Purvis is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Lamar County, Mississippi. It is part of the Hattiesburg, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,175 at the 2010 census. The Town of Purvis was incorporated on February 25, 1888 and was founded by and named after Thomas Melville Purves, originally of Marion County, Alabama. Purves, born March 8, 1820, was a second generation Scottish-American; his grandfather emigrated to Charleston, South Carolina in 1765.
History
Purves acquired a land grant in 1870 for a parcel of real estate which was located, at that time, in Marion County, Mississippi. In 1871, Purves moved from his home in Greene County and homesteaded the , along with his wife, Dorothy Abney, born May 14, 1826, in Hinds County, and their five surviving children, to the rural property. Dorothy, also known as Dollie or Dolly, was a doctor who tended the sick of the area and delivered babies. Purves built a two-room log cabin for his family with an open fireplace in one room used for cooking and heating. John, Thomas Purves' third surviving child, was the town's first Mayor.
In 1884, the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad gained right-of-way on Purves' property and a depot was erected, along with a marker, reading "Purvis". There were various recognized spellings of Scottish Clan Purves (surname) with both names previously listed being only a few of many. Purves eventually changed the spelling of his surname to match the town's depot marker which you can see evidenced on his tombstone located in Fillingame Cemetery in Purvis. Purves built and ran the first boarding house for the men who were working on laying rails for the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad. This building was called a "section house" because that is what a house built for railroad crew was termed at that time. Mrs. Anna Bufkin was a member of one of the first families to live in the section house as her husband was one that helped grade and build that part of the railroad in Purvis. There were around fifty men in the crew working in that area and the water supply was inadequate for that many additional people. They found a second source of water from a spring across the railroad track that was originally used by Thomas Purves (Grandpa Purvis) years before the town sprang into existence.
Lamar became a county on February 19, 1904, in House Bill 166 and was formed from the second Judicial District of Marion County. The county was named after Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II, who was elected to Mississippi Congress in 1872 and has one county each in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia named after him. The town of Purvis was designated as the county seat of the county Lamar with the depot of the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad listed as the town's center and the lines to run with the cardinal points of the compass.
Purvis began as a sawmill town and is noted to be located on the highest point on the Southern Railroad between Meridian and New Orleans by James Bounds, land surveyor, MS REG # L.S.1021. The first homesteaders of the area farmed and would only have to make 2-3 trips to "town" for supplies a year. The best route and the trading post most used was the Pass Christian trading post, some ninety miles south of the area which took eleven days in ox-cart to travel.
James Bounds, surveyor, stated:
It may be of interest to note the location of the old Pass Christian Road on a map of Stone and Pearl River Counties. This road was used very much by the early settlers of Lamar County to travel south to the coast for supplies. This road followed a natural divide between the water-sheds of Wolf River and Big Black Creek, of which the head waters originate in Lamar County. This road was one of necessity. It crossed no branches or streams of any kind and was one of the main roads of travel until modern means of transportation came into use after the American Civil War.