James D. Gurley

I received the obituary for our uncle James Gurley.  It was full of great information.  It said that he immigrated with his parents in 1837 to Norwalk, Huron, Ohio.  Sound familiar?!  Another piece of the puzzle that fit nicely together.  It also lists his wife as Jane Louise High.  She died 12 years before he did.  James died in 1902 in Ten Mile, Macon, Missouri while living with his daughter Alice and her family.  The funny thing about this is that the document trail from 1900 to his death in 1902 all says that Alice was his niece!  I don't think that is correct.  Anyway, James and Jane married in Janesville, Rock, Wisconsin in 1859.  That is where Jane was living with her parents.  James was a railroad conductor and had been working on the railroads from a fairly young age.  I think his occupation took him to Wisconsin where he met Jane (many documents list her as Louise or Jennie).  He then had to go back to Norwalk to take care of some court issues and while they were there, Alice was born.  They stayed in Toledo for three years and then moved to Missouri.  I am not sure why they moved there.  Another mystery!  He did register for the Civil War in 1863 while living in Callao, Macon, Missouri.  They lived there for a few years before settling in Ten Mile where both he and Jane passed away.  They only had the one daughter, Alice and she was a first cousin to Grandma Vera.  I wonder if anyone really knew she existed?!  She married Mark Nelson and had several children of her own.

We found him!

I got back home yesterday to a package from the Huron County Courthouse.  I knew they were sending me the Estate papers for Susan Gurley.  I never dreamed I would get a huge answer to my last post when I opened the package!  33 pages of wonderfulness!  Apparently there was a dispute about which will was the true last living testament of Susan Gurley.  I actually love it when there are problems in the past because it gives us more information for the future!  They had to list all of her 'closest kin' and because she wasn't married, she didn't have children and her parents had passed away they had to list her four living siblings!  This is what they listed Thomas Gurley, Olena, Ohio; James Gurley, Macon, Missouri; Matilda Hurlbut, Jasper, Michigan; and Maria Hurlbut, San Diego, California.  Did you notice where James was listed as being from?!!  This wonderful document proved that I had at last found James.  I was so excited.  So, for all of you that want to know, we have cousins in Missouri!