Harley Hamrick was the oldest child born to Christopher Hamrick and Emma Sapp. He was born in Bureau County, Illinois on February 6, 1871. Harley was raised on his parents' farm and was a farmer all of his life. He married Reusch Ella Gardner (known as Ella) in Scranton, Iowa on January 23, 1893. Ella was born in Glenwood, Iowa on September 21, 1873. She was the daughter of James Gardner and Mary Jane (Mattie) McCurdy.

 

Harley and Ella lived near Wyanet in Bureau County, Illinois for several years after they were married and then moved to western Iowa. They lived in various Iowa locations during their marriage, including Grant City, Gillet Grove, Dickens, and Sioux Rapids. Harley's and Ella's children were Alvin, Clarence, Harold, Howard, Arthur, Mildred, Mabel, Cecil, Paul, and Arline. Harold died as an infant in 1898 and Arline was stillborn after a severe automobile accident which occurred on Christmas day in 1913. Ella died in Sioux Rapids on May 4, 1944. Harley died not quite a year later, on March 19, 1945, in nearby Spencer, Iowa. Both Ella and Harley are buried at the North Lawn Cemetery in Spencer.