Gurney Genealogy Library Updated 29 May 2026 by Allen Gurney

Amos Gurney (1770 – before 1850)

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Cummington, Massachusetts farmer; married Ruth Gilbert; widow Ruth later joined son Willis at Flushing.

Born
1770. Likely born in Plymouth County, Massachusetts (his father Benjamin G9 sold his Abington land in June 1770 and moved the household to Cummington late that year). Son of Benjamin Gurney (G9). 1
Died
Before 1850 — by which date his widow Ruth had joined their son Willis at Flushing, Queens, New York. 2
Occupation
Farmer, Cummington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. Listed as head of household in the 1800 federal census (household structure 10010/20010, consistent with a young farmer's family). 3
Marriage
Ruth Gilbert — married 29 December 1790, Cummington, Massachusetts. Recorded in the Cummington Vital Records. 4

Highlights

  • Born during the family's move to the Massachusetts hill country. His father Benjamin (G9) sold the Abington land in June 1770 and bought into Cummington (then "Town No. 5") with Silas Reed on 5 November 1770. Amos's birth in 1770 is therefore at the threshold of the family's transplant from old Plymouth County to the new western frontier of Massachusetts settlement. 5
  • Six children born in Cummington — only Willis is documented in detail. The Cummington Vital Records preserve baptisms or births for six children of Amos and Ruth. The youngest five are not yet individually identified in sources consulted; the eldest, Willis (G7), is the bridge to the New York chapter of the family. 6
  • Left Cummington after 1802. Family-tradition material has Amos leaving Cummington after 1802, but the destination and circumstances of that move are not yet documented in this project. The widow Ruth's eventual residence with son Willis in Flushing in 1850 is the only firm later record. 7
  • His father's farm specifics are better preserved than his own. For Benjamin (G9), specific Cummington and Abington deeds survive (1770 sale to Silas Reed; 1787 farm exchange with Philip Shaw, recorded in Foster & Streeter, "Only One Cummington"). Amos himself has left a thinner deed footprint in sources consulted; that is itself a research lead. 8

Children

Name Dates Notes
Willis Gurneyc. 1796–98 — before 1870G7 in direct line; tailor of Flushing, Queens, NY. 9
Five further childrenborn CummingtonSpecific names and dates not yet established in sources consulted. 6

Narrative

Amos Gurney is the Cummington generation. His father Benjamin (G9) had sold Abington land in June 1770 and bought into Cummington — then a frontier town in the Massachusetts hill country, recently surveyed as "Town No. 5" of the Plantation grants — later that same year. Amos was born in 1770, so his birth and his father's move are essentially simultaneous events. The family-tradition language is that Amos was born in Bridgewater (his father's older Plymouth County connection), but the timing of the Abington-to-Cummington move makes the precise birthplace genuinely uncertain.

What is certain is that Amos's adult life played out at Cummington. He married Ruth Gilbert there on 29 December 1790, and the Cummington Vital Records record six of their children born in the town. The 1800 federal census places Amos in Cummington as head of household with the structure 10010/20010 — a married man in his thirties with several young children — exactly what the marriage and birth records imply. Family-tradition material says he "left Cummington after 1802," but where he went is not yet established here.

The most concrete later record is indirect: by 1850, Ruth (now widowed) is found in the Flushing, Queens, household of her son Willis, the family's first move to New York. Whether Amos accompanied that move and died in New York, or died earlier in Massachusetts and Ruth joined Willis only after his death, is an open question. Either way, the New York Gurneys begin in Amos's generation.

Citations

  1. Birth year 1770 from family-tradition material in data/ancestors v26.json, G8 entry. For Benjamin G9's June 1770 land sale at Abington and 5 November 1770 Cummington purchase, see Foster & Streeter, "Only One Cummington" (1974), p. 390. Source ID for Foster & Streeter: foster-streeter-cummington. ↩
  2. Census evidence: Ruth Gurney is found "with son Willis in Flushing, 1850," and Amos is absent. data/ancestors v26.json, G8 entry. ↩
  3. U.S. Federal Census, 1800, Cummington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts (household 10010/20010). ↩
  4. Cummington Vital Records, marriage of Amos Gurney and Ruth Gilbert, 29 December 1790. ↩
  5. Foster & Streeter, "Only One Cummington" (1974), p. 390. Source ID: foster-streeter-cummington. ↩
  6. Cummington Vital Records (six children of Amos Gurney and Ruth Gilbert). ↩
  7. Family-tradition material in data/ancestors v26.json, G8 entry; primary source for the post-1802 Cummington departure not yet identified. ↩
  8. Foster & Streeter, "Only One Cummington" (1974), p. 390 (Benjamin's 1787 farm exchange with Philip Shaw). Source ID: foster-streeter-cummington. Amos-specific Cummington deeds not yet located. ↩
  9. See Willis Gurney (G7) fact sheet. ↩