E. H. Hurless

HURLESS, MULLINEX, LEAMER

Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 9/15/2005 at 21:10:49

E. H. Hurless, of Thompson, has met with gratifying success as a dealer in harness and shoes. He was born in Tama county, Iowa, February 2, 1872, a son of G. W. and Jennie (Mullinex) Hurless, natives of Ohio and of New York state respectively, who in 1880 removed to Iowa, where the father engaged in farming for many years. He is now living retired, however, at Shellsburg, Iowa, but the mother died in 1893 and is buried at Shellsburg.

E. H. Hurless attended the common schools of Shellsburg until he was sixteen years old and then learned the harness maker's trade, which he followed in the employ of others for a period. In 1895, however, he established a shop of his own at Thompson and in 1903 added a line of shoes. He has built up a large trade in both lines and enjoys an enviable reputation for reliability and fair dealing.

In 1895 occurred the marriage of Mr. Hurless and Miss Emma Leamer, a daughter of David Leamer, who died in Vinton, Iowa, in 1916 and is there buried. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hurless: Neeta and Helen, aged respectively fifteen and ten years; and one who died in infancy. On the 27th of October, 1915, Mrs. Hurless passed away and is buried in Evergreen cemetery at Vinton.

Mr. Hurless supports the republican party where national issues are at stake but at local elections votes independently. For eight years be was a member of the town council and for seven years served on the school board, thus manifesting his interest in educational matters. He belongs to King Lodge, No. 592, I. 0. 0. F., in which he has filled all the chairs, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Only one other man has been in business continuously in Thompson for a longer period than be, and during the twenty-two years that he has been connected with the commercial life of the town he has at all times been found ready to aid in movements seeking the general welfare. He has made all that he has and is now in more than comfortable circumstances and is therefore entitled to the honor accorded a self-made man.

Source: History of Winnebago and Hancock Counties, Iowa, 1917, Vol. II, 1917, page 265.