Jesse Purcell (1788 - 1868)

Born 16 Apr 1788 in Redstone, Fayette, Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Husband of Jane (Akers) Purcell — married 6 Aug 1810 in Kentucky

Descendants

Died 17 Feb 1868 at age 79 in Harrison County, Iowa

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Biography

Sergeant Jesse Purcell served in the War of 1812
Service started: 1812
Unit(s):
Service ended: 1815

Jesse Purcell was born April 16, 1788, near Redstone Old Fort in Pennsylvania, the son of Daniel Purcell and Margaret Smith.

His parents moved to Kentucky shortly thereafter.

His brother, Alexander, born 1790, was born in Kentucky (1850 Census). It seems safe to assume that they came to Kentucky by boat, as both flat boats and keel boats were built in Redstone at that time, and Redstone was a point of embarkation for boats going down the Ohio River.^[1]

Jesse was married in 1810 to Miss Jane Akers, daughter of Benjamin and Katie Akers of Shelby Co., Kentucky.^[1]

Three children were born to Jesse and Jane Purcell in Harrison County: John M Purcell, Benjamin Akers Purcell and Elizabeth Purcell. Elizabeth afterward married Robert Emmet Boone, son of Judge Boone.^[1]

Jessie was a sergeant in the War of 1812.^[2]

In 1816, Orange County was formed from parts of Harrison and Washington Counties, and Jesse and Jane lived in Northeast Township, Orange Co. (U.S. Census 1820). Daughter Katie and son Alexander were born here.^[1]

In the 1860 U.S. Census, the household is in Magnolia Township, Harrison County, Iowa, United States.^[3]

Jessie died on February 17, 1868. ^[4]

Jesse was buried in Jesse Purcell Cemetery, Woodbine, Harrison County, Iowa, USA. ^[5]

Obituary

DEATH OF A SOLDIER OF 1812.

Jesse Purcell, aged 79 years, died in Harrison county on the 19th. The Western Star notices his death at length.

He was born near Pittsburg, Penn., April 16th, 1788. Emigrated with his father's family to Shelby county, Kentucky, thence to Putnam county, Indiana. In 1856 he moved to Harrison county, Iowa. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He raised eleven children--ten of whom are left to mourn his loss.

While he has been a resident of Iowa, he has made many warm friends, who feel that in him they have lost a father. He died in the full hope of blissful immortality. ^[6]

Jesse PURCELL, father of our subject, was born at Redstone Old Fort, now Brownsville PA, February 20, 1788, and removed with his parents to Harrison County, Ky., where he married Miss Jane AKERS, and then removed to New Albany (or to where the place has since been built) and from there he removed to Harrison County, Ind., where he cleared up a piece of timber land but before he procured money enough to enter the same another man entered the land ahead of him, this being the second experience of the kind he had had. After this he removed to Putnam County and entered land that Greencastle stands on, which was then in a big woods; his claim contained two hundred acres. He went into partnership, freighting from Cincinnati to Louisville, also to Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Greencastle and other points. Owing to his partnership relations he failed, only leaving him $100, after which he entered eighty acres of land five miles from Greencastle, where he cleared up a fine farm, which he lived upon until 1853, and then sold and went to Vigo County, Ind., and came to Harrison County [Iowa] in 1856, and purchased an early settler's claim of one hundred acres, being a part of section 14, of Magnolia Township. There was a small log house on the place, which had neither doors or windows. He improved this place and lived there the remainder of his days, dying February 16, 1868. He had served in the War of 1812 and drew two land warrants. He left the Mormon Church at the time of the excitement over polygamy.^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Ponton, Bertha Purcell. "History of Jesse Purcell Family." The Purcell Family of America Genealogical Association [journal] 5, no. 3 (July 1976): 102-06.
2. ↑ United States War of 1812 Index to Service Records, 1812-1815, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29K-G9SR : 12 March 2018), Jesse Purcell, 1812-1815; citing NARA microfilm publication M602 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); roll 169; FHL microfilm 882,687.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M822-Q2G : 13 December 2017), George W Percell in entry for Lewis E Percell, 1860.
4. ↑ "BillionGraves Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KP3S-8TT : 24 June 2015), Jesse Purcell, died 17 Feb 1868; citing BillionGraves (http://www.billiongraves.com : 2012), Burial at Purcell Cemetery, Magnolia, Harrison, Iowa, United States.
5. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVV3-VD8S : 13 December 2015), Jesse Purcell, 1868; Burial, Woodbine, Harrison, Iowa, United States of America, Jesse Purcell Cemetery; citing record ID 9348393, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
6. ↑ Daily Iowa State Register (Des Moines, Iowa) on Friday, March 27, 1868
7. ↑ History of Harrison County, 1891