Samuel Purviance Jr. (141)

Samuel Purviance, Jr. (1728?–1788?) was a merchant and American revolutionary, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born in Ireland, he arrived in Philadelphia around 1754 and started an importing business with an elder kinsman of the same name. By 1765 he had relocated to Baltimore to begin a mercantile partnership and rum distillery with his brother Robert. Purviance retained strong connections to Philadelphia, however, promoting Presbyterian interests in provincial politics and touring Pennsylvania to secure votes for the proprietary party. In Maryland, he served on Presbyterian Church committees and as a trustee of the poor. Among Baltimore’s most prosperous merchants, Purviance threw his influence behind independence. He signed the Non-Importation Agreement, organized relief for suffering Bostonians, and served as a delegate to the Provincial Convention held at Annapolis in 1774. He also chaired a local committee of correspondence (1774), the Committee of Observation (1775), and the Committee of Safety (1776). And he collected arms and ammunition, oversaw defensive fortifications and ship-building on the Chesapeake Bay, and made frequent donations to support the war effort. Purviance is best known, however, for seizing the person and papers of Maryland Governor Robert Eden, an accused Loyalist, against the wishes of the Maryland Council. The Council formally censured Purviance for this civilian usurpation of military authority, but others defended him and he retained his posts. He displayed similar recklessness on other occasions, but his wealth, connections, and passion for independence made him an asset to the patriot cause. After the war, he served as head warden of the port of Baltimore. While touring lands he owned in the Ohio Valley in 1788, his party was attacked by Native Americans. He was never heard from again. (PI)