1829 Shelby Co, IL. James entered 80 acres at the bend of the (Okaw)r iver. "The bend in the river is nearly the shape of a horse-shoe,and i s three and one-half miles around, and at the neck it is onlyseventy s teps between the streams. At this point it is said there isabout nine f eet fall. He, in the company with his brother, John G,built a water m ill on this neck in 1833, and it has ever since beenknown as the old ' Mill seat.' It was a grist and saw mill, and wasoperated for several y ears by the Purvises and others, and finally
washed away."
3/1830 Sangamon Co, IL. In the proceedings of the Board ofSupervisor s was a petition to fill the vacancy of Constable by a JohnDurley. Th e signatures on the petition included James and hisbrothers, Isaac and J ohn.
4/1/1830 E Nelson Twp, Shelby Co, IL. James and brother, John,arrive d, being only the second in the county behind the Freemanbrothers and t heir families. Historians recorded: They "built acabin of rough unhe wn logs on section 7, where George Purvis stillcontinues to live. The y broke the first prairie and put in a crop,and in the following month t heir father, John Purvis, his wife, anddaughter, Malinda, came from Sa ngamon county. They all lived in thiscabin one year." Other records v erify that George also came with hisfather.
In the history of the village of Old Nelson it states: "This villagew as located just south of the "Mill Seat" in section 17. Mr.Vandakin f ailed to get a deed to this tract before James Purvis, theowner, died, a nd the heirs being minors, could not convey; hence theplace
became extinct. Soon after the death of Mr. Purvis, his brother, JohnG . Purvis, Dr. Montague and Jonathan Dazey, laid out a tract a halfmile e ast, into lots and blocks, and called it East Nelson."
11/12/1830 He was still living in Shelby Co when he purchased 80acres i n Moultrie Co at S17 T13N from a federal land sale for$1.25/acre. Acc ording to land records, James was the first of thefamily to purchase a ny Federal lands of IL, the next not until 6 yrslater.
One family listing says he moved to KS but if that was true, he mustha ve returned before he died.
