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Below is a family biography included in The History of Benton County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Dr. Thomas W. Hurley, a successful practitioner of Bentonville, Ark., is a native of Lawrence County, Ala., born 1834, and the son of Israel W, and Sarah (Bonds) Hurley, and grandson of Thomas Hurley, who was a native of North Carolina, and who moved to Middle Tennessee at a very early date. Israel W. Hurley was born in Tennessee in 1805, was of Irish descent and a farmer by occupation. He went to Lawrence County, Ala., when a young man, was married there, and afterward moved to Lowndes County, Miss., but in 1858 he moved to Carol Parish, La. He died in 1868. Sarah (Bonds) Hurley was born in Tennessee, was of Scotch descent, and died in 1876 at the age of seventy years. She was the mother of the following children: Dr. Thomas W.; William A., killed at Vicksburg during the Civil War; John W., at Fort Smith, a mechanic by trade; James, killed at Vicksburg during the war; Robert, who is on the old home farm in Louisiana; Sarah, widow of Richard Ingram, and Mary wife of John Ingram. Dr. Thomas W. is the eldest of his family. He received his literary education at Oxford, Miss., and at the age of seventeen he commenced the study of his chosen profession. In 1854 he entered the Memphis Medical College, at Memphis, Tenn., and attended one year. In 1855 and 1856 he attended the medical department of the University of Louisiana, and in the spring of 1856 he graduated as an M. D. The same year he located in Noxubee County, Miss., and began practicing, but moved to Calhoun County, Ark., the following year and settled at Hampton, where he resided until 1862. Previous to this, in 1855, he married Miss Maria L. Neal, who was born in Rising Sun, Ind., April 6, 1884, and who bore him five children: May, wife of Edwin L. Richards, who is residing in San Diego County, Cal.; Augustus W., Charles E., Emma D, and Eva. In March, 1862, Dr. Hurley enlisted in Barnett’s Battalion as volunteer surgeon, and was immediately appointed surgeon of the battalion. He was in the battle of Shiloh and Farmington, and immediately after the battle was appointed by the war department of the Confederate army a surgeon in the Confederate States army, with headquarters at Memphis. In 1863 his health failed and he returned home, but was soon appointed as surgeon in the Transmississippi Department, and held this position the remainder of the war. He surrendered at Jefferson, Texas, after peace was declared, and after the war he located at Dallas, Texas, where he resumed his practice. In 1868 he became a resident of Bentonville, Ark., and has devoted his time and attention to his profession from that day until the present. Dr. Hurley is the oldest practitioner in Bentonville, with one exception, having been a resident here for twenty years. He is an excellent physician, as his many patients now living can testify. May, 1884, he was elected president of the State Medical Society and served one year. He is a member of the American Medical Association, State Medical Society of the State of Arkansas, and is a member of the Benton County Medical Society, and is secretary of the same. He is Democratic in politics, and he and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

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This family biography is one of 240 biographies included in The History of Benton County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Benton County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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