John I. Purdin Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Page 249

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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HON. JOHN I. PURDIN. This name is borne by a thrifty and enterprising 
farmer of Montrose township, McCook county, who by dint of his own 
energy and ability, has acquired a comfortable fortune, having, large 
business interests in the town of Montrose, and has attained a 
conspicuous position in the political world.  

The subject of our sketch was born in Linn county, Missouri, in the 
year 1852, the third in the order of birth of a family of seven 
children. His father was born in Indiana, and is at present making his 
home in Missouri, but the mother is of Scotch descent. Mr. Purdin was 
reared on a farm and had the advantages of only a district school 
education, attending the district school quite regularly until he was 
old enough to do farm work, and from that time he only attended during 
the winters. At the age of twenty-one years, he was united in marriage 
to Miss May Hutchinson, whose father was a native of New York state, 
and whose mother was of Dutch parentage. Five children have been born 
to this union, only one of whom is now living, and this one is now the 
wife of E. L. Ketcham, the cashier of the Montrose Bank.  

When our subject was twenty he left his father's home and began the 
battle of life for himself, at this time he went into the livery and 
live stock business, and shortly after entered the lumber business at 
Browning, Missouri. After pursuing this line of work quite successfully 
for four years, and acquiring a small capital, he moved to Purdin, 
Missouri, and made that his home for two years. In 1887, he moved to 
Montrose, Dakota, and again went into the livery and live stock 
business, and in the meantime, traded his Missouri property for 
property in Dakota. Soon after, he came into possession of the Montrose 
Lumber Yards, but this, together with the livery business were soon 
sold. Mr. Purdin then bought the Montrose Bank from J. T. Hamilton, in 
partnership with his daughter; who still owns a share of the bank 
stock. Besides the bank and live stock business, Mr. Purdin has engaged 
extensively in farming, managing his farms himself, and his crops for 
the year 1898 were valued at two thousand five hundred dollars.  

In politics, Mr. Purdin is identified with the Democratic party, and in 
1895 this party elected him to the office of county commissioner, but 
he resigned the following year to enter the state legislature, being 
elected by the largest majority of any man in the state. In 1898, he 
again entered the field as a candidate for the office of 
representative, and was re-elected by a large majority, and is the 
present incumbent. Formerly he was a stanch supporter of prohibition 
and equal suffrage, but at present does not favor either policy.