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Evidently, Burchet's father, the attorney John Curtis*, wasn't too keen on his young daughter marrying Hartwell King, and, in fact, the couple probably eloped in the Spring of 1805. Why didn't Curtis approve? Who knows. What is known is that John Curtis' daughters led him on a merry race, and only in death did John Curtis win the meet, through his last will and testament.
His worries about Hartwell King's son-in-law fitness didn't materialize. King was a good, solid citizen (as far as your Cousin Martha knows), and he provided well for Burchet.
*The mother of John Curtis' four daughters, Mary Shaw Curtis, passed away in the Autumn of 1794, while her daughters were still little girls. Their father remarried. His last wife was Elizabeth "Betsy" Nance. She must have reared her stepdaughters. Burchet referred to her, in a letter, as "Mother," but in that letter, Burchet expressed her frustration with her stepmother's lack of generosity. LITTLE WOMEN, this was not.
