WILLIAM A. CURLISS was born in New Jersey in July of 1862 to Elizabeth and Daniel W. Curliss. His father was Camden's Chief of Police from 1871 to 1874. His father worded at a a number of positions at the West Jersey Ferry and West Jersey Railroad after his time as Chief of Police, and also worked at the Central Trust bank in the years prior to his passing in 1895.
  

The Curliss family lived at 414 South 5th Street  in South Camden from the late 1870s through 1898. William Curliss worked as a machinist and as a driver in the 1880s. He was appointed to the Camden Fire Department as a driver with the Hook and Ladder Company, in 1890 and worked as a fireman throughout the rest of the 1890s. He resigned from the Department in January of 1899, to go into business with John I. Munter selling horses at 515 Columbia Avenue in Camden under the name of Curliss & Munter. He also moved to 327 Stevens Street . 

By 1906 William Curliss had moved to 517 Arch Street where he operated a saloon through at least 1920. A life-long bachelor, William Curliss finally married at some point after the 1910 Census and prior to the compilation of the 1914 Camden City Directory. 

William Curliss was still residing at 517 Arch Street when the Census was taken in 1920. He passed away on August 15, 1921, leaving a widow, Louisa.