Before I Forget

From The Daily Ardmoreite newspaper, p. 3, January 24, 1919, Ardmore, Oklahoma:

I wonder how often this occurred among families while serving on the front lines in the two World Wars. Brothers, yes. But fathers and sons meeting up?


The other son mentioned who was also in the Marine Corps? That would be Homer Carlisle Hurley. Here Homer appears with his brother, John, on a Marine Corps Muster Roll dated June 12, 1918:

John was discharged October 30, 1919, and Homer on January 27, 1919. 

All three Hurleys made it home safely after The Great War. Homer died 1974 in Oklahoma City. Brother John D, Hurley died 1984 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Their dad, Oscar Lee Hurley, was born 1867 in Salem, North Carolina to James D. Hurley (1842-1922) and Melissa Emaline Gibson Hurley (1827-1904). When Oscar was three, his parents and sisters left North Carolina and moved to Texas. That must have been quite a journey. 

Oscar married Lula Mangum in 1893, and they had nine (known) children. All born in Texas. It was after World War I that I next find his family living in Ardmore, Oklahoma. The 1920 Federal Census indicates Oscar was employed as a carpenter "for the circus." I hope his younger children got free tickets to the event. 

After Oscar's death outside of Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1942, his widow Lula applied for his military headstone.  

Oscar's half-brothers, George and Caswell, had fought in the Civil War. Caswell died of disease near their North Carolina home in 1862. My 2xGGrandfather George was 17 when he and other Confederates were sent to New York Harbor to a Yankee prison. 

One hundred years ago, it may not have been uncommon for several in a family to enlist and fight in a foreign land. But to this 21st century descendant, it seems odd--strangely odd, to have had brothers who fought in the Civil War and a younger brother who then fought in Europe some 47+ years later.

          Born April 26, 1850, my maternal 2xGGrandmother may not have ever left the county her family had called home for decades if it weren't for the Civil War.

          The daughter of Andrew Smith (1817-1893) and Rebecca "Sadie" Carroll (1823-1900), Nancy and her parents were born in Davidson County, North Carolina. See Nancy's family in the 1850 Federal Census:

          Can't say for certain. I can only speculate why this Nancy and George would want to move far from familiar surroundings. But having learned Nancy's husband, when as a 17 year old Confederate soldier, had been in a Yankee prison at Hart's Island outside of New York City, AND had lost an older brother who had fought near their North Carolina home, might George and Nancy have wanted to leave their battle-scarred state? Start somewhere altogether new? 

          Boy, did they find "new." Wild and woolly Texas certainly was unique. By the 1870s Texas was in full-tilt Reconstruction. Much has been written about that period. Not an easy time for many folk. 

          Nancy Abigail Smith and George Freeman Hurley married the day before Christmas in 1868. She was 18, he was 21. By the next Christmas, they were in Titus, Texas. Did they travel by train, or wagon or how? The 1870 Federal Census has them in Red River County, near Clarksville. In September of that year, my great-grandmother Rebecca was born in Gray Rock in Red River County. 

Source:  Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Marriage Records, 1741-2011 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.  Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.


          By the 1880 Federal Census, the Hurleys were living in Mason County, Texas where Nancy lived the remainder of her life. Cousin Betty Foree told me this was the home they built outside of Katemcy. The cute little squirt on the far right was born in 1894. That gives us an idea of when this photo was taken. Please click once on the image to enlarge it. You just have to see it all! Isn't it a splendid photo.

"After settling in Mason County, TX in the early 1870's, Nancy Hurley had an ash hopper where she made her own lye for homemade soap; she carded the cotton grown on the farm, spun the thread on a hand turned spinning wheel, and knitted stockings for her family of twelve. Melissa Hurley Pirtle can remember the stockings she wore to school the first year.

Like other farm families, the Hurleys raised practically all of their own food: ground their cornmeal, as well as the coffee beans Nancy roasted; made syrup, pickles, hominy, and sauerkraut (ijn a barrel in the chimney corner, and dried the fruits. The men butchered and cured the meat. Nancy carried the water for washing, using a rub board, from the nearby creek or drew it by bucket from the hand-dug well. For supplies they could not raise, the men went in a wagon to Brownwood, staying two nights on the road and spending one night in the wagon yard.

          What I want to know is, are George or Nancy the reason for the red hair gene that is passed down in my family? Nancy's great-granddaughter Elta once told this writer that her father, Art Willhelm, commented on his new granddaughter's hair color. Art said that baby Diane had the same hair that his mother Rebecca had when he was a boy.  #Ginger

          UPDATE on this last Monday of 2019:   Wait. I forgot I had uploaded this back in 2014 from George Freeman Hurley's military file. George was also a ginger when he was a Confederate teenager:

This post is for Linda. Two items of proof that Isom McDaniel and Ila Lee Hurley were indeed married. Ila was my 1st cousin, 3 x removed. I have yet to discover her burial place so I can't properly request a link to Find A Grave. 

1.  From the Daily Admoreite newspaper, 30 April 1922, p. 13, Ardmore, Oklahoma:

2.  The application for marriage license, marriage license and marriage certificate showing their marriage in Waurika, Jefferson County, Oklahoma on April 30, 1922:


Thanks for your time in reviewing this, Linda!

          My mother's Aunt Bea was a family historian and quite a storyteller.

          Beatrice Willhelm, born 1907 in Santa Anna, Texas, was by occupation a registered nurse. Her work in health care took her to Texas, Montana, and California. I don't know when she became interested in genealogy, but am so very grateful for her effort in compiling this Family Record. 

          Over the years I've spoken online with others familiar with her manuscript. Some reported it had been passed down from older relatives--now deceased. Imagine the amount of time Bea spent in writing distant cousins asking for birth and death dates, pictures, and stories about their grandparents. Did she give a happy shout when the mailman brought her photos of ancestors by return mail? Or when she was mailed torn obits from faded newspapers?

          Attached are 21 pages of Bea's Willhelm Family Record and Hurley Family Record that she combined into one manuscript. I scanned my copy of a copy from another copy. I've never seen an original manuscript of Bea's work.

          I have omitted info on living people as you will see from pages containing but a few typed sentences. (Copies are available to family by request n the Comment box below). Hold your cursor over the gallery of images to find the horizontal scroll bar. Move the scroll bar to the right to see ALL of the 21 pages. Feel free to download each image. I know Aunt Bea would want you to have a copy for personal use--not commercial use.

          As to where Bea's trove of research is now, I would love to know. What a treasure she may have had in her collection of old letters and documents from the 19th century. WHERE are they now?

          Meet Aunt Bea in two photos below. One image from her later years. Another as she appeared in 1928 Lubbock, Texas with my grandmother, Audrey Coffee (on the left):

          In 2002 another researcher and a second cousin, Marsha F. White, mailed photos of my ggrandparents' family. I do so appreciate Marsha's generosity!  She too descends from George Freeman Hurley and Nancy Abigail Smith--parents of Beatrice's mother, Lena.

          Lena's legal name was Rebecca Orlena Hurley. She married William Edgar Willhelm in Katemcy, Texas on December 8, 1889. But you can read all that in Bea's document. (George and Nancy Hurley appear elsewhere on my blog. Find them with a keyword search).  I'll hush now and show the marvelous photos from our Hurley cousin. Attached are scanned copies of the originals she sent. I also have copies that have been touched-up, but want you (family) to see the originals. 

         First, from left to right, are the children of Lena & Edgar Willhelm:  Olive, Glenn, Arch, Bea, May (standing), Fred, and Art. Little Beatrice appears to be about four or five, don't you think? That would put this photo around 1912. The duplicate pic below is one that my sister touched up a bit. Remember to click ONCE inside a picture to enlarge it. Click just once to return to this page.

          Second, from L to R, sisters Lois & Edna May Alexander--daughters of May Willhelm. Then Glenn and his sister Frieda, with their brother Harold behind them. (Children of Fred and Bertha Willhelm). 

          3.  My Grandpa Art said his mother Lena was a "ginger." Here is Lena with her husband Ed Willhelm.

          4.  I think these are the youngest Willhelm children Beatrice, Art, and Olive with what may be school books. My grandfather Art is in the second photo. I am so happy to have these early photos!


          5.  Two photos of Lena and Ed Willhelm's entire family. Dates and locations are unknown. Do you know more? 

Source:  Steeves, Beatrice Willhelm Reiswig, 1907-1995. Willhelm Family Record & Hurley Family Record. 1973. Raw data. St. Helena, Napa, California, USA.  A family history and genealogy of Tobias Willhelm (1760-1834) and Daniel Hurley (1817- 1859) and their descendants.


Thanks for stopping by!
    

I'm not sure "casualty" is the correct word as young Hurley died of disease. But because he was in the service of the Confederate Army at the time of his death, I consider him a casualty of war. A hideous war in which more men died from illness than did by battle. You may recall nearly 620,000 men/women perished during the War Between the States. 

Caswell died March 8, 1862--just six months after enlisting with the 34th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Company C, on September 9, 1861. Here's a copy from his military file downloaded from Fold3.com/ 

Caswell was the first of eight children of Daniel and Melissa (Gibson) Hurley of Montgomery County, North Carolina. Daniel had died in July of 1859, and missed seeing his first and his third sons go to war. Caswell didn't actually go far from home with his regiment, but trudged around nearby counties. Poor rations and miasma left many ill. I found a couple of paragraphs (below) describing his last couple of months. Due to critical health, several in their regiment were left at Williamston while the unit continued on towards Roanoke. It was in Williamston that Caswell died. Was he lying in a tent or shelter? Was this 18 year old exposed to the elements his last day in March? 

"This regiment was organized at Camp Fisher, near High Point, where it was mustered into state service on October 25th, 1861, for twelve months' service. The regiment was ordered to Camp Mangum, near Raleigh, and was transferred to Confederate service on January 1st, 1862. On January 14th the regiment arrived at Goldsboro, where it went into camp while awaiting the distribution of arms. It's strength was reported as thirty seven officers and seven hundred and nine men present out of an aggregate of nine hundred and ten. Arms were issued on January 22nd. At about the same time, the regiment was reported, without further elaboration, to be 'becoming more and more unhealthy daily.'

On February 8th, 1862, a Federal amphibious force under General Ambrose E. Burnside captured Roanoke Island, and a Federal fleet began moving up the nearby coastal rivers. The 34th Regiment was ordered to Halifax, where it arrived on February 13th; it was then sent, in succession, to Jamesville, Weldon and Tarboro. On March 1st the Regiment moved to Hamilton under orders to prevent the enemy from ascending the Roanoke River."

I found an 1862 North Carolina map along with a charming photo of General Burnside's chops. Click to open the gallery:

Caswell's younger brother, George Freeman Hurley, served in this same regiment. He fared better, but spent time at one of the harshest Yankee prisons: Hart's Island--just off New York City, from April 7, 1865 to June 17, 1865. Records indicate he was fair complected, red headed, 5'7" with gray eyes. He swore an oath of allegiance to the United States on June 17, 1865 prior to his release. --NC Regiments, Walter Clark, Vol Z, p 589.

"On April 1, 1865, the regiment with the brigade, occupied a position on the right, south of Hatcher's Run. We learned soon after daylight that the Confederate lines between us and Petersburg had been broken. After this saddening news the regiment repulsed a force of Federal cavalry and then retreated to Southerland's Station, where a portion of Heth's and Wilcox's divisions hastily constructed breastworks from a rail fence behind which we repulsed two desperate assaults of the enemy, killing and wounding a large number and capturing a stand of colors and many prisoners.  Discovering that we were vastly outnumbered we fell back to the Appomattox River. There was no way of crossing the river except in a small boat which was scarcely sufficient to carry the higher officers. The regiment marched all night and reached Amelia Court House the next day. At this time the ranking officer was LTC George Norment, of the 34th Rgt, from Mecklenbery County.  Here we joined the main army and General Lee provided for us the much needed rations."   T. C. Lattimore, Shelby, NC, April 9, 1901. 

Meet Caswell Hurley's younger brother and my 2xGGrandfather, George Freeman Hurley, in a photo taken in 1902. Texas has a bit of a political biography on my populist red-headed ancestor:
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fhuae