Fredericksburg City Official, Bank Director, Councilman, Member of the Whig Committee in 1852, tanner/currier. In 2002, was voted as one of the annual honorees of Fredericksburg, Va. Wall of Honor.
Born in Quakerbruck, Hanover, Germany, he came to Fredericksburg in 1843 and took his oath of citizenship March 17, 1847.
He was a highly skilled leather worker (currier) whose related pursuits included tanning and manufacturing. He also owned a tanning company, tanning 12,000 hides a year in 1856. (In 1915 the tannery burned.)
Married to Elizabeth C. Hardtner, he purchased a home at 406 Hanover Street in 1862. This house was used as a headquarters by Federal Major General John Sedgwick in 1863. On May 20, 1864 he was one of 55 local people arrested by the Federal Provost Marshal and sent to Fort Delaware military prison; because of his friendship with (now late) Sedgwick he was soon released.
Hurkamp's creativity and business acumen led to a Centennial Medal in Philadelphia in 1876 and a Paris Exposition Medal in 1878 for a tanning agent he developed using local sumac. Previously, sumac for tanning had all been imported to the United States from the Mediterranean.
He served on the City Council and designed the resrvoir and water supply system that was used by the city well into the 20th century. He also helped to convert a long abandoned cemetery at William and Prince Edward streets into a Fredericksburg city park. He provided part of the financing, and it was named in his honor.
Father of 13 children, including: Charles H. Hurkamp, married Mary Marion Murchison in 1902; William H. Hurkamp (Willie), attended the Fredericksburg Military Academy in 1878, died in August 1921; "Kate" Katherine Elizabeth Hurkamp, died in July 1895; Jennie Hurkamp; Rosa Belle Hurkamp, graduated from Bowling Green Seminary in 1880, married William John Ford in 1891; Elizabeth Marchon Hurkamp, married William McDonald, Jr. in 1909; Alice W. Hurkamp, married Henry J. Warren in 1874; Annie Adelaide Hurkamp, married Peyton Randolph Keim in 1895; Virginia Hurkamp; Emma C Hurkamp, who died in infancy; Josephine Hurkamp.

Sources: Fredericksburg City Cemetery; Free Lance-Star; Fredericksburg Marriage Records; Fredericksburg News; Central Rappahannock Regional Library.