(I) Richard Gurney,
supposed son of John Gurney, was a resident of
Weymouth, Massachusetts, and was admitted a freeman,
October 12, 1681. He married (as indicated in the will
of John Taylor and by the vital records of Weymouth),
Rebecca Taylor, daughter of John and Rebecca Taylor of
Weymouth, and they were the parents of Joseph: Mary;
Zachariah, of whom further; and probably other
children.
(II) Zechariah
Gurney, so of Richard Gurney of Weymouth,
Massachusetts, was a soldier in King Philip’s War in
1675. He married mary Benson, daughter of Joseph
Benson, of Hull, Massachusetts, and they were the
parents of the following children: 1. Zechariah, born
November 19, 1695, married Sarah Jackson. 2. Joseph, of
whom further mention. 3. Nathan. 4. Jacob. 5. Mary.
(III) Joseph Gurney,
son of Zechariah and Mary (Benson) Gurney, was born in
Weymouth, Massachusetts, March 7, 1698. He married, at
Weymouth, June 10, 1718, Mary Perkins, of Hingham,
Massachusetts. Children, born in Abington: 1. Sarah,
born January 15, 1721, married Samuel Tirrell. 2.
Perkins, born in 1723, married Jane Darby. 3. Mary,
born in 1726, married Isaac Hearsey. 4. Betty, born in
1728, married Whitcomb Pratt. 5. Lydia, born in 1730,
married William Hearsey. 6. Joseph, of whom further. 7.
Benoni, born in 1737, married Caroline Wilks. 8.
Remember, born in 1742, married John Wilks.
(IV) Joseph Gurney,
Jr., son of Joseph and Mary (Perkins) Gurney, was born
in Abington, Massachusetts, February 4 1735, and
resided there. He married in Abington, September 8,
1758, Sarah Shaw, who died in Abington, January 17,
1789, aged fifty-two years. Children: 1. Joseph, of
whom further. 2. Molly, born in 1761, married Elisha
Lincoln. 3. Gideon, born in 1763, married, in 1788,
Rachel Gardner. 4. Daniel, born in 1765, married
Deborah Ramsdal. 5. Zechariah, born 1766, married Anna
Fullarton. 6. Sarah, married Asa Whitmarsh. 7. Deborah,
born in 1775, married Elijah Shaw, Jr.
(V) Joseph Gurney,
III, son of Joseph Jr. and Sarah (Shaw) Gurney, was
born in Abington, Massachusetts, March 28, 1759. He
married (first) in Abbington (intentions June 30, 1780)
Mercy Smith. Child: Melvin, born April 22, 1782. Joseph
Gurney III married (second) in Abington, June 10, 1783,
Tamar Jackson, who was born in Abington, September 29,
1761, daughter of Edmond Jr., and Silence (Allen)
Jackson. Children: 2. Joseph, of whom further. 3.
Josiah, born November 23, 1786. 4. Selah, born February
20, 1795, died young. 5. Rachel, born May 1798.
(VI) Joseph (4)
Gurney, son of Joseph and Tamar (Jackson) Gurney, was
born in Abington, Massachusetts, April 29, 1785, and
died in Plainfield, Massachusetts, January 4, 1862. He
married Olive Torrey and had children: 1. Josiah. 2.
Abner. 3. William T., of whom further. 4. Lydia. 5.
Celia. 6. Gridley.
(VII) William Torrey
Gurney, son of Joseph (4) and Olive (Torrey) Gurney,
was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, in 1809; and died
in Plainfield, Massachusetts, July 19, 1878. In early
life he was a spinner in the small town mills of
Taunton and Plainfield, Massachusetts, and being
energetic and ambitious he, finally purchased a mill
privilege in Plainfield and engaged in the mill
business for himself. Later he purchased in that town a
farm and where the greater part of his life was spent.
He took an active part in local public affairs serving
in some town offices, and was also active in church
affairs.
He married (first)
Huldah White. She died in Plainfield, and he married
(second) Philena Lydia Torrey, of Planfield,
Massachusetts, daughter of Josiah and Abigail (Snow)
Torrey. Children of the first marriage were: 1. Emma,
died 1922, eighty-four years of age. 2. Charles, who
was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg. To the second
marriage the following children were born: 1. Julia,
who died at the age of five years. 2. Frank A., of
further mention. 3. Julia, deceased, who married Joseph
Warren Sears.
(VIII) Frank Ardley
Gurney, son of William Torrey and Filene Lydia (Torrey)
Gurney, was born in Plainfield, Massachusetts, October
18, 1853. He attended the schools of his native town,
and assisted his father on the farm until the death of
the latter. He then went to Pittsfield, Massachusetts,
where he was employed in a knitting mill for two years.
At the end of that time he removed to Russell,
Massachusetts, where he conducted a store for about six
years. In 1889 he again changed his place of residence,
this time locating in Wilbraham. Here he established
himself in the mercantile business, and for twenty-five
years successfully operated a general store. Genial,
friendly, and upright in his dealings, he steadily
enlarged his patronage, and his establishment became
one of the "land marks" of the county. In connection
with his general store he also served as postmaster for
sixteen years. In 1913 he retired from active business,
but since that time he has served on the Board of
Assessors, and as a member of the Library Board of
Trustees. He has also during his long career held
several town offices, the duties of which he has
discharged with credit to himself and with satisfaction
to his associates. Fraternally he is a member of Newton
Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Wilbraham for 27
years; and he is affiliated with the Congregational
Church.
Frank Ardley Gurney
married (first) December, 1881, Gertrude Spaulding. She
died in 1894, and he married (second) May 13, 1897,
Mary Beebe, of Wilbraham, daughter of Marcus and
Frances (Newell) Beebe (q.v.). To the first marriage on
son, Raymond Francis, was born in Russell,
Massachusetts, November 12, 1888. He received his early
education in the public school, and then completed his
studies in Worcester Academy, from which he graduated.
His is now (1924) employed in the office of the Cutter
Grain Company in North Wilbraham. Fraternally he is
affiliated with Newton Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons,
of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, of whish he is Past
Master. He married Eva Gebeau, and has a son Frank
Ardley (2), who was born November 25, 1914.
Continued by Ann
Tousignant
Frank Ardley
Gurney II married Viola Vivian Valliere of the Indian
Orchard section of Springfield, Massachusetts on May
30, 1942. Frank was a graduate of Wilbraham Academy and
Mt. Hermon School before graduating from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute as a chemical engineer. He was
employed in that capacity by Monsanto Chemical
Company’s Springfield Massachusetts plant, until being
transferred to Marshall, Texas during World War II,
where he worked as a supervisor in a T.N.T. plant for
the government of the U.S.A. on “Project Know How”.
Frank and Viola returned to Wilbraham at the end of the
war, and Frank resumed his employment with Monsanto in
Springfield. Frank became involved in the building of
the present United Congregational Church. Frank Ardley
Gurney II lived a full and useful life until his death
on December 12, 1965 at 51 years of age, of cancer. He
left his loving wife and two daughters. Jean Eva
Gurney, born May 30, 1945 and Ann Era Gurney born July
25, 1948. Eva Gebeau Gurney died on July 13, 1972 at
the age of 84, after suffering a stroke and spending a
brief time in Mary Lyon’s Nursing Home in Hampden,
Massachusetts. Raymond F. Gurney died of pneumonia on
February 6, 1975 at the age of 86 in the Springfield
Hospital. Viola V. Gurney died of lung cancer on
December 27, 1979 at the age of 70 years, in Mercy
Hospital in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Jean Eva Gurney
graduated from Minnechaug Regional High School in
Wilbraham, Massachusetts in 1963. She was a member of
the first four-year graduating class from that school.
She was a member of the All State Chorus during her
time in high school. She attended Hunter College before
moving to Nevada where she lives to this date.
Ann Era Gurney
graduated from Minnechaug in 1966 and was a classmate
of her second husband's, John Pierre Tousignant. Ann
married her first husband, Calvin Lorn Helgoe, Jr. in
1967 at the age of 19 years. They lived in California
in the Los Angeles area of Arcadia until their return
to Wilbraham in 1972. A son, Terence William Helgoe,
was born to them on July 18, 1973. They divorced in
September 1975. Ann married John Tousignant on June 5,
1976, they were both 27 years of age. In December 1976,
Calvin Lorn Helgoe, Jr. granted his permission for John
Pierre Tousignant to formally adopt the minor child,
Terence William Helgoe, hereafter being named Terence
William Tousignant. John and Ann Tousignant had three
other children born to them. On May 18, 1977 a
daughter, Nicole Lynn Tousignant, on June 29, 1980 a
son, Daniel James Tousignant, and on April 25, 1984 a
son, Steven Gurney Tousignant. On May 30, 1998, Terence
married Elizabeth Anita Cleaves, of Manchester,
Connecticut in the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in
Wilbraham. At the time of this writing, they reside at
458 Main Street, while the other members of the family
occupy the other part of the house (456 Main Street).
This house was given to Raymond F. and Eva G. Gurney as
a wedding present in 1910 from Raymond's father, Frank
Ardley Gurney I. This home (456/458 Main Street) has
been continuously occupied by descendants of Raymond
and Eva Gurney since 1910.
John Tousignant
graduated from Minnechaug Regional High School in 1966
and then Springfield Technical Community College. He is
at the time of this writing, an employee of the United
Postal Service in the Wilbraham Post Office. He is
employed as a postal clerk while his son Terence works
at the same office as a postal carrier. The post office
was relocated for the building in Crane Park in the
center of Wilbraham to its Boston Road location in
1991. Prior to the Crane Park location , the post
office was located where the Louis and Clark drugstore
presently stands. It is at this (Main Street) site that
Raymond F. Gurney was postmaster for more than thirty
years.
Ann Tousignant is at
the time of this writing working at Minnechaug Regional
High School in the Career Center where she has
instituted the Career Internship Program. Through the
Internship Program Ann has placed several hundred
student-interns at local businesses with mentors who
will instruct them in various areas and career
interests. Ann is also the Administrative Assistant to
the Reverend Kenneth S. B. Campbell at the Episcopal
Church of the Epiphany in Wilbraham.
Terence William
Tousignant graduated from Minnechaug Regional High
School in 1991 and attended Western New England College
where he met his wife Elizabeth. At the time of this
writing he is continuing his studies at that same
institution.
Nicole Lynn
Tousignant graduated from Minnechaug Regional High
School in 1995 and Bridgewater State College, in
Bridgewater, Massachusetts in 1998. At the time of this
writing she is a graduate student in Communication
Disorders at The College of Saint Rose, in Albany, NY.
Daniel James
Tousignant graduated from Minnechuag Regional High
School in 1998 and is at the time of this writing a
student at Springfield Technical Community College in
Springfield, Massachusetts.
Steven Gurney
Tousignant is at the time of this writing a member of
the class of 2002 at Minnechaug Regional High School.
