Jacob Lurvey was born circa 1761 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and served in the American Revolutionary War. Jacob appears on an American Revolutionary War muster roll of Captain Daniel Warner’s Company stationed at Gloucester from July 19 to December 31, 1775, as a private in the defense of the seacoast. He is also listed on the muster roll of Captain Jonathan Dodge’s Company; Colonel Jacob Gerrish’s Regiment dated April 1, 1778, for services from April to July of that year.

In 1782, he married Hannah Boynton, and they moved to Mount Desert, Maine, about 1790. Their daughter Hannah Lurvey was born in Massachusetts in 1782, and was 13 when the family moved to Maine.  In 1802, she married William Gilley, the son of their neighbor. She and William had three children while living in Mount Desert.  In 1806, the couple moved to Baker Island, where they had nine more children. Hannah had a strong education from Massachusetts and taught all 12 children to read, write, and cipher.

Baker Island; which lies four miles from Mount Desert Isle, is roundish and about a half-mile long by a half-mile wide.  The lighthouse was built on Baker Island in 1828, and William Gilley was appointed keeper.  Hannah Lurvey Gilley died on Little Cranberry Island in 1852.

On October 16, 2006, our chapter placed a plaque and marker at the grave of Hannah Lurvey Gilley, daughter of American Revolutionary War soldier Jacob Lurvey.  Jacob is buried in the Lurvey Burial Ground in Southwest Harbor, Maine, and his daughter Hannah is buried in the same cemetery.