Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Hurley, Benjamin F. M.

Born: 1835-07-14 Washington County, Maryland

Died: 1906-06-27 Hagerstown, Maryland

Benjamin F. M. Hurley was lawyer, state legislator, and federal government official. Hurley began his career by teaching in his home county. Calling himself a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, Hurley credited Lincoln with persuading him to study law. After passing the bar, Hurley practiced in Hagerstown, Baltimore, Washington, and eventually before the U.S. Supreme Court. When he lived in Kentucky, Hurley was elected to the Kentucky Senate as a Republican; he also served on the City Council when he resided in Cumberland, Maryland. In 1861, he gained a clerkship in the Post Office Department that led to his appointment as private secretary to Salmon P. Chase. In 1864 Hurley became secretary of the Washington Territory.

Hurley married Ulie Norment in October 1867 in Washington, D.C. The couple had a son, Frank, who died of pneumonia when he was 20 years old. Hurley died of tuberculosis.

U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Washington County, MD, 145; U.S. Census Office, Ninth Census of the United States (1870), Ward 6, Frederick City, Frederick County, MD, 8; District of Columbia, U.S., Marriage Records, 1810-1953, 9 October 1867, District of Columbia (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2016); The Sun (Baltimore, MD), 28 June 1906, 10:6; Gravestone, Benjamin F. M. Hurley, Rose Hill Cemetery, Hagerstown, MD; Gravestone, Ulie Norment Hurley, Glenwood Cemetery, Washington DC .