The Passing of a Skokomish Valley Pioneer
Emily Purdy, who survived the Indian War of 1855, has passed away at 44 after thirty years of frontier life.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Died, at Lillewaup, at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. W. S. Taylor, September 9th 1889, Mrs. Emily Purdy, of consumption, one of the pioneer women of Mason County, having been a resident of it for thirty years, and the wife of Hon. F. C. Purdy, one of our County Commissioners. She was born in Louisiana August 27, 1845, crossed the plains in 1854, settled on the Alvord claim on White River, from which she was driven to Seattle during the Indian war of 1855. In the spring of 1856 she moved to California, but returned and settled in the Skokomish valley in 1859, which was her home until the time of her death.
“A good mother, a faithful wife; with a faith in a home on high.”
Emily Purdy's life reflects the extreme instability of the mid-19th century American frontier, from crossing the plains to being displaced by the conflict of 1855. Her story serves as a reminder of the foundational, often harrowing, experiences of early non-Indigenous settlers in the Skokomish Valley.
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