Uncle

In the most comprehensive biographical study of John Purdue (c. 1802-1876) to date Purdue's great-great-grandniece describes her travels to the diverse places where Purdue had lived in order to learn about the mysterious relative known in her family as <QUOTE>Uncle.<QUOTE><QUOTE> Using fresh unpublished source materials-including Purdue's personal correspondence business ledgers and the family oral histories-the author examines Purdue's beginning among illiterate immigrant Pennsylvania mountain-hollow folks. Uncle challenges a commonly held belief that Purdue was a cold-hearted business mogul. Instead the author shows Purdue as a human being and as a generous family man with a visionary nature.