![DavidPurviance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/DavidPurviance.jpg)
David Purviance, November 14, 1766 – August 19, 1847, was a member of the
Kentucky legislature, a member of the
Ohio legislature, and an important early leader in the
Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement
The Restoration Movement (also known as the American Restoration Movement or the Stone–Campbell Movement, and pejoratively as Campbellism) is a Christian movement that began on the United States frontier during the Second Great Awakening (17 ...
. He was also an early trustee (1819–1836) of
Miami University
Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the ...
in
Oxford, Ohio
Oxford is a city in Butler County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,035 at the 2020 census. A college town, Oxford was founded as a home for Miami University and lies in the southwestern portion of the state approximately northwest ...
and often served as its president ''pro tempore''.
Role in the Restoration Movement
The religious fervor of the early 19th century U.S. western frontier found its strongest voice at
Cane Ridge Meeting House in
Bourbon County, Kentucky
Bourbon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,252. Its county seat is Paris. Bourbon County is part of the Lexington–Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is one of Ken ...
, site of a series of continual
camp meeting
The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier ...
s from 1801 to 1804. In Kentucky, David Purviance, at first a farmer, engaged in significant debates with
John C. Breckinridge
John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. He represented Kentucky in both houses of Congress and became the 14th and youngest-ever vice president of the United States. Serving ...
over the proper relationship between church and state. After separating from the Presbyterian church and persuading numerous Presbyterians and Baptists to join the
Christian Church movement, David Purviance moved in about 1807 from Bourbon County near Paris to
"New Paris" in
Preble County, Ohio, for two principal reasons: to help spread the new Christian Church movement from its Kentucky base; and because he was an
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
in a time when slavery sentiment predominated in Kentucky.
David Purviance was a signatory as witness to the ''Last Will and Testament of the
Springfield Presbytery'' formally dissolving the
presbytery, which had previously withdrawn from the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky. The ''Last Will and Testament'' marked the birth of the Christian Church of the West and became a founding document of the
Restoration Movement
The Restoration Movement (also known as the American Restoration Movement or the Stone–Campbell Movement, and pejoratively as Campbellism) is a Christian movement that began on the United States frontier during the Second Great Awakening (17 ...
.
Personal and family history
David Purviance was born November 14, 1766 in
Rowan County, North Carolina
Rowan County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina that was formed in 1753, as part of the British Province of North Carolina. It was originally a vast territory with unlimited western boundaries, but its size was reduced to 524 sq mi ...
(became Iredell County in 1788), an ending point for many colonial pioneers migrating from
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
down the
Great Wagon Road
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
of the 18th century. David Purviance's family, of Scots-Irish lineage, removed westerly from Iredell County, NC, in 1791 to
Sumner County in
Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the ...
to help found the old Shiloh Presbyterian Church outside today's
Gallatin, Tennessee
Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee. The population was 30,278 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census and 44,431 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Named for United States Secretary of the Tr ...
. In 1792, David Purviance's brother John Purviance III was scalped by hostile Native Americans in full view of the victim's wife, Martha King Purviance (later Mrs. William McCorkle). "Mattie" Purviance watched helplessly as her husband was slain and had to be forcibly restrained from running to aid the hapless John Purviance. David Purviance's family sought refuge from further Indian depredations up in Bourbon County, Kentucky, on farmland near Cane Ridge in the
bluegrass near
Paris, Kentucky
Paris is a home rule-class city in Bourbon County, Kentucky. It lies northeast of Lexington on the Stoner Fork of the Licking River. Paris is the seat of its county and forms part of the Lexington–Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. As ...
. The "scalping" in 1792 caused the Purviance family to consider Sumner County temporarily unsafe for white pioneers, although the parents would return to Sumner County, from which
Wilson County, Tennessee
Wilson County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is in Middle Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 147,737. Its county seat is Lebanon. The largest city is Mt. Juliet. Wilson County is part of the Nashville-Davidso ...
, would be carved in 1799. The parents were Revolutionary War "colonel" John Purviance (1743–1823)--son of another John Purviance and wife Margaret McKnight (Purviance), of county Donegal in the north of Ireland—who served in the North Carolina continental line, & wife Mary Jane Wasson (Purviance), also of Scots-Irish lineage. David Purviance's great-grandparents lived in Castlefinn, County Donegal in the north of Ireland, the family having previously been Scottish Protestant (Presbyterian which of course, like the Huguenot faith, is Calvinism) merchants and shopkeepers living and trading in Royan, Charente-Maritime, Poitou-Charentes, France for three generations, from 1598 until 1685, during which time they likely intermarried with French Calvinists (Huguenots). Following the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes (Edict of Toleration) by Louis XIV, David's 2nd-great-grandfather, Jacques (Jacob) Sr, and his three sons joined with Huguenots who fled France for Britain and the American Colonies. The two younger sons went to the American Colonies, where they capitalized financially from the mistaken assumption, which they did nothing to correct, that they were Huguenots. Their father, elder brother, Jacques (Jacob) Jr, and four nephews travelled to Ulster where they settled, first in Lisburn then in Castlefinn with Scottish cousins who had settled there previously. One well-known brother of the father of David Purviance was Captain James Purviance of the North Carolina continental line. Although the son, church elder David Purviance, would aid in the formation of the new Restoration Movement and, unintentionally, development of the new Christian Church-Disciples of Christ-Church of Christ denomination, neither of his parents abjured Presbyterianism, although the father ("Colonel" John Purviance II) did join the new Cumberland Presbyterian denomination founded in 1810 in Dickson County, Middle Tennessee, but the mother (Mary Jane Wasson Purviance) died in the year 1810, and so remained a strict Presbyterian. He died August 19, 1847 and was buried in the Old North New Paris Cemetery in New Paris, Ohio.
References
*
External links
* Levi Purviance (1848). ''The Biography of Elder David Purviance, with His Memoirs: Containing His Views on Baptism, the Divinity of Christ, and the Atonement. Written by Himself: with an Appendix; Giving Biographical Sketches of Elders John Hardy, Reuben Dooly, William Dye, Thos. Kyle, George Shidler, William Kinkade, Thomas Adams, Samuel Kyle, and Nathan Worley. Together with a Historical Sketch of the Great Kentucky Revival.'' Electronic version available fro
University of North Carolina Genealogical information available through historian Marsha Cope Huie @ www.MarshaHuie.com (2001). Stuart Hoyle Purines, Purviance Family, privately published (1984).
*
* http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/purviance/menu.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Purviance, David
1766 births
1847 deaths
Restoration Movement
Presidents of Miami University
University and college founders
Members of the Kentucky House of Representatives
Members of the Ohio House of Representatives
Ohio state senators
American abolitionists
People from Iredell County, North Carolina
People from Paris, Kentucky
People from New Paris, Ohio