Gurney Genealogy Library Updated 15 July 2026 by Allen Gurney

These research notes are provided as-is and contain supplementary working research.

Willis Gurney (G07) Notes

Research notes for g07-willis-gurney-fact-sheet.md. See .claude/rules/research-files.md for the paired-file rule.

Working Notes

Contested birth: the register’s 1793 entry is a late, self-doubted insertion

The Cummington town register of births (page 213) settles less than the FamilySearch index implies. Amos and Ruth’s children appear there in sequence — Amos (5 Nov. 1792), Willard (6 Mar. 1794), Hannah (7 May 1795), Ruth (4 Jan. 1800), Nathan (2 Apr. 1802) — and then, far down the page after the next family’s children, a single line returns to the household: “Willis son of Amos & Ruth Gurney born Feb. 23[?] 1793 (?).” The parenthetical question mark is the clerk’s own, and the line is out of chronological order — both marks of a delayed, uncertain registration. The flagged year is also internally impossible: the in-sequence Amos is recorded born 5 Nov. 1792, so Willis cannot equally be a birth child of Ruth on 23 Feb. 1793.[1]

So the register does not fix Willis’s birth at 1793; it preserves a doubtful retrospective date. Rigler’s 1994 edition independently set him at “b.c. 1796–98,” which lands in the register’s own gap between Hannah (1795) and Ruth (1800); the 1850 census age (55, implying about 1795) agrees with the mid-1790s; and the War of 1812 militia service (below) implies a birth no later than about 1796. The weight of evidence puts Willis’s birth in the mid-1790s, exact year open — and the flat “25 Feb 1793” of the FamilySearch index should be read as that flagged register line, not an independent fact.[2]

Children corroborated and extended by New York vital records

Three of Willis’s children beyond the well-documented William (G6) now carry independent New York record support, found among the sources attached to the FamilySearch tree (KLCF-L2M):

  • Adelia married Edwin Osborne Chapman on 25 April 1867 in New York City — confirming Rigler’s tentative “m. perhaps Ed Chapman.”[3] The indexed marriage gives the bride as Adelia Gurney, age 20 (estimated birth 1847), and names her mother as Eliza Lawrence — independent documentary support for Eliza’s maiden surname, which Rigler’s printed entry left blank. The same index reads the father’s name as “A W Gurney” rather than Willis; treat that as an index quirk pending the certificate image, since the mother, the bride’s surname, and the date all point to Willis and Eliza’s household.
  • Elizabeth Ann appears to have married a Barto: an 1891 New York death record for “Elizabeth A Barto” names her father as Willis G. Gurney.[4] This corroborates the daughter “Elizabeth Ann, born about 1825” recorded in the 1837 St. George’s Sword and Shield canvass.
  • Ruth Louisa’s death is confirmed by a New York City municipal death record of 1899 naming her father Willis Gurney — matching Rigler’s “d. 2 Sept. 1899.”[5]

Rigler’s 1994 edition adds the marriage detail directly: Ruth Louisa “m. 22 Apr. 1862, Edward Haight & lived in New York City where she d. 2 Sept. 1899,” and gives her birth as 18 Oct. 1837 — three years later than the “October 1834” reading carried from the Sword and Shield transcription. The 1850 census age (13) supports 1837; preserve both, flagged.[2]

War of 1812: a Willis Gurney in the New York militia, 1814 — the family’s earliest New York footprint

A New York State militia payroll card places Willis Gurney, Private, in the 10th Brigade, Capt. George Englehart’s company, Col. Edward W. Laight’s regiment, paid 2 September – 2 October 1814, during the emergency mobilization for the defense of New York harbour. The card’s remark is vivid: “Deserted and was recovered & discharged by Col. Laight Oct. 8th.” It is signed J. T. Watson; Roll 2378.[6]

The identification with Willis G7 is strong rather than certain — the card carries no age or parentage — but “Willis Gurney” is a distinctive name, and the New York State militia enrolled New York residents, so the man on the card was living in New York by 1814. Two consequences follow:

  1. Migration timing. The family’s move from Cummington was complete, at least for Willis, by 1814 — well before William’s birth at Flushing in 1821 and the 1830 census appearance. The Cummington record of brother Nathan in 1802 and the militia service in 1814 bracket the move to 1802–1814. This also bears on Amos (G8): the household, or part of it, was New York–bound within a decade of leaving Cummington.
  2. Birth year. Militia enrolment ran roughly ages 18–45, so service in 1814 reads most comfortably for a birth no later than about 1796 — nudging the contested birth toward the earlier (mid-1790s) end and away from Rigler’s “1798.”

Disambiguation: the Rockland County Gurnee family is a different line

The same War of 1812 payroll series holds a cluster of militiamen surnamed Gurnee (occasionally written “Gurney”) from Rockland County who are not of this family: Lt. Col. Benjamin J. Gurnee, commanding the 83rd Regiment of New York militia; William Gurnee, serving under him as a lieutenant in Capt. George W. Sneden’s company and as major on the regiment’s field and staff (Sept.–Oct. 1814); and Samuel Gurnee, a private in Sneden’s company (paid Sept.–Dec. 1814) — all paid through the Rockland County paymaster Daniel Blauvelt.[7] These are the Huguenot-descended Gurnee family of Rockland County, west of the Hudson, a distinct surname-family from the English Gurney line of Richard Gurney of Weymouth. Three features separate them cleanly from Willis G7: the spelling (Gurnee, not Gurney); the regiment (Col. Benjamin J. Gurnee’s 83rd, not Col. Edward W. Laight’s); and the county (Rockland, not the New York City / Queens area where Laight’s regiment served and where the family settled). A further card — “Gurner, W.M.,” flagged by the indexer as “also William Gardner Jr.,” in Capt. John S. Spoor’s company of Col. Putnam Farrington’s regiment (1812) — is a separate ambiguous entry, probably a Gardner. None of these is Willis; if anything they sharpen his identification, since his card alone reads “Gurney” and sits in Laight’s regiment, apart from the Gurnee cluster.

The Massachusetts to New York transition

Willis is the family’s hinge into the New York chapter. His father Amos (G8) is found at Bridgewater and Cummington, Massachusetts; Willis’s eight known children are all New York–era figures, the eldest of whom (William, G6) becomes the most documented person in the entire direct line. When and why Willis left Cummington for Flushing is now partly answered: the 1814 militia service (above) shows him a New York resident by then, bracketing the move to 1802–1814. The widowed Ruth’s residence with Willis at Flushing in 1850 confirms the transition was lasting; the precise year and motive of the move remain open.

The 1830 / 1840 / 1850 census trail

Three census appearances at Flushing, Queens, are the spine of Willis’s documented life. The 1830 schedule places him there as the head of a young household; 1840 catches the family at full extent; 1850 is the first census with named individuals beyond the head, and is therefore the fullest single record. The 1860 schedule is the next priority document — present in the literature but not yet captured in this companion.

The eight children and their mothers

The fact sheet lists eight children. Two of them — Adelia (b. c. 1845) and Willis Jr. (b. c. 1844) — are roughly twenty years younger than the eldest (William, b. 1821). Whether all eight are children of Eliza Lawrence, or whether the two youngest belong to a second wife, is not yet established and merits checking against the 1850 census household composition.

Tailor occupation — repeats the pattern of John Gurney-1

The repetition of “tailor” between G13 (John Gurney-1, fl. 1641 Weymouth) and G7 (Willis, fl. 1830 Flushing) is unmistakable but not necessarily meaningful — there is no preserved record of an apprenticeship or family business chain spanning the intervening generations (G8–G12 are farmers and landholders in Plymouth County and the Massachusetts hill country). The recurrence is most likely coincidental, but is worth noting in any narrative treatment.

Negative results

  • Queens County deed records (city register’s office, 1830–1870) not yet searched. We do not know whether Willis owned or rented his Flushing premises.
  • St. George’s Episcopal Church, Flushing, parish records not yet consulted. Eliza’s church attendance is family tradition, not yet confirmed in registers.
  • No will, probate, or burial location for Willis identified to date.

Open Questions

  1. Exact year of move from Cummington to Flushing. Now bracketed to 1802–1814 by brother Nathan’s 1802 Cummington birth and Willis’s 1814 New York militia service. The 1810 and 1820 federal censuses are the next tests for narrowing it (and for placing Amos’s household). Availability: Available online (1810/1820 census, FamilySearch / Ancestry).
  2. Eliza Lawrence’s parentage. “b. New York” and the 1994 census ages (b.c. 1799–1802) are the frame. The surname Lawrence now has independent support from daughter Adelia’s 1867 marriage record, which names the mother as Eliza Lawrence. Still open: was she a Long Island Lawrence (the prominent Flushing family) or a New York City Lawrence, and who were her parents? A marriage record for Willis and Eliza (c. 1815–1820) would settle it. Availability: Unknown online.
  3. Were the youngest children (Willis Jr., Adelia) by Eliza or by a second wife? The c. 1821–1847 span of births is wide but the 1867 marriage record naming Eliza as Adelia’s mother makes a single-wife reading the leading hypothesis. The 1850 census household composition is the test. Availability: Available online (1850 census).
  4. Cause and date of Willis’s death. “Before 1870” is a census-derived bracket. A New York City or Queens County death record between 1850 and 1870 should be findable; FamilySearch holds no death record for Willis Sr. among the dozen sources currently attached. Availability: Unknown online.
  5. Property — owned or rented? Resolved only by Queens County deeds. Availability: Unknown online.

Resolved

  • Adelia’s husband. Rigler’s tentative “m. perhaps Ed Chapman” is confirmed: Adelia Gurney married Edwin Osborne Chapman, 25 April 1867, New York City.
  • Ruth Louisa’s later life. Married Edward Haight 22 April 1862; lived in New York City; died 2 September 1899 (Rigler, corroborated by an 1899 New York City municipal death record).

Sources Consulted

  • data/ancestors v26.json, G7 entry (notables and landHoldings fields).
  • Federal census, Flushing, Queens County, New York: 1830, 1840, 1850 (cited in the JSON; not yet examined image-by-image in this companion).
  • Jean Gurney Rigler, The Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius (rev. and expanded ed., 1994), Willis Gurney-7 entry (p. 9) — now examined; transcription in sources/corpus_supplement/rigler-gurney-aaron-zuinglius-g9-g12-extract.md. Source ID rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994.
  • FamilySearch tree person KLCF-L2M, attached sources (index level, images not yet examined): US Census 1830 (×2), 1840, 1850, Flushing; 1867 NYC marriage of Adelia Gurney to Edwin Osborne Chapman (ark Q2CN-H1QL); 1891 NY death of Elizabeth A Barto naming father Willis G. Gurney; 1899 NYC municipal death of Ruth L. Haight.
  • Cummington town register of births, page 213 (image examined) — Source ID cummington-vital-records. Records Amos & Ruth’s five in-sequence children and the out-of-sequence, question-marked Willis entry. Transcription at sources/corpus_supplement/cummington-vital-records-gurney-births.md.
  • New York War of 1812 militia payroll card for Willis Gurney, 1814 (image examined) — Source ID ny-war-1812-payroll-abstracts.

Sources to obtain

  • 1820 and 1860 federal census, Queens County, New York. (1820 also tests Willis’s pre-Flushing whereabouts — see Open Question 1.)
  • Record images (not just indexes) for the FamilySearch-attached vital records above — especially the 1793 Cummington birth (to test the 25 Feb. 1793 reading against Rigler’s c. 1796–98) and the 1867 Adelia–Chapman marriage (to read the father’s name on the certificate).
  • New York City / Queens County death record for Willis Sr., 1850–1870.
  • Queens County deed records 1830–1870.
  • St. George’s Episcopal Church, Flushing — parish register baptisms, marriages, burials.
  • Brooklyn Daily Eagle — search for “Willis Gurney” obituary.

Notes for Future Drafting

  • The narrative is currently brief. As more is documented — particularly any confirmation of the Cummington-to-Flushing move date, or of Eliza’s family — the narrative should be expanded.
  • The “tailor across two centuries” thread is genuinely the most evocative single observation in the current draft. If a will or estate inventory is recovered showing tools of the tailor’s trade, that would be a major add.

  1. Cummington, Hampshire Co., Massachusetts, town register of births, page 213: “Willis son of Amos & Ruth Gurney born Feb. 23[?] 1793 (?)” — entered out of sequence at the foot of the Gurney section, the year flagged with the clerk’s own question mark. Page image (Ancestry, “Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620–1988”) held local-only at sources/media/cummington-vital-records/_local/; transcription at sources/corpus_supplement/cummington-vital-records-gurney-births.md; FamilySearch index ark:/61903/1:1:F4V6-Z38. Source ID: cummington-vital-records. Availability: Available online (FamilySearch index; Ancestry image). ↩︎

  2. Rigler, Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius (1994), Willis Gurney-7 entry (p. 9): “b.c. 1796–98 … He was listed in the 1830, 1840 & in the 1850 Fed. Census of Flushing, Queens Co. NY, age 55, with his wife Eliza age 48.” Transcription at sources/corpus_supplement/rigler-gurney-aaron-zuinglius-g9-g12-extract.md. Source ID: rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. “New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829–1938,” index entry for Edwin Osborne Chapman and Adelia Gurney, 25 Apr. 1867; bride Adelia Gurney, age 20, mother indexed Eliza Lawrence, father indexed “A W Gurney.” FamilySearch ark:/61903/1:1:Q2CN-H1QL (index; image not yet examined). Availability: Available online (FamilySearch index). ↩︎

  4. “New York, Deaths and Burials, 1795–1952,” index entry for Elizabeth A Barto, 1891, naming father Willis G. Gurney. Attached to FamilySearch tree person KLCF-L2M. Availability: Available online (FamilySearch index); record not yet examined image-by-image. ↩︎

  5. “New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795–1949,” index entry for Ruth L. Haight, 1899, naming Willis Gurney. Attached to FamilySearch tree person KLCF-L2M. Availability: Available online (FamilySearch index). ↩︎

  6. Payroll card for Willis Gurney, Private, 10th Brigade, Capt. George Englehart’s company, Col. E. W. Laight’s regiment, New York State militia, paid 2 Sept. – 2 Oct. 1814; remark “Deserted and was recovered & Disc[harged] by Col. Laight Oct. 8th”; signed J. T. Watson; Roll 2378. New York State Archives, Series B0810; Ancestry, “New York, U.S., War of 1812 Payroll Abstracts for New York State Militia, 1812–1815.” Card image held local-only at sources/media/ny-war-1812-payroll-abstracts/_local/. Source ID: ny-war-1812-payroll-abstracts. Availability: Available online (Ancestry). ↩︎

  7. New York War of 1812 militia payroll cards for Benjamin J. Gurnee (Lt. Col., 83rd Regt., Roll 13), William Gurnee (Major, Field & Staff, Roll 2659; and Lieutenant, Capt. Sneden’s co., Roll 2650), and Samuel Gurnee (Private, Capt. Sneden’s co., Roll 2651), Col. Benjamin J. Gurnee’s 83rd Regiment, Rockland County, 1814; plus “Gurner, W.M. (also William Gardner Jr.),” Capt. John S. Spoor’s co., Col. Putnam Farrington’s regt., 1812 (Roll 2520). Same source as ny-war-1812-payroll-abstracts (New York State Archives, Series B0810; Ancestry). Recorded here only for disambiguation; the Rockland County Gurnees are not in this project’s direct line. ↩︎