Compare and Contrast - James Gurley

This post is to compare and contrast my previous post about the location of James Gurley  after 1850.  This post is meant to be a more concise explanation and should be easier to read.  Please refer to the previous post for the documents and their citations.

Concise spreadsheet of documents and information

The 1860 court records for a James Gurley in Norwalk, Huron, County stated he was a resident in Lucas County, Ohio and had a wife named Jane L.  We then find him in the 1860 U. S. Federal Census in Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio. His name was indexed wrong and is listed as Jas Gerly, age of 32, and a birthplace of New York instead of Ireland. James Gurley can not be found in the 1870 census in Lucas County.  There is a James Gurley living in Macon County, Missouri in 1863 that may be him.  This was a Civil War Registration record and it lists James D. Gurley as being 37 years old and being born in Ireland.   This would put him as being born in 1826.  He lived in the city of Macon in Missouri in the 1870 census and had a wife named Jane Gurley and a daughter named Allice who was 9 years old. This census record listed James as J D Gurley, age 41 and a birthplace of New York.  The 1880 census lists James as J D Gurley, a 50 year old farmer who was born in New York and living in Ten Mile, Macon, Missouri.  The last census was in 1900 where James is listed as a widow living with the family of Mark Nelson in Ten Mile, Macon, Missouri.  He is listed as being 64 years old and birthplace as New York. The census isn’t completely correct, but we do find the daughter, Alice, as the wife of Mark Nelson who was the head of household.  

James' obituary includes a statement that states in 1837 he immigrated with his parents to Norwalk, Huron County, Ohio.  It also goes on to say that he married his wife, Jennie, in Janesville, Wisconsin in 1861 and then came to Missouri in 1863 where he located in Callao, Macon County and then to Macon and finally to Ten Mile where their farm was located and where his wife died 12 years earlier.  The marriage of James Gurley and Lousia Jane High took place in Janesville, Rock County, Wisconsin on 2 February 1859.  

Susan Gurley, James’ sister, had an extensive 1895 Will that contained the names and locations of each of her surviving siblings.  They were Thomas Gurley who still lived on the family farm in Ohio, Matilda Hurlbut who was living in Jasper, Michigan,  Maria Hurlbut who was living in San Diego, California and James Gurley who was living in Macon, Missouri.  

In conclusion we find that James left home in the 1850’s and lived in Wisconsin where he married his wife Jane.  In 1860 he moved back to Ohio to settle a court case and lived in Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio until 1863 when he moved to Missouri.  He registered for the Civil War at this time in Callao, Macon, Missouri.  He then moved first to Macon City and then later to his farm in Ten Mile, Macon, Missouri where he lived out the remainder of his life with his wife and daughter.