Birth: Aug., 1840, Wayne County, Pennsylvania.
Death: Jan., 1921, Wall Lake, Sac County, Iowa.
Wife: Sarah Ann Pelton Purdy (1842 - 1920).
Burial: Oakland Cemetery, Sac City, Sac County, Iowa.
Walden E. Purdy and Family History.
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The pioneer settlers of Sac county enjoyed one advantage which will never come to the future settlers of this county, and that is cheap land. In the seventies there was plenty of five and ten-dollar land for sale in this county and today there are few. farms which could be bought for less than one hundred and fifty dollars an acre. While the early settlers enjoyed this one advantage they suffered a number of disadvantages, and it is probably true that a farmer today can pay for his land in almost the same length of time which the farmer of thirty years ago could pay for the land at the price at which it was then purchased. The Purdy family were among the early settlers of this county, and is one of the few families in the county who are able to trace their ancestry back through three generations.
The Purdys have traced their family history in the United States back to the year 1656, when three brothers of the family came from Norway to America and settled in Vermont. One member of the family, Reverend
William Purdy, settled in Pennsylvania. He became the progenitor of the Purdys who came to Sac county, Iowa. The family have been prominent in many states from the earliest history of the country. Members of the family
fought in the Revolutionary War and also in the War of 1812, while a
number of them were in the Civil War. Rev. William Purdy. a Baptist minister of Pennsylvania, had a son by the name of Peter, who in tum was the father of Marshall. the father of Walden E., whose history is here delineated.
Walden E. Purdy was born August 14. 1840, in Wayne county. Pennsylvania. and is the son of Marshall and Sally Ann (Rude) Purdy, both of whom are natives of Pennsylvania. Peter Purdy, the father of Rev. William Purdy, migrated from Connecticut to Wayne county, Pennsylvania, in 17
92.
Marshall Purdy lived and died in Pennsylvania, dying in Wayne county in
1872. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Purdy were the parents of nine children:
Newman D., Walden E., Elmer N., Mahlon D., Chester, Emeline, Lucinda,
Celeste and Melissa.
Walden E. Purdy was educated in Abbington Academy in Pennsylvania
and in 1861 came to Floyd county, Iowa, from his native state. The next
year he bought eighty acres in this county of his father-in-law, and lived on
it for the next ten years. In 1873 he came to Sac county, where he purchased
ninety-seven acres at five dollars and a half an acre. This land had never
been broken, and, as Mr. Purdy says, “there was nothing but prairie grass and mosquitoes” to be found on the farm. Since purchasing this farm he has
added to his land holdings from time to time, until he now owns one hundred and ninety-four acres in Wall Lake township. His son has forty acres in Jackson township and eighty-seven acres in W all Lake township, making a total of three hundred and forty-one acres in this county.
Mr. Purdy was married March 1 7, 1854, to Sarah A. Pelton, who was born October 23, 1842, in Lake county, Illinois. She is the daughter of Thomas and Lovilla (Graves) Pelton. natives of Tompkins and E Washington
counties, New York, respectively. Thomas Pelton pre-empted his land in
Lake county, Illinois, and at one time had an opportunity to buy land at
Chicago, but refused the opportunity. He did not realize at that time that the
land would become very valuable.
In 1850 the Pelton family moved to Floyd county, Iowa, where they lived the remainder of their days. Thomas Pelton was born in 1811 and died in 1873. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Pelton were the parents of two children, Susan and Sarah, the wife of Mr. Purdy. They also reared one adopted son, Frank. M r. and Mrs. Purdy are the parents of nine children: Mrs. Carrie Platt, of Minnesota; Mrs. May Della Stanzel, of Wall Lake township; Mrs. Nettie Benson, who lives in Texas, near Galveston; Frank. at home; Mrs. Cora McClintock, of South Dakota; Mrs. Grace Jennett, deceased; Clarence, at home; Mrs. Ada Thaw, deceased, and Mrs. Vernie Ellwanger, of Wall Lake, Iowa.
Mr. Purdy is a stanch Democrat and a firm believer in the principles of his party. He and his family are all members of the Baptist church and contribute of their means to its support. Mr. Purdy is a musician of ability
and has reared a family of musicians. At one time the family organized an
orchestra. which was known as the Purdy orchestra. Mr. Purdy has taught
a singing school since coming to this county. He is a vocal teacher of merit
and because of his musical ability has taught vocal music in the Methodist
church. The family has long been recognized as one which is interested in
the development of their community along such lines as would make a community a better place in which to live.
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