Look Back: Presumed dead at 15, young man returns home in 1922

Ed Lewis, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
·3 min read

Aug. 29—Who was buried in Hanover Green Cemetery in Hanover Township on Sept. 9, 1918?

It wasn't James Engler, as the tombstone read, but James Lester Hurrey Jr.

Hurrey was 15-years-old presumed dead by drowning when he went missing while swimming with friends in the Susquehanna River near the Luzerne County Courthouse in June 1918.

Some time after Hurrey's disappearance, his stepfather Cyrus Engler found a decomposed body in the river near Plymouth.

Believing the body was his stepson's, Engler held the funeral from his Wilkes-Barre home.

"The funeral of James Engler, aged 15, son of Mrs. Cyrus Engler, was held yesterday afternoon from the family residence, 471 North River Street. Interment was in Hanover Green Cemetery," reported the Wilkes-Barre Record Sept. 10, 1918.

There were no stories in any newspaper of the time about Hurrey's disappearance or presumed drowning. No stories about an autopsy or positive identification of the decomposed body.

Four years later, the mystery magnified.

"Absent from home for more than four years and supposed to have been drowned in the Susquehanna River, and buried in Hanover Green Cemetery, James Hurrey, aged 20, reappeared suddenly at the home of his stepfather, Cyrus Engler, 64 W. Maple St., Wilkes-Barre," the Record reported Aug. 28, 1922.

Hurrey announced he had been working on a farm near Berwick since his disappearance.

"He asked his parents for forgiveness for his lack of devotion in failing to notify them of his whereabouts," the newspaper reported.

When Hurrey disappeared, the Englers were living on North River Street. Hurrey gave no indication of his intent telling his mother, Rosetta Engler, he was going swimming with friends near the courthouse.

"When he had been missing, a search was instituted for him. About that time a body was found in the river near Plymouth, which was identified by Mr. Engler, Hurrey's stepfather, as that of Hurrey. The body was buried in Hanover Green Cemetery by Mr. and Mrs. Engler," the Record reported Aug. 28, 1922.

Cyrus Engler and his wife were visiting her biological daughter, Ethal Jane Wilcox in Scranton when they received a message her biological son had returned home.

"Mrs. Wilcox received a telephone call from the long lost brother who told her that he was alive and well," the Record reported.

Despite Hurrey's lack of thought for his parents, the boy was welcomed with open arms. He stayed with his parents for a few days and visited with relatives before returning to the farm near Berwick.

Hurrey returned to the Wyoming Valley marrying Mildred Isabel Weiskeger, her second marriage, sometime before 1930, lived at 225 Rock St. in Hughestown eventually having a son and daughter. He became an electrician working for the Volpe Coal Co. in Pittston, according to ancestry.com.

The 1950 Census has Hurrey and his family living in Philadelphia where he died Jan. 10, 1961.

Searches to determine if any effort was made to identify the person buried in Hanover Green Cemetery who was presumably Hurrey failed to return any results.

The Record story of Aug. 28, 1922, reporting Hurrey's return after four years away reflected on the unknown buried body.

"Although Mrs. Engler has had a great grief removed from her heart, she can only wonder whose body was the boy that is buried in Hanover Green Cemetery and sympathies with that other mother whose lot is not so fortunate as her own," the Record reported.