Wilson, Douglas L., ed; Davis, Rodney O., ed. 'Register of Informants' in 'Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements About Abraham Lincoln' . Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998. [format: book], [genre: history]. Permission: University of Illinois Press
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=herndon737.html

A native of Pennsylvania and a boot- and shoemaker who had known AL from the 1830s, Gourley was for many years a near neighbor of the Lincolns in Springfield, living one block east of them. Gourley served as deputy sheriff of Sangamon County and was also a deputy U.S. marshal. (Federal Census, Sangamon County, 1850, 1860; HSC; A. S. Edwards to Jesse Weik, June 15, 1915, Weik Papers, ISHL; Spgfld 55-56)