Esther (Angevine) Purdy (1759 - 1803)

Born 1759 in Province of New York

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 5 Oct 1803 at about age 44 in Westchester Station, Cumberland County, Colony of Nova Scotia

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Biography

• Buried @ Rose Cemetery, Westchester Station, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada
• Esther owned at least two slaves, who are buried with her in Canada

She died Oct. 5, 1803, Westchester Station, Nova Scotia, Canada and was buried in Rose Cemetery, Westchester Station, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada^[1].

Bio from Find a Grave

Buried in Rose Cemetery, Westchester Township, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. Wife of Gabriel Purdy, a Loyalist in the Revolution who fled to Canada.

At the foot of Esther Angevine Purdy's grave are two granite fieldstones that were identified in August 1998 by the caretaker of Rose Cemetery as being the gravestones for two negro slaves of Esther. One black maid is known to have accompanied them when the fled from New York, and likely both servants came at that time.

Family historian Marilyn Symons wrote: "Esther Angevine was a slave owner. She was born about 1860 in North Castle, Westchester County, New York, British North America. Her parents, Lewis and Phoebe, were wealthy landowners in the area Much of the labour on their land was performed by slaves, purchased from the south. During her teens, Esther lived through the tense times leading up to the Revolutionary War and at the age 22, she married Sgt. Gabriel Purdy of the Westchester Loyalists. Gabriel was born on the 18th of May 1754 in White Plains, New York and served from November 1779 to the end of the war in various British Loyalist Infantry divisions, including the famous DeLancey's Cowboys. As a Loyalist and to escape from Patriot soldiers, Gabriel hid in a barrel filled with tow, which is unwashed hemp, flax or fleece ready for processing into rope or wool. A Patriot officer thrust a sword into the barrel, cutting a gash into Gabriel's head, and he had to wear a silver tube thereafter to drain the wound.

"The couple fled to Nova Scotia in July of 1783 with many of their neighbours in Morrisania, New York and began a new life. Esther brought two of her slaves with her.

"Esther died in October of 1803 at Westchester Station, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia and Gabriel followed her in March 1841. Both are buried in the Rose Cemetery in Westchester Station and it is noted that at the bottom end of the grave site of Esther (Angevine) Purdy, in Rose Cemetery, one finds two granite field stones that were identified in August 1998 by the caretaker of Rose Cemetery as being the gravestones for two coloured slaves of Esther."

Esther Angevine Purdy (1760-1803) was a second cousin of Peter Angevine who married as his second wife Mrs. Esther Lickley Purdy, widow of his own second cousin Elias A. Purdy and mother of John L Purdy & Betsey Ann Purdy b c1815 Putnam Co, NY

Both Elias A. Purdy and Peter Angevine were also second cousins of Esther Angevine (1760-1803) who married Gabriel Purdy the Loyalist and had Peter Angevine Purdy 1783-1821 who married Martha Lickley (b.1788) and had a son Angevine Purdy (b.1809 Nova Scotia) and Betsey Ann Purdy born 6 March 1815 in Putnam Co., N.Y. Some family trees show Gabriel Purdy the Loyalist having a brother named Peter Angevine Purdy (1754-1841) but this is probably a mistake.

Sources

1. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV2K-L416 : 11 July 2016), Esther Angevine Purdy, 1803; Burial, Westchester Station, Cumberland, Nova Scotia, Canada, Rose Cemetery; citing record ID 73581405, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

• Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 18 August 2018), memorial page for Esther Angevine Purdy (1759–5 Oct 1803), Find A Grave: Memorial #73581405, citing Rose Cemetery, Westchester Station, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada ; Maintained by Ray Isbell (contributor 47188697) .