Career
By the death of Joseph Smith in 1844, Gurley had been ordained a seventy. In 1852, Gurley broke with James Strang over the issue of plural marriage and was eventually excommunicated from Strang"s church. Along with Jason West. Briggs, Gurley became an important early leader of the "New Organization" of the church that developed in the Midwest in the 1850s.
Along with William Marks, Gurley ordained Joseph Smith III as President of the Church in 1860.
