Purkapile, Catharine D.

Born: 1817-10-14 Mason County, Kentucky

Died: 1892-03-22 Menard County, Illinois

Alternate name: Davis, Houghton, Nance

Catharine D. Purkapile was the wife of Thomas J. Nance and James Purkapile. Born Catharine Houghton, she married Thomas J. Nance in September 1836 in Sangamon County, Illinois. The couple settled in the portion of Sangamon County that would become Menard County, and together had three children. Thomas J. Nance died in 1842, and Catharine continued to live in Menard County with her children. In 1850, she owned $800 in real property. In May 1859, Catharine married James Purkapile, with whom she had one child. By 1860, she was living with her husband and family south of Petersburg near Tallula and owned real property valued at $5,960.

The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1879), 751; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Sangamon County, 21 September 1836, 26 May 1859, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Menard County, IL, 322; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Menard County, IL, 25; Gravestone, Thomas J. Nance, Newmansville Cemetery, Newmansville, IL; Gravestone, Catharine D. Purkapile, Farmers Point Cemetery, Tallula, IL.