Emma Bell (McPherson) Purviance

Emma grew up in Jacksonville, Illinois. Her father William S. McPherson, born in Albermarle County, Virginia, was a school teacher before becoming a surveyor, farmer, and later a hotel owner. Her mother Eliza Kimball was born in Scioto County, Ohio. Emma's family moved to Beardstown, Illinois between 1865 and 1870. She married October 30, 1870 Nathan Maxson Purviance. The couple lived in or near Beardstown when their first child, Arthur William was born. He died there in 1872 at the age of 8 months. Emma and Nathan then moved to Oswego, Kansas, in August of 1872 where five of their six children were born. Her parents, as well as many other McPherson family members, also moved to Oswego and neighboring communities in south-east Kansas. After 1880, the family moved to the Idaho Territory where Emma filed for divorce. Emma married December 22, 1885, William Saint Clair Long in Lewston, Idaho Territory. Mr. Long was a mining prospector living in Spokane Falls, Washington and Leavenworth, Kansas. He died during a mining explosion a few years later. Emma then changed her name back to Purviance and traveled between Spokane, Washington and Leavenworth, Kansas. Eventually she moved with her daughter Mata and son-in-law, H. A. Hover to La Crescenta, California by 1911. Emma Bell died April 30, 1919 in Los Angeles, California.