History of Gurley's Tank Gurleysville Gurley My Home in Alabama Southern Living Dixie

Gurley Herald - June 3rd, 1909
Captain Frank B. Gurley

The subject of this sketch (see picture of Captain Frank B. Gurley) was born on the 8th day of August, 1843, near where Gurley now stands - many years before the town was thought of. His father being a farmer, he chose that as an occupation. He owned one of his finest plantations in Madison County when the war between the states was declared and everything was on this place that a man could wish for, and indeed there were few men better "fixed" in this section of the country than our progressive fellow citizen, of whom we have the honor of penning this brief sketch. ‘Tho time has silvered his locks, he still possesses that undaunted enterprise and southern chivalry so characteristic of the true Southerner before our great country was torn asunder by the ravages of war.

The war coming on and the call for troops being heard in the land, and feeling that he was duty bound to enlist in the cause of just and right, home and native land, he joined what was then known as the old Kelly troopers, commanded by Capt. D. C. Kelly, (and we give below a brief history of some of his war record, which is absolutely correct as far as it goes:) They went to Memphis and was there formed into a regiment commanded by Lieutenant Col. Forrest. From this point they went to Fort Donnellson and from there to Hopkinsville, Ky, and from Hopkinsville to (........) nellson, and after the fall of that place back to Huntsville, where circumstances placed him at the head of a company of 115 as game a band of little boy soldiers as was ever huddled together. They were later formed into the 4th Alabama cavalry regiment and commanded by Col. Russel: remained with that regiment until the close of hostilities. Capt. Gurley’s soldier life was a varied and checkered one, full of heroism, tragedy, and pathos from beginning to end. No braver and truer soldier shouldered a gun in the South than our own Captain Frank B. Gurley.

He returned after hostilities were over to find, instead of the nice home he had left only piles of ashes strewed over the ground. With that vim and determination, for which he is noted, as soon as he gathered enough money together to buy farming tools he went to work again, and regardless of the man obstacles which confronted him he has continued on until he is regarded as the leading agriculturalist in this section.

Gurley, the prosperous and thrifty little city, owes a great deal to Capt. Gurley for its growth and prosperity; from a very modest beginning, it has gradually gone ahead, increasing in wealth and population, until today it numbers 1,200 souls within its corporate limits. He has never allowed himself to follow, but takes the lead in (........) the town. In our schools he has particularly interested himself and they owe a great deal to him in the very front ranks of the schools in the state. There is no effort made to advance the interest of the place, but what finds in him a strong advocate, ever ready and willing to extend a helping hand, by words, acts and money. He has one of the most handsome residences in this section, as well as farms, which gives an indication of the prosperity, happiness and content which pervades his home life.

On another page will be found a picture of the survivors of Capt. Gurley’s company during the war. Each and every year these old veterans meet in re-union, and a great time they have, exchanging stories of privations and sufferings during the war, as well as the social feature which now exists among them. True friends of long standing are these old soldiers of the Confederacy. Bound together by bonds as strong as steel, as true as the friendship which exists between any set of men that inhabit the globe.

In Capt. Gurley this town has a citizen in whom it is proud and one in whom it could not well dispense with. He is a man of high integrity, a true friend and charitable to a fault. A man with whom it is a pleasure to meet, and who is loved and respected by all who know him for his many no (........)
Special thanks to Jim Pearson for collecting facts related to Gurley.

Gurley - A small town in North Alabama

History of name's changes:

Gurley's - Gurley's Tank - Gurleysville - Gurley