 |
| [Battle Flag, Company K, Infantry, 15th Regimen Arkansas (Northwest), Confederate Army, from which Sergeant David T. Hurley would go missing -- likely a prisoner-of-war -- during the October 1862 Battle of Corinth, Mississippi.] |
1850: David T. and Eliza I. Hurley(fn. 1) (nee Gunter) -- parents-to-be of George Wallace Hurley -- reside in White Oak Township, Franklin County(fn. 2), Arkansas.
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| [1850 US Census] |
Notably, this census confirms the surname -- and to a somewhat lesser extent, the ethnicity -- of Eliza Hurley: Sharing the family home with 31-year-old David T. and wife Eliza is 70-year-old Archbala Gunter, whose relation is listed as "Mom."
Eliza's mother Archbala Gunter, born circa 1780, lists her place of birth as North Carolina.
Intriguingly, Archbala's given home state of North Carolina partly embraces the northern terminus of Cherokee ancestral lands, whose native inhabitants were "removed" westward upon passage of the federal Indian Removal Act of 1830.
She and daughter Eliza would thus seem to have passed significant Cherokee heritage on to George Wallace Hurley and his lineage.
[Fn. 1: The family surname on this census apparently is mis-spelled "Hearly," or perhaps "Hearby." I believe this census recorder was attempting to spell "Hurley" via the initial "H" followed by the phonetically correct "early" -- a mis-spelling which will return in the 1870 US Census, below. Further supporting the theory that the surname is mis-spelled, a Google search all but completely rules-out both "Hearly" and "Hearby" as known surnames.]
[Fn. 2: The 1850 US Census relied upon lists the family's location as Township White Oak, County of Jefferson. The County of Jefferson designation I believe to be error, and the family's correct location to be Township White Oak, County of Franklin, because: (1) no such White Oak township exists in Jefferson County; and (2) a White Oak township does exist within Franklin County, wherein the family's residence is recorded in the 1860 US Census.]
~*~*~*~
1860: It's one year prior to the outbreak of the US Civil War. Head-of-household David T. Hurley and wife Eliza are quietly raising a growing brood of "early Hurleys" in Franklin County, Arkansas.
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| [1860 US Census] |
Perched on the Northwestern outskirts of the Confederacy, the state of Arkansas is solidly rebel: 1860's Arkansans so revile reformist presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln that his name is absent from the 1860 statewide ballot.
The Hurley homestead, meanwhile, seems peaceful and prosperous: Wife Eliza, aged 32, remains of child-bearing age; she and husband David T., a carpenter, have indeed recently welcomed into the family four-month-old Robert Hurley.
And another is on the way: This 1860 US Census roll depicted above is recorded November 24, 1860 -- one month after George Wallace Hurley is conceived(fn. 3).
The outbreak some six months later of war between the North and South poses no initial threat to the family. David T. Hurley, at the age of 41, is six years too old to serve.
But this would change. Beset by heavy casualties, the Confederacy would expand soldier eligibility to the age of 45 on September 27, 1862.
 |
| [Civil War record of D.T. Hurley.] |
Bidding goodbye three-month-old son George Wallace Hurley and family, David T. Hurley would join the 15th Regimen, Arkansas Infantry (Northwest), deploying to the bloody Second Battle of Corinth, Mississippi.
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| ["Missing," and never to be seen again: The final record of D.T. Hurley at the Battle of Corinth, MS, 1862.] |
A rebel meat-grinder, the Battle of Corinth would deliver devastating Confederate losses. Sergeant David "D.T." Hurley is recorded among the 1,763 "captured/missing" rebel casualties at the pivotal Corinth theater of October 3-4, 1862.
[Fn. 3: Born July 27, 1862, George Wallace would have been conceived around October 27, 1861.]
~*~*~*~
1870: Widow Eliza Hurley (here tellingly mis-spelled "Hearly") has migrated to Lamar County, Texas, along with eight-year-old George W. and family:
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| [1870 US Census] |
Intriguingly, one anonymous contributor to Eliza's Findagrave memorial proclaims the city of Paris, Lamar County, Texas, to be George Wallace's place of birth.
Did a widowed Eliza Hurley, pregnant with son George W., indeed move over 200 miles from Franklin County, AR to Lamar County, TX?
Or did she move the family soon after George's birth?
This unresolved debate seems to explain George W's lifelong confusion concerning his state of birth.
~*~*~*~
1871-1900: Here we are confronted with a stubborn, recordless, nearly 30-year gap in the life of George Wallace Hurley.
 |
| [The fabled Chisholm Trail.] |
According to fairly solid family lore, George W. spent some or all of these years as a cowboy on the Chisholm Trail (fn. 4).
Winding through the heart of Texas, Indian Territory (modernly the state of Oklahoma), and terminating in central Kansas, the Chisholm cattle drive -- named after Scots-Cherokee trader Jesse Chisholm -- would seem a fitting workplace for part-Cherokee George W. as a young man.
Mom Eliza Hurley's final resting place in Stephenville, TX, is near, but apparently not located directly along, the Chisholm Trail.
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| [Headstone, gravesite of Eliza I. Hurley, Stephenville, Erath Co., TX] |
Eliza I. Hurley passed away on November 18, 1876, of unknown causes, at the age of 49. Her gravesite, depicted above, is located at the Pony Creek Cemetery, Stephenville, Erath County, Texas.
[Fn. 4: My father Gerald L. Hurley, b. 1938, who as a young man met George Wallace Hurley in Bucklin, KS, was told by his dad, mom and other family members that George Wallace drove cattle along the Chisholm Trail beginning at a very young age. A similar "legend" -- namely that George Wallace spent his younger years as "a real-life Texas cowboy" -- was passed on to other family members by George Wallace's daughter-in-law, Myrtle Lucille (Heikes) Hurley.]
~*~*~*~
1900: George Wallace, 37-years-old and married to Millie Eudora Hurley (nee Herring) in the year 1900 resides in the "panhandle" of Woodward County, Oklahoma.
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| [1900 US Census] |
This household is shared by Millie's father, John W. Herring.
~*~*~*~
1910: Now aged 47 and still residing in the Oklahoma panhandle, George Wallace and wife Millie Eudora (aged 38) are parents to my paternal grandfather, listed here as "George L.H. Hurley," or "George Lawrence Haskell Hurley."
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| [1910 US Census] |
~*~*~*~
1920: The outset of the 'Roaring 20s,' finds George Wallace Hurley living within the household of son William Ira Hurley, in Harper County, Oklahoma panhandle.
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| [1920 US Census] |
But what has become of George's wife Millie Eudora (Herring) Hurley?
Leaving George Wallace a widower, she has passed away, of unknown causes, in 1914 at the age of 43.
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| [Headstone, gravesite of Millie Eudora (Herring) Hurley, Carrier, Garfield Co, OK] |
~*~*~*~
1929: George Wallace Hurley, aged 66, is a widower no more: On a cold January 8th of this year he marries 48-year-old Grace M. Shaw, in Woodward, Oklahoma.
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| [Marriage license] |
~*~*~*~
1930: Their marriage, for unknown reasons, would prove to be a brief one: By 1930 George Wallace Hurley is again a single man -- apparent by his status as "Lodger" while residing in what seems to be a boarding-house situation in Harper County, Oklahoma.
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| [1930 US Census] |
~*~*~*~
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| [Headstone, gravesite of George Wallace Hurley, Bucklin, Ford Co., KS] |
May he rest in peace.
