William Frank Eugene Reed Gurley was born on June 5, 1854, in Oswego, New York.

He was a paleontologist and educator. In 1861, he had measles which gave him temporary blindness, but he suffered from visual impairment until he went completely blind at age 64. At a young age, William began collecting fossils, shells, minerals, and geological specimens. His collection of fossils from Quincy, Michigan, a region where his family moved, grew and he soon began trading and exchanging for geological and fossil specimens from other regions. In 1871, the Imperial-Royal Geology Society of Austria made him a corresponding member. In 1873, he entered Cornell University and was invited as a charter member of the Swiss Paleontological Society. In 1876, he mined for gold in Colorado. In 1877, he helped found the Vermilion County Historical Society. In 1879, he was a founder of the State Historical Society of Illinois. He served as city engineer of Danville, Illinois (1885-1887, 1891-1893). In 1888, he was a founding charter member of the Geological Society of America. In 1893, he was appointed the State Geologist and museum curator of the Illinois State Museum of Natural History (1893-1897). He was a Professor of Paleontology at the University of Chicago. He also had been president of the Illinois Society of the Sons of the Revolution as well as vice-president of the national society.

In 1880, he married Anna Sophronia Barnes (1850-1918). He died on June 27, 1943, in Chicago, Illinois.