William James Purman (11 April 1840-14 August 1928) was a member of the US House of Representatives (R-FL) from 4 March 1873 to 25 January 1875 (succeeding Silas L. Niblack) and from FL-1 from 4 March 1875 to 3 March 1877 (preceding Robert H.M. Davidson).
Biography[]
William James Purman was born in Millheim, Centre County, Pennsylvania on 11 April 1840, and he served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and was transferred to Florida in 1865. He became a lawyer in Tallahassee in 1868 and served in the State Senate from 1869 to 1872, in the State House for one session, and in the US House of Representatives from 1873 to 1877. He then returned to Millheim and engaged in agricultural pursuits, and he moved to Boston in 1883 before retiring to Washington DC, where he died in 1928.