William J. Purman

William J. Purman

William James Purman (born April 11, 1840 in Millheim , Center County , Pennsylvania , †  August 14, 1928 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician . Between 1873 and 1877 he represented the state of Florida in the US House of Representatives .

Career

William Purman attended the public schools in his home country and the Aaronsburg Academy . After that he worked as a teacher. He later studied law at Lock Haven . During the Civil War , Purman served as a soldier in the Union Army for the War Department in Washington. In 1865 he was transferred to occupied Florida, where he began a political career as a member of the Republican Party .

From 1868 Purman practiced as a lawyer in Tallahassee . In 1868 he was a member of a convention to revise the Florida Constitution. Between 1869 and 1872 he was a member of the State Senate . In 1869 he refused an appointment as Secretary of State of Florida. In the same year he was a member of a negotiating committee that negotiated with negotiators from the state of Alabama over the cession of the western areas of Florida to Alabama. A corresponding treaty was not ratified in Alabama. From 1870 to 1872, Purman worked for the federal tax authorities in Florida. During the same period he was Republican party leader in his state. From 1876 to 1880 Purman was also a member of the Republican National Committee .

Purman was also a member of the Florida House of Representatives for one term . In the congressional elections of 1872 he was then elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington in the first constituency of Florida, where he succeeded Silas L. Niblack on March 4, 1873 , whom he had defeated in the election. After a re-election in 1874, he was able to complete two legislative terms in Congress until March 3, 1877 . In 1876, Purman was not confirmed. After leaving the US House of Representatives, he returned to his native Millheim in 1878, where he worked in agriculture. In 1883 he moved to Boston . William Purman spent his retirement in the federal capital Washington, where he died on August 14, 1928 at the age of 88.

Web links

• William J. Purman in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• William J. Purman in the database of Find a Grave (English)