In the most comprehensive biographical study of John Purdue (c. 1802-1876) to date, Purdue's great-great-grandniece describes her travels to the diverse places where Purdue had lived in order to learn about the mysterious relative known in her family as Uncle. Using fresh, unpublished source materials-including Purdue's personal correspondence, business ledgers, and the family oral histories-the author examines Purdue's beginning among illiterate, immigrant, Pennsylvania mountain-hollow folks. Uncle challenges a commonly held belief that Purdue was a cold-hearted business mogul. Instead the author shows Purdue as a human being and as a generous family man with a visionary nature.
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Prologue
Chapter One: Pennsylvania: The “Great Path” to Exploration and Education
Chapter Two: Ohio Legends and Facts: Whisler and Marion, Ohio, and Michigan
Chapter Three: Adelphi
Chapter Four: 1839–1850: Lafayette, Indiana
Chapter Five: The 1860s: Civic Leader, CEO, Manager, Connoisseur
Chapter Six: 1860: The Walnut Grove Farm
Chapter Seven: 1864–1870: Uncle’s First Gifts
Chapter Eight: 1866–1870: “The Scales Fell From Our Eyes”
Chapter Nine: 1870–1876: Industry, Mines, and Gutsy, High-Rolling Kings
Chapter Ten: 1870–1876: Field of Dreams
Chapter Eleven: Legacy
Notes
References
Index