Los Angeles County
Biographies
EDWARD CHARLES PURPUS
Edward
Charles Purpus is an able, successful and
representative attorney of Los Angeles,
with offices at 412 Pershing
Square Building.
He was born in New Bremen, Ohio, on the 14th of September,
1894, a son of Edward and Josephine (Hais) Purpus. The father
served as mayor of New Bremen and was also sheriff of Auglaize County, Ohio. He died in 1904. Mrs. Purpus is now
a resident of Los Angeles. Our subject is a descendant of the Purpus family that voted against the king of Bavaria in council and
was exiled for that reason, losing all the family estates. In the paternal line Edward C Purpus is also related to the curator of the Botanical
Garden of Berlin and to the head of the department of philosophy at the
University of California in Berkeley.
Edward C. Purpus was a youth of twelve years when his mother
established her home in Covington, Kentucky, where Edward C. was graduated from St. Joseph’s high
school. He is also a graduate of St.
Mary’s high school of Dayton, Ohio, and the University of Dayton, which
institution conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Science. He attended Dean Schneider’s Cooperative Engineering
School for one year prior to coming to
Los Angeles, California, where he was identified with the
banking business for fourteen years. On
the expiration of that period he prepared for law practice as a student at the
University of Southern California, from which he was graduate with the degree
of Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1922.
Since that time he has been actively engaged in the work of his chosen
profession in Los Angeles and has built up an extensive and gratifying
clientage, for his ability as a lawyer is widely recognized. He is a member of the committee of civil
procedure of the Los Angeles Bar Association.
On the 10th
of June, 1924, Mr. Purpus was united in marriage to
Mary Kathleen Cunningham, who was born in California, her parents being Thomas J. and
Mary M. (Molony) Cunningham. Her mother was also a native of the Golden State. Sketches of T. J. Cunningham and Richard Molony appear elsewhere in this history. To Mr. and Mrs. Purpus,
who is an alumnus of Pomona College, have been born four sons and one daughter,
namely: Thomas Edward, born 1925; James
Patrick, born 1927; John Joseph, born 1929; Charles Edward, born 1930; and Mary
Kathleen, born 1932.
Mr. Purpus gives his political support to the Democratic Party
and was chairman of the veterans’ legislative committee. At the time of the World War he was a member
of the Field Artillery Officers Training School. He is a communicant of the Catholic Church
and fraternally is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, of which he is past
grand knight, past state advocate and president of the Southern
California chapter. He was
chairman of the parochial school committee of the State of California.
Mr. Purpus is also a member of Los Angeles
Lodge No. 99 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is past
president of the past district deputy of the Young Men’s Institute. His name is likewise on the membership rolls
of the Jonathan Club, Chamber of Commerce, and the Ad Club. He is greatly interested in work pertaining
to the welfare of boys, having served as the vice president of the Catholic Big
Brothers, and was deputy commissioner of the Boy Scouts of American and vice president
of the Community Boys Lodge. He is a
member of Gamma Eta Gamma and the scholastic honorary society, The Order of the
Coif.
*Mr. Purpus died in Los Angeles on
September 1, 1944. [jan g]
Source: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16125033
Transcribed
By: Michele Y. Larsen on March 23, 2012.
Source: California
of the South Vol. II,
by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 203-204,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Michele
Y. Larsen.
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