Born in Montreal, Canada East, Curran was one of eleven children born to Charles C. and Sarah Kennedy Curran. Charles was from
County Down,
Ireland, and Sarah from County Wexford. John attended
Collège Ste-Marie and the
University of Ottawa. He graduated from
McGill Law School in 1862 and was appointed to the
Bar of Quebec in 1863. In 1865 he married Mary Elizabeth Brennan, with whom he had seven children. Curran was named a
Queen's Counsel in 1882 and became a judge for the
Superior Court of Quebec in 1885. Curran served three terms in the Canadian House of Commons as a member for Montreal Centre. He was a professor of the law faculty and vice-dean at
Ottawa University. He was Solicitor-General in 1892 to 1895, and a contributor to various periodicals, and the
Catholic Encyclopedia. ==References==