James Patrick Hurley

Birth: 6/5/1895, Ceredo, West Virginia. [Ceredo, West Virginia was a small town founded in 1857 with a population of ~500 in 1900. It was known for its unique history of having been planned by northern abolitionists as an anti-slavery community. After the Civil War, it experienced financial difficulties and declining population.]

Address: 11307 Kinsman Rd., Cleveland, Ohio [appears to be the address of his wife's parents]

Demographics: married  

Appearance: not known

Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: draft date not known; enlisted 4/4/1917; Corporal

Marriage: 8/21/1917 married Ruth Margaret  Hurley (1900-1972) [same surname, unclear if or how they were related], age 17, in Cleveland. At that time, USMC Corporal Hurley was stationed in Winthrop, Maryland. She bore a son 4 months later. In the 1920 Census, widow Ruth Hurley was living in her parents' home with a two-year-old son named Merwin Kenneth Hurley (12/24/1917-4/18/1992), presumably the offspring of Private James Patrick Hurley. On 5/19/1921, WWI widow Ruth Hurley remarried Wilbert A. Perry, a fireman, who had served in WWI as a Private and had been honorably discharged. Ruth Hurley may have married one or more additional times; her name at death was Ruth Margaret Kennison. 

Service Number: not known

Deployment: presumably died before deployment

Action: USMC Corporal at Quantico, VA in the "RR Det.," probably an abbreviation for Radio Reconnaissance Detachment

Death: April 1, 1918 at age 22 at Quantico, Virginia; cause of death Malaria [Malaria was a significant issue at Quantico, Virginia, a USMC training center, and also among soldiers deployed elsewhere in WWI.]

Burial: 4/4/1918 at Highland Park Cemetery, 21400 Chagrin Blvd., Cleveland, OH, Govt Lot 841 Sec 2 Tier ? Grave 1

Next of Kin: Mrs. Ada Carfrey, sister, 571 Hawks Ave., Columbus, OH 

Additional Information: 

The Hurley family was living in West Virginia in 1900 and in Cleveland in 1910. At his death, Corporal James Patrick Hurley left behind a wife and presumably a son, about whom very little information was found. There was also very little definitive information about the family as a whole. The research was made more difficult as the surname Hurley is very common. 

Father: William J. Hurley (1867-1919), born Ohio of Irish ancestry, occupation Railroad Hand; Mother: Martha Lane (or Jane or Laine or Layne) Hurley (1877-?), born West Virginia of Irish ancestry; Siblings: Ada Hurley Carfrey (1893-1981); Harry Harrison Hurley (1897-1952); Agnes?