James Purdy
James Purdy, who survived longer than any of his early associates, and lived more years on the earth, measuring time by the sun, was a personage and a factor in the history of Richland not to be overlooked. Of Scotch-Irish parentage, his birth place was in the state of Pennsylvania and near the borders of Maryland. He was of a long-lived family and heredity did much for him in that respect. His inclination and disposition and determination was to do, not simply to be, to exist, then pass away. When a young man in his native hills, and near the shores of the Susquehanna, he acquired the trade of a cooper, and in his old age he once in a conversation assured me, and with seeming delight in the statement, that he was an excellent cooper, but he looked forward to a life of greater general activity, and more accomplishment, so he became a student of the law, removed to the state of New York, entered on a course of study, and had for preceptor one of the brilliant men and masters of the law in that state. He prided himself on his special and general knowledge then and there acquired, and with the course of the sun started westward to Ohio, Indiana, thence Kentucky, but his innate sense of justice quickly moved him beyond the borders of a state where some men were masters and others were slaves; and backward were his steps, and hearing that there was some opening for a young lawyer at Norwalk, Ohio, he temporarily sojourned there, but shortly came to Mansfield and lived for many years. Hither came his father and mother, brothers, sisters. His mother was a wee small woman, with all the energy and enterprise of a man, down to the days of her declining suns, and slacked not her push even when vital powers were largely on the wane, and her son, her distinguished son James, inherited much from her, but had in addition a great physical frame structure. In time he established a county newspaper and with his brother John conducted it. It was a small affair. Copies and volumes of it exist and are to be found. There was not much editorial writing, there was no current gossipy column, there were no police court reports, there were no illustration cuts -- object lessons for the eye and understanding, but there was some solidity and much sense, and the news brief -- a mere skeleton thereof -- were given the sparse settlements. The publishing -- the newspaper business -- was an incident, a side employment only; the main occupation in those days of James Purdy was the practice of his profession. Later on be became a banker, the first and only president of the Farmers' Branch of the State Bank of Ohio located at Mansfield, which was succeeded by the Farmers' National Bank. He became a promoter of railroad building in the west as well as in Ohio. He purchased large bodies of land on the Maumee and also beyond the Mississippi. His business enterprises extended to the Pacific coast on the acquisition and settlement of California. He married later in life than men ordinarily do and there came to bless his home daughters and sons -- a large, old-fashioned family -- and the son of his old age, his namesake, served the republic as a soldier in the Union army, and in that fact the father gloried. But what estimate have we of him as a lawyer? Possibly if he had made the law his sole occupation it might have been said of him that he was eminent. The law, however, is a jealous mistress and demands undivided affection and attention, and such affection and attention James Purdy never gave. He was well grounded in the elementary principles, especially of equity jurisprudence and practice, and while an interesting talker, there was nothing of the eloquent tongue. A strong reverent religious vein ran all through him -- Presbyterian in his faith and doctrine. He acquired a more than modest fortune and devoted something of it to the upbuilding of Wooster University and kindred educational interests. A certain degree of ambition and pride possessed him -- pardonable it was. He lies buried in our city of the dead. Father, mother, wife, children -- some of them keep him company. The story of his life, an epitome of it, is by his own order engraved on his monument. The granite may crumble, the base and shaft may disappear, the very lines cut in stone may fade away, but the little gift to the Wooster University goes on in its beneficent work, forever on. It may be, aye, it is, his living monument.
From The Richland Shield & Banner, September 1, 1894