In jpl^pmoriBin.'
 

Edwin Ruthven Purple, the third son of Lyman Smith Purple and
Minerva Sheffield his wife, was born in the town of Sherburne, Chenango
Co., N. Y,, on June 30, 1831. His maternal grandfather, James (Fones)
Sheffield, was born in Charlestown, R. I., April 12, 1766, and was of the
medical profession. His paternal grandfather was Ansel Purple, born in
Middle Haddam, Ct., in 1773, and liis earHer paternal ancestor Edward
Purple, of Haddam, Ct., 1674, was of English descent.

After the death of his father, which occurred May 7, 1839, and before
Edwin was eight years old, he was placed by his mother and elder brother
at school in Earlville, Madison Co., N. Y., where he continued until the
spring of 1846. In the summer of that and the following year he was em¬
ployed at farm labor, living at home during the winter months, and attend¬
ing the Earlvitle Academy—deemed at that time one of the best and most
flourishing high schools in the county. In March, 1847, he came to the
City of New York and secured employment as a clerk in a drygoods im¬
porting house. Here he remained about three years, until the spring of
1850. In 1848 he became a member of the Laight Street Baptist Church,
to which his family belonged, and to which he remained attached while in
the city.

In 1850 his employer arranged to close his business in New York, and
established himself in San Francisco, Cal.—the land of great promise and
of great attraction—and made such favorable overtures as to induce Edwin
to follow him to that El Dorado; and accordingly, April 13, 1850, he
embarked, on the steamship Cherokee, for Chagres, and went thence to
Panama, where he took a saiHng vessel (the bark Winthrop) for San Fran¬
cisco, where he arrived on the 12th of July following, taking up three
months, instead of a six months' passage around Cape Horn. On arrival
he found that his employer, who had preceded him, had sold the stock of
merchandise to arrive, and had abandoned the idea of setting up business
for himself in California, having found that it was easier to sell goods at a
profit than to secure a store at a moderate rent, or have any assurance
against disaster. Remaining in San Francisco a few days, ihe went to
Sacramento City, where, through the introduction of a friend, he hired an
ox-team and wagon, loaded it with flour and other provisions, and started