I found John M. Hurley's obit. I was concentrating on the month of June from the date you gave but that cemetery transcript you were kindly directed to was a big help because I found he died August 13, 1947. Glad to see he was honored appropriately.

Source NEHGS (New England Historic Genealogical Society)

Subscription cost $75/ yr Excellent source for Massachusetts vital records. Also find as a premium database the Historical Newspaper Archive and that is where I am finding these obits. It is easier than searching the ones at Ancestry.com and easier to copy. Lowell and Fitchburg news are 2 cities well represented in this database.

NEHGS Vol. 497 pg 461
Helen L. Hurley, born Jan 26 1900, Lowell, MA, female, parents John and Agnes (Perry), father a mule spinner, born New York, mother born Lowell.

NEHGS Vol. 505 pg 518
Helen Hurley, died Feb 6, 1900, Lowell, MA. age 14d, convulsions, resided died & buried in Lowell, born Lowell, parents John and Agnes (Perry), father born NY state, mother Lowell.

attached:
Short obit of Helen- published Lowell Sun - Wed. Feb 7 1900
The infant Alice R. Hurley that died April 6 1922 was a daughter of John M. Hurley.
Leo W. Hurley died June 13, 1969 published Sat Jun 14 1969.
Agnes Hurley Benoit died Oct 3 1960 published Oct 4, 1960
Agnes husband Arthur died March 31 1937.
Still looking for Alice Hurley Laurilla and Josephine Hayes.

Thank you again! I think I love you. You have been a great help. I`m sure I`ll be here a couple days getting this all straight in my head. Plus it seems I now have more questions then answers. The only thing I need to ask now is if you ran across anything pertaining to John M `s grandchild Leo. I thought I knew all the cousins but I never heard of him. I`m the 4th oldest of his grandchildren and the only one close enough to have been born about that time was a girl born to his son James Russell. I guess one of those great mysteriesof life. Again many, many ,many thanks!!

Jim

I think Linda answered some of this. NEHGS is a good source for MA vital record archives (pre-1915). It is membership based organization.

Ancestry is my primary source for Census records. I also access online city directories there. Directories can be useful in the non-census years to track individual movements.

John

Linda,

How about Florence E Hurley, buried in St Patrick's on Aug 10, 1994? She would have been John M's wife.

John

So, using the 1956 Lowell directory in conjunction with Leo's obit...

The grandson Leo is the son of Leo and Bertha. They are listed as:

Jas L r 46 Ware
Leo spinner Suffolk r 46 Ware
Wm L (Bertha M) mule spinner h 46 Ware.

Russell is living with his mother, sister Jacqueline and brother Thomas at 83 Temple. In 1949, Russell was listed in Chelmsford as Jas R (Doris) so he either divorced or Doris passed away.

There was also a Ralph P (Beverly R) knitter Lawrence Mfg Co r 20 Cornell...

Good morning all.

Those sound like some very good resources that I`ll be looking into more.

I just went back and reread the article on John M`s death and relized I missread it. I was thinking that Leo was a grandchild of John M. The grandchild would have been James Russell`s (Russell)daughter. I have regular contact with her and her father is still living in Lowell. He did divorce Doris. Was there any mention of a daughter living with him at any time?

Jim W

I'm not so sure you misread the obit, although I had made a mistake on William. For some reason I had assumed that William L was the son of John M. He was his brother. I also assumed that the Leo listed in the directory was the son of William and Bertha since they were living at the same address. This may or many not be true.

The obit for John M does specifically mention granchild Leo Hurley which implies that Leo is the son of one of John's sons.

Your question about a daughter... are you asking if I have seen any reference to a daughter living with Russell? I'll take a look later and see what I can find. I had only done some quick searches earlier.

And there is the question of Rockne. I wonder what his given name was.

John

We`ll start with the last part about Rockne. His given name is Edward Rockne, sometimes refered to as Rocky. He may have been out of the home by 1956. You may see a story or obit on his son Edward Jr. who passed away back in the early 90`s I believe.

Yes Iwas asking about any reference to James Russell`s daughter. She would show up probably after 1946 or so. He`s still alive his memory is far from even being good anymore and I`m just trying to trace a timeline of events for him.

I`ve reread it and had someone else read the story and we`ve come to the conclusion that the story does refer to Leo as John M`s son. I know this has to be incorrect because I know all of my cousins. I`m wondering if there was a mistake in writing the article, wheather it was inproper puncuation or misinformation, I`m not sure. So far I`ve seen both a Leo W (possibly Wm) and a William L (possibly Leo). After contemplating the way my uncles James Russell and Edward Rocke interchanged their names, I guess it would be possible that Leo/William may have done the same.


Jim W

Unfortunately, the online directories at Ancestry are a bit sparse for Lowell. Perhaps next week I can try the library in Lowell to see what I can sort through in the actual directories.

It's seems pretty clear to me that the 4 sons listed in the second obit are Ralph, Rockne, Thomas and Russell. If not for the last sentence referring to several nieces and nephews, I would have thought that the grandchild could be a typo and really mean nephew. Perhaps the directories will offer more clues here as well.

And as to the daughter of Russell, there was nothing I could see in the few directories available. Did Russell remarry to a Dorice, btw? There is a Jas R (Dorice E) listed in the 1964 directory.