|
In a family history by William's daughter, Clara, she describedWilliam from the eyes of a
woman who must have been "smitten" withhim: "she went to the dance and he was one of the musicians.
He wasplaying the fiddle. He had beautiful, soft, red hair at that time andthat night he
wore a dark blue velvet coat. He had blue eyes. Shethought he was the most beautiful boy
she had ever seen." Another relative described him: "As a man, William Purvis waspeculiar in many respects, persistently abstaining from alcoholicdrinks and tobacco, which habits were very common in those days." He became a county judge and claimed Abraham Lincoln among hispersonal friends. He was considered quite wealthy by the standards ofthe day, but his brother, George, was much richer. Between his wives, he had 18 children, the second family, whichincluded Clara, barely knew the first and only became acquainted afterreaching adulthood. Residences & events in his life: Hardin Co, KY, near Elizabethtown. Clara, said "he had no opportunityat all to get an education. He was nineteen years old when he marriedand the girl he married taught him to read and write. She must havetaught him well because later in life he became rather an importantman in his community. She also got him to join the church and stop an occasional spree. I don't know that he ever went on a spree, but I doknow that he said he never tased liquor after he joined the church." 1826 He arrived in IL according to the listing of "Kentuckians inIL." 1827 Sangamon Co, IL, near Springfield, where he rented some land andmarried. He built a large cabin, one large room on the ground withanother above that. (Years later the family would return for a groupphoto in front of this cabin.) Clara erroneously thought the familyhad arrived in IL that same year, stating further that William countedAbraham Lincoln among his good friends, "both about the same age andthey were men of much the same turn of mind. Both of them wereintensely patriotic and sensibly religious." They called each other"Abe" and "Bill." 1831 Shelby Co, IL. One history listed him among the early settlersof the county, recording his arrival as this date. However, adescendant said they settled there in 1835 which seems to be supportedby another county history. 1835 Sangamon Co, IL. William and John Ooley were named in the fileof the estate of a Bartlet Haley who died intestate on 5/2/1835. 1835 E Nelson Twp, Shelby Co, IL. The county history says he settledin this township on this date, however, land records recorded hisfirst purchase of real estate much later. 5/10/1836 He was living in Shelby Co when he purchased 2 tracts of 80acres each for $1.25/acre from a federal land sale. The property waslocated in Moultrie Co at S8 13N. 8/10/1838 Shelby Co. He bought 2 pieces of property in the county ofhis residence, one plot by deed, another by patent. Brothers, Tom,John, and George, also bought land on the same date. Moultrie Co, IL. Clara remembered the family home east of Sullivan: "This home, at the time it was built, was something to be proud of. Myfather and his sons built it with their own hands. The bricks weremade and burnt in their kiln. Much of the lumber was sawed from treeson their farm. The house was not what we would call a pleasantarrangement today but was built after a pattern much in vogue in histime. It was a large appearing house from the outside, yet in themain body of it there were only three rooms. The two rooms builtparallel to the road had a wide hall, a hall eight feet wide betweenthem. This was the fashion of most of the old houses built in anearly day in Illinois, the better class of houses. These two frontrooms were each eighteen feet square. One was furnished as theparlor, but it had a bed, a really very beautiful bed as I canremember--polished black wood of some kind and with what is called thespool wood forms in the head.....the best furniture at that time washorsehair. Ours was of black horsehair....and the wood of it matchedthe wood of the bed. The chairs were cane bottom and had bars acrossthe back and on this roses were painted.....At the east side of theroom, and, by the way, the house faced north--was the parlor fireplaceand this was a very fine affair in its day. The mantel was of whitemarble and the pillars that went up at the side were of white marble.The hearth, as I remember, was also of marble. I won't be sure ofthat, but I do know that the hearth to the fireplace in the livingroom was made of brick and I used to think it looked so coarsecompared with the hearth of the better room. Mother always kept fine, white muslin curtains that were pleatedcrosswise hanging at these high windows and I remember how the breeze,the wind, used to come in and flutter those white curtains over thebright red carpet, a heavy three-ply ingrain carpet, very fine. Thecarpet was one mother was very proud of.....In the northwest corner ofthe room stood a thing that very few people have ever seen--amelodion, and really the only one that I ever saw. It was shapedlike, I guess you would call it, the grand piano, table-shaped, but itresembled a toy piano, but sounded like an organ. The notes were notthe ringing bell piano notes......The house was built in an L-shapewith a great porch but not covered. The great porch filled out the L.On this porch later on a bedroom had been built for hired hands andtramps. My father always kept everybody that came by and asked tostay overnight so it was convenient to have some place like that tostore them away." Clara later said it was the second best house inthe neighborhood without naming the first. The grounds were sprinkled with all kinds of flowers and shrubs, manyof which William transplanted from his excursions. William learnedthe art of grafting fruit trees and had one tree which bore 5different kinds of apples, producing various varieties from early spring until fall. 1849 Moultrie Co, near Lovingington. He was a member of the firstboard of trustess for the Methodist Church built there. 1850 Moultrie Co, IL. William had property = $960 recorded in thecensus but no occupation. There were 10 children at home at thattime. 5/1858 He was appointed guardian of a Richard Purvis, who may havebeen a nephew. 1860 Moultrie Co, IL. He was listed as a bricklayer with property =$6400/1500 in the census. He was also county judge about this time,his name appearing on several court and county documents. Also to hiscredit, he was one of the founders of the Methodist Church ofSullivan. 10/26/1861 William bought 2 pieces of railroad land located at S20T14N, each containing 80 acres, for $8.00/acre. His last meeting with Abe Lincoln before he went to Washington,according to family tradition, occurred by chance as both were ridingon a trail through the woods one day. William later took his sonsthere and said, "Boys, now always remember that you have seen the logwhere Abraham Lincoln sat and visited with your father." Being a musician, he taught his children to play and sing, two of thesons choosing the violin along with him. Eventually William and hischildren performed for special occasions in addition to touring thearea to raise money for the North during the Civil War. The group wasperforming the night they received the news of Lincoln's death andwore crepe bows on their arms while on stage. A granddaughter saidWilliam was "terribly stricken with grief.....saying, 'The countrywill go to the dogs now. Nothing can save the country now.'" From the McPheeters' family letters: 9/6/1863 "Squire Purvis & John Hamson had a big jaw lately. Johnknows more precisely what the Squire thinks of his loyalty, for hetold him in full. The old man and Mrs. Kerchevill have quitquarelling. The old Hamson lady gave him such a dose lately that he will not trouble her again. Henry Purvis was riding by Travilion's afew days since. The old man was on the side of the road. Henryshouted for Vollandingham. The old man replied that Vollandingham wasa tory ans so were all his friends. Very well done." 7/23/1865 "I must tell you how I spent the 4th....Mrs. Loustenperformed on the melodian and of course Purvis choir sung." Clara described William's violin: "my father picked (it) up somewhere at an auction in Illinois in theearly days. It was a Stradivarius made at Cemona, Italy and I thinkmust have been on record because in later years the authorities sentfor it asking to display it at one of the World Fairs. My brother (Wesley), who had it at that time, however, would not let it go. Hewas afraid he would not get the same violin back." "Its history wason a parchment in the case." Unfortunately the violin was neglectedand has long since disappeared. 1870 E Nelson Twp. For reasons not known, William, his 2nd wife, 2youngest daugters, and a new son, were living with son, John (recordedas James in the census) who was still single. Also in that familywere 2 adopted children who were probably also William's rather thanJohn's. They were George Reams, 14, and Amanda Webb, 14. William, at62, was listed as a farmer with property = $8000/1500 which was bigdollars but not even half as much as brother, George, owned. 1875 E Nelson Twp. He was listed in the atlas among the 1021township residents as a land owner along with brother, George, andsons, Ephraim and Enoch. Son, John, had moved west and so was notlisted. 1880 E Nelson Twp, Moultrie Co, IL. At census time, William wasstill listed as a farmer. All children from his first family weregone, only the second set were at home. Living with them was OliverPerry, 19, farm hand, next door was son, Enoch, and brother, George, lived 3 doors down the road the other way. It was said by his children that William was rather strict with hisfirst family but extremely fond of the children of his old age and wasvery indulgent and kind to them, boasting that he never whipped any ofhis children. However, all the children loved and respected him greatly. 1881 The history of the county said he was still living at the sameplace where he had settled 50 years prior. It stated further that "hehas raised a large family of children, and has held many offices oftrust, and was always an active and enterprising citizen of the county." 8/1900 His descendants had a reunion with the following report in thenewspaper: "At an early hour last Saturday August 1900, carriages laden withpeople and provisions were driving toward the old Purvis homestead andcemetery for a day together (a family reunion). Dr. Kellar called themeeting to order and proceeded to organize by electing Hudson Martinof Bement chairman and Mrs. Maggie Goodrich of Goodlyn, Kans. secretary. Miss Mary Powell was selected organist, after which songsand short speeches by old friends were rendered. Dr. Kellar read abrief history of the family of William and Eliza Purvis. The following is a brief history of the family of William andEliza Purvis. 'About 1835 William Purvis and his wife, Eliza Purvis, settled inMoultrie county and entered a quarter section of land including thiscemetery at our left. Eleven children were born to them, four arehere today. Many of the old time pioneers can remember the trial andhardships through which the first settlers passed. When they wishedto purchase groceries, they went to St. Louis, that being the nearesttown of any size where they could get supplies. After working in thetimber all day William Purvis would sit up until ten and eleveno'clock making baskets from native timber, and his wife Eliza would beup knitting stockings and mittens from wool they sheared from sheepand carded and spun in yarn. When a wagon load of baskets were finished they were taken to St.Louis and proceeds were used to buy sugar, coffee, and othernecessaries not produced on the farm. Mr. Purvis made sorgum molasses and sugar and all kinds of farmwork. Eliza Purvis the wife and mother died Dec. 4 1866. In 1868William Purvis married Mrs. E.J. Tanner, six children were born tothem, Jasper, William, Lucy, Clara, Frank and Florence. In Jan. 1881William Purvis passed away and was buried by his wife in this littlePurvis Cemetary by the old home place.'" William's widow sold the property to a family named Daugherty and thecemetery on the grounds became known by the Daugherty name. |
| The rest of his siblings were born in Fleming Co, KY, and while hisdescendants recorded his birthplace as posted, it is unlikely hisparents went to Hardin Co, then back to Fleming. |
| Their marriage date of 1827 (no month or day) was recorded in thefamily Bible but Eliza would have been only 14 at that time. SangamonCo records recorded the marriage as posted and those records recordedher last name as McMahan, not Berry. |
| William was 29 years older than Ellen, she being nearer the age of hisown children. This was probably a plus because she easily becamefriends with some of the daughters. |
|
Daughter, Clara, said his final illness was "brought on by exposurewhen he went to the woods
to work with the them (hired men) to cutdown trees for their winter wood. He had taken his
lunch--it wasrather a warm day--and after working until he was perspiring and overheated, he sat down under a tree to eat his lunch and becamechilled, so that he came home not feeling very well. He was still inthat state of semi-illness when he received word that (son)Wesley.....had moved several miles west of Sullivan......So he wentover to see him, rode over on horseback through bad weather when hewas not well anyway. He came home and went right to bed and after anillness of about a week of pneumonia he died." He died without a will but the first family agreed that Ellen and herchildren could continue to live on the farm until the youngest childreached 21. Their father had already given a piece of land to each ofthe first family, with the exception of the youngest. He intended hislast 220 acres to be split among the rest of the children. However, it seems Wesley got greedy and sued to divide the landimmediately and won. After dividing the property among 15 childrenand selling everything else, there was only $80 left for Ellen. Thewhole family felt cheated after receiving such small parcels,especially since the price of land was only about $35/acre. Thedispute between the two families resulted in Ellen selling herchildren's land and moving to McCook, NE, in 1885. |
|
The Daughtery Cem is located on the original farm of William Purvisnear Sullivan, IL and is
named for the next owners, the ones whopurchased it from Ellen when she went west. Engraved on William's side of the gravestone he shares with Eliza isengraved: "Mark the perfect oath and behold the upright, for the end ofthat man is peace." Some said the third wife intended to be buried with him also but thenmoved out of state, never to return. |