Robert W. Purdy, M.D.
Robert W. Purdy, M. D., was born in Hillsboro, Ohio, in 1831, a son of Thomas E. Purdy and Eliza Wilson, his wife. Robert Purdy 's grandfather was one of the first settlers of New Market, and was a native of Sharon Valley, Pennsylvania. He died in 1888 at the age of eighty.
He received a common school education, and at the age of seventeen began the study of medicine with Dr. J. W. Washburn, of New Market, Ohio, with whom he studied for five years, and in that period attended lectures at Starling Medical College in Columbus, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1858.
In the same year he was married to Ella Santee, daughter of Samuel Santee and Margaret Browne, his wife, and after the lapse of all these years, her hair is still as black as a raven's wing, as it was when the Doctor married her, and she is as young in spirit as forty-one years ago. In 1859, he practiced one year in connection with his preceptor, and in 1860 located in Bradyville. On August 11, 1862. he enlisted as a Private in Company E, 91st O. V. I., and served until February 18, 1863, when he was discharged by order of the War Department. He need not have enlisted as a private, and could have served as a surgeon, but he gave his services to the country as an ordinary soldier, though for a part of his service he acted as a hospital steward, being detailed for that service. On his discharge from the Ninety-first, he returned to his home and practice. On August 21, 1864, he enlisted as a Private in Company H, 182d O. V. I., for one year, and served until July 7, 1865. Again he might have gone as a physician, but went as a private. We take it his reasons were purely patriotic.
He practiced medicine in Bradyville from 1860 until 1880, when he removed to Ellsberry in Brown County, where he remained for three years. In 1883, he located in Mowrystown. Highland County, and remained a year. He then returned to Bradyville, where he has since resided and where he expects to remain till, to use a nautical phrase, after Admiral Dewey, "he is sunk by Death's superior weight of metal."
Dr. Purdy has had nine children, six of whom survive: Margaret, wife of Philip Flaugher, of Lexington, Ky.; Mary E., wife of Oscar Clark, of Kokomo, Ill.; Thomas, Letha, Edgar and Clifton. He is a Republican and is proud of it. He was Coroner of Adams County from 1891 to 1893. He is proud also of his record as a soldier and well he may be for he is the only man we have found in Adams County who was content to serve his country twice as a private when he might have served it as a surgeon. He is a member of George Bailey Post, G. A. R., at Aberdeen, Ohio, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Bradyville.
The Doctor takes life easy. His record is about made up and he has found nothing in it to be ashamed of. He has been a very useful man; always ready to respond to every professional call, regardless of color, race, or previous condition of servitude, or otherwise. He has done a great deal of good in his community. He rests his religious faith in the grand old Methodist Church, his political faith in the Republican party, and having done his duty as patriot and citizen, with the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius and the faith of St. Paul, he is ready to meet the Last Enemy whenever required.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900