fortune in land and negroes. He and his wife were consistent members of the Methodist Church. They were noted in their neighborhood for their leniency to their slaves. Their negro slaves had such a home with their master and mistress as they have never had since they were free, and no one knows this fact so well as the old slaves do. They reared a family of sons and daughters. The children were well educated. They are among the best people in the country. The family moved to Waco, Texas, in 1853.
Col. Edwards Jeremiah Gurley, oldest son of Davis Gurley, commanded a regiment of soldiers in the Confederate army. He is a lawyer, but has retired from practice, and lives in comfort at Gurley, a railroad town below Waco, in Falls County. He employs his time in looking after the interest of his large estate.
James Henry, son of Davis Gurley and his wife, Patience Bland Smith, was born in Alabama. He was educated at LaGrange College, married in Waco, Texas; was master of Waco Masonic Lodge, Number 92. He has a son in Waco, George B. Gurley, who is an only child. He is city engineer. J. H. Gurley died comparatively young. During the year 1871, Waco Lodge, Number 92, having grown so as to be unwieldy, a new lodge was organized and chartered. It was named in honor of a deceased master of Waco Lodge, Number 92, J. H. Gurley Lodge, Number 337.
Davis Robert Gurley, the youngest child of Davis Gurley and his wife, Patience Bland Smith, was born near Leighton, Alabama, and educated in the Wesleyan University, Florence, Alabama. He graduated with the class of 1857. On his return to his father's home in Texas he volunteered for the State frontier service. When the war of the States began he went into the
