James E. Purdy

James E. Purdy, Register of Deeds and a well known and highly esteemed resident of Amherst, was born at Fort Lawrence, Cumberland County, N.S., in 1830, son of Gilbert and Tina (Bent) Purdy. His paternal grandfather, Henry Purdy, a native of New York, was one of the Loyalists who settled in Nova Scotia after the termination of the Revolutionary War in favor of the colonists. Henry Purdy, who was accompanied by his wife, Mary Kniffen, and his brothers Gabriel and Gilbert, settled first at West Chester, Cumberland County, whence he removed later to Fort Lawrence. He held the rank of Colonel in the militia. He had seven children, five sons and two daughters, the youngest son being Gilbert, second, father of the subject of this sketch. None of them are now living. Henry Purdy died when between seventy and eighty years of age.

Gilbert Purdy, second, son of Henry, was born at Fort Lawrence, N.S., in 1788. He learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed in his younger manhood days as a journeyman, and also independently. Subsequently being appointed Registrar of Deeds for Cumberland County, he held that office for many years, or until his death, which occurred in 1858. His wife, Tina Bent Purdy, was a daughter of John Bent, brother to the late W. W. Bent, of Amherst, member of Parliament for Cumberland County. Her father was a farmer in Amherst, where he died at the age of seventy years. The maiden name of her mother was Mary Lunt. Her paternal grandfather, John Bent, Sr., was one of the original grantees of land in Cumberland County. The children of Gilbert and Tina Purdy were five in number; namely, Charles, Mary, Sabra, Bina, and James E., the third. Gilbert Purdy and his family attend the Episcopal Church.

James E. Purdy, after attending school in Amherst, entered the employ of the late W. W. Bent ( brother of his maternal grandfather) as clerk, and remained with him for eleven years. On the death of his father, in 1858, he succeeded by appointment to the office of Registrar of Deeds, which he retained until 1868. He then engaged in mercantile business at Amherst for ten years. In 1878 he gave up this business to resume his former office of Registrar of Deeds of Cumberland County, which he has since retained. Courteous, obliging, and efficient, he is a very popular official, and is respected and esteemed by his fellow-townsmen.

In November, 1869, Mr. Purdy was married to Lydia Burns, a daughter of John Burns, of Westmoreland County, New Brunswick. He has four children - Charles L., Helen S., Margaret B., and Harry A. The family attend the Methodist Church.

Biographies Index / 1900 biographies