Histories

Biographical Information: HENRY W. PURVIS, born November 1843 in Pennsylvania (per 1900 census of Charleston, South Carolina), died 28th September 1907 in Charleston (in the Charleston City Directory of 1906 he is shown resident at 145 Spring Street and, in the 1910 census of Charleston, his wife is shown as a widow). As a young African-American graduate of Oberlin College, Ohio, he went (1867) to Columbia, South Carolina, as Vice President of the Union League with the mandate to rally the blacks to exercise their vote. He was elected (1868-70) Delegate from Lexington County, South Carolina, to the House of Representatives of the South Carolina General Assembly during the early "Reconstruction Period" when he attended the “Special Sessions” in July and September 1868, the First Session (November 1868-March 1869) and the Second Session (November 1869-March 1870). At this time he writes to his father about the critical problems with armed Southern rebels and the difficulty of getting Republicans elected in South Carolina. [Note: In the 1870 Census of Richland County, South Carolina, a Haynes (sic) W. Purvis, age 28, male, mulatto, legislator, born Massachusetts, is listed as living on his own in Ward 1 of Columbia.] He was later (1870-77) Adjutant General of South Carolina and possibly also General in the South Carolina National Guard. He usually voted the Conservative line, except in cases of race, and apparently defected from the Republican to the Democratic Party, which could have greatly displeased his father as a “sell out”. He was elected (1875) one of the five members of the Board of Canvassers, which resolved a disputed election for Governor of South Carolina in favour of the Democrat candidate (Wade Hampton). Because of this and with Rutherford Hayes as President of the U.S.A., the assertion of Democrat control of the South Carolina House of Representatives and the end of Reconstruction, he was accused of accepting favours to promote the Democrat interest and against the black interest. On the other hand, he had warned the Republican candidate (Governor Chamberlain) about the red shirts who were intimidating blacks from voting Republican in the rural parts of the state. A hostile newspaper article of the period (The Philadelphia Times reporting from Columbia, 14th December 1880) wrote “the shrewd and unscrupulous Purvis, who dishonored an honored name in Philadelphia ..... Purvis was a prominent leader in the House as chairman of a most important committee, and he did as much as anyone to hasten the overthrow of negro rule. Now resides in Charleston and is a beneficiary of the national government.” In 1887 the first codicil to his father's will assigns his share, including the store and dwelling-house at 4234 Market Street, West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to his wife and children. In May 1894 a second codicil to his father's will provided for the maintenance of his wife and children but cut him out completely for his lifetime. In 1902 (per the Charleston City Directory) he is described as “Clerk .....U.S. Marshall Office” with residence at 145 Spring Street, Charleston. In 1904 and 1906 he is described as “Bailiff ..... U.S. Courts” with residence still at 145 Spring Street. Married (April 1872 - the 1900 census of Charleston, shows him as 28 years married) Ella Zenobia Barre (alias Ferrette) (born 30th April 1852 in Charleston, died 17th May 1921 in Charleston, buried in the Friendly Union Cemetery, Charleston), a free woman of color, living (1912) in her husband's former residence 145 Spring Street, Charleston, per the Charleston City Directory in which she is specified as colored, and at the time of her death (1921) at 61 Beaufain Street, Charleston, daughter of John Augustus Barre (born in Bordeaux, France, died September 1856 at his home on George Street, Charleston), wine merchant in Bordeaux and Charleston, a naturalised U.S. citizen (10th October 1832), and his housekeeper Virginia Ann Ferrette (born in Charleston), a free woman of color, dressmaker, who was living in Charleston in 1866 and probably also in 1872,having seven children:-