24..AL
John Curtis Bush..Son..Jan 1877..23..AL..Cotton Factory
Ruth Bush...Dau..Aug 1880..19..AL
Marie M. Bush..Dau..May 1883..17..AL
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