William J. Purman

Purman taught school and studied law in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.

Purman narrowly escaped an assassin's bullet in 1868 which left his brother-in-law—who was a former surgeon in the Confederate Army—dead.

Purman testified before the U.S. Congress during KKK hearings that not one person had ever been arrested for the group's crimes in Florida.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1876 to the Forty-fifth United States Congress and in 1878 he returned to Millheim, Pennsylvani where he engaged in agricultural pursuits.

A July 28, 1876, report to Congress from the Committee on Reform in the Civil Service recommended Purman be investigated for his appointment of timber agents in Florida, and that those agents never performed any service under their appointments, except to draw their pay; that in some instances Mr. Purman notified them beforehand that they would have nothing to do...that they, nor any of them, so far as the evidence shows, ever visited said reservations, nor even knew the location thereof; that the offices are mere sinecures; and that the appointments were made for political effect and purposes only.