Introduction

Biography

Curtis was the son of Ja­cob Strick­land and Isa­bel­la Beers, and fa­ther of hym­nist Fred G. Strick­land. He mar­ried twice, to Ma­ry Al­ice Pem­broke (1868, Mi­sha­wa­ka, In­di­ana) and Cla­ra E. Mil­ler (Au­gust 18, 1908).

At age 14, he en­list­ed for ci­vil war ser­vice as a drum­mer boy in the 153rd Re­gi­ment, Penn­syl­van­ia Vol­un­teer In­fan­try. He was wound­ed in the bat­tle of Chan­cel­lors­ville and was in a Con­fed­er­ate hos­pi­tal for some time.

He was lat­er cap­tured again, and spent four months in the in­fa­mous Lib­by Pri­son in Rich­mond, Vir­gin­ia.

Completing mi­li­ta­ry ser­vice in 1863, Strick­land re­turned home. At age 19, he moved west to Mi­sha­wa­ka, In­di­ana.

Curtis was paint­er by trade, and for years taught sing­ing school. But, feel­ing the call to min­is­try, he be­came a li­cen­ti­ate with the Eel Ri­ver Chris­tian con­fer­ence in 1877, and was or­dained at the next con­fer­ence ses­sion in 1878.

With the ex­cep­tion of a sing­le pas­tor­ate and mem­ber­ship in an Io­wa Chris­tian con­fer­ence, Strick­land’s work was all with­in the Eel Ri­ver and North­wes­tern In­di­ana Chris­tian Con­fer­enc­es.

He served pas­tor­ates in Hunt­ing­ton, War­ren, Bluf­fton, Six Mile, Plum Tree, Sa­la­mo­nie, Clear Creek and prob­ab­ly oth­er lo­ca­tions in the Eel Ri­ver Con­fer­ence. He al­so served church­es in Bur­rows, Buf­fa­lo, Shi­lo, Ar­gos, Eel Ri­ver and prob­ab­ly else­where in the North­west­ern In­di­ana Con­fer­ence.

Works

Strickland pub­lished a num­ber of Gos­pel song books, an­them books, so­los, Child­ren’s Day pro­grams, East­er pro­grams, and mu­sic for the Grand Ar­my of the Re­pub­lic, Me­mo­ri­al Day, and oth­er ven­ues. The last few years of his life were de­vot­ed to the mu­sic­al field.

• The Ev­an­gel­ist’s Songs of Praise (Ar­gos, In­di­ana: C. V. Strick­land, 1891)
• The Ev­an­gel­ist’s Songs of Praise No. 2 (Hunt­ing­ton, In­di­ana: C. V. Strick­land, 1892)
• White Wings, with Theo­dore Holl­ings­worth Os­born (Hunt­ing­ton, In­di­ana: C. V. Strick­land, 1896)
• Priceless Pearls (ed­it­or) (Hunt­ing­ton, In­di­ana: C. V. Strick­land & Son, 1904)