Benton Co., AR - Biographies - Dr. Thomas W. Hurley

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        Date: 20 Jun 1998
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SOURCE:  Goodspeed Publishers, 1890.
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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 this 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 [p.851] 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, 1834, 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.