THE PURKEY EXODUS
SOURCE: HANCOCK COUNTY AND IT'S PEOPLE, WALSWORTH PUBLISHING © 1990
TO BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW THE PURKEYS CAME TO AMERICA ONE SHOULD KNOW WHY THEY CAME. THEY WERE ONE OF MANY FAMILIES CAUGHT IN A MOVEMENT OF DISAGREEMENT WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. THIS MOVEMENT WAS KNOWN AS THE "MENNONITE MOVEMENT" WHICH BEGAN IN 15520 AND LASTED WELL INTO THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. ORIGINALLY, THEY WERE CALLED ANABAPTISTS, A LATIN TERM MEANING "TO BAPTIZE AGAIN". AT FIRST IT REFERRED ONLY TO THOSE WHO WERE REBAPTIZED, BUT QUICKLY THE TERM IDENTIFIED ALL THOSE WHO REFUSED TO HAVE THEIR CHILDREN BAPTIZED AS INFANTS. SELF DESIGNATIONS FOR THE ANABAPTISTS VARIED WITH THE AREA. IN OTHER CASES THEY REFERRED TO THEMSELVES AS THE FOLLOWERS OF VARIOUS LEADERS. THE AMISH, A DIVISION OF OF THE MENNONITES, DERIVES THEIR NAME FROM THE LEADERSHIP OF JACOB AMMAN, WHO WAS THE CENTER OF THE AMISH DIVISION. THE ANABAPTIST MOVEMENT BEGAN IN FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, AND GERMANY. AUTHORITIES PUBLICLY NAMED ANABAPTIST LEADERS AND PUT PRICES ON THEIR HEADS. ESPECIALLY IN HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND, OFFICIAL "ANABAPTIST HUNTERS" WERE SENT OUT TO CATCH THE HATED ANABAPTIST. THE MOVEMENT WAS INDEED THE ACORN THAT PRODUCED THE OAK. AMISH CONGREGATIONS MIGRATED TO HOLLAND AND SUBSEQUENTLY TO NORTH AMERICA.
THE PURKEYS WERE ONE OF MANY FAMILIES TO FLEE THEIR HOMELAND TO AVOID CERTAIN DEATH BY THE ANABAPTIST HUNTERS. THEY MOVED FROM THE JURA MOUNTAINS OF FRANCE, A WINE PRODUCING AREA NEAR THE SWISS-FRENCH BORDER, TO A MOUNTAINOUS AREA LAKE LECERNE, SWITZERLAND. FROM HERE THEY TRAVELED NORTH ON THE RHINE RIVER TO HOLLAND WHERE THEY BOARDED A BOAT NAMED "TWO BROTHERS". ACCORDING TO THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE ARCHIVES A LIST OF MALE PASSENGERS SAILING FROM ROTTERDAM INCLUDED THE NAMES OF CHRISTIAN BIERKENBEYLE AND HIS BROTHERS JACOB AND ANDRU. THEY ARRIVED AT THE PORT OF PHILADELPHIA IN 1754.
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HOW I FIT IN
THERE ARE SEVERAL VARIATIONS OF THE PURKEY NAME. ANDRU'S WILL WHICH WAS RECORDED JULY 1, 1773, IN THE COURT OF RECORDS OF BALTIMORE COUNTY, MARYLAND, LISTS THE SPELLING AS "BERGENBOYLE" . HOWEVER, I HAVE INFORMATION WHICH CONTRADICTS THIS AND SHOWS THE NAME SPELLED "PERKEPEAL. OTHER SPELLINGS INCLUDE BERGENBOYLE, PERKEPILL, PERKINPILE, AND PURKEYPILE. THESE VARIATIONS MAY BE EXPLAINED BY THE APPARENT LACK OF EDUCATION IN THOSE DAYS. IRONICALLY, ANDRU DIED WITHIN THIRTY DAYS OF MAKING HIS WILL. THE PURKEYPILE VARIATION OF THE NAME LASTED TWO GENERATIONS BEFORE REUBEN, CHRISTIAN'S GRANDSON,CHANGED IT TO PURKEY.
CHRISTIANS SON, MICHAEL PURKEYPILE SETTLED IN SHENADOAH COUNTY, VIRGINIA. WHILE I HAVE NO PROOF I SUSPECT THE REASON HE SETTLED THERE IS THAT THE GREAT PHILADELPHIA WAGON ROAD , WHICH WAS THE MAIN LAND ROUTE SOUTH, AND WOUND DOWN THE WESTERN FRONTIER OF COLONIAL AMERICA FROM PENNSYLVANIA TO GEORGA, BROUGHT HIM THROUGH THE AREA WHICH LOOKED MUCH LIKE WHAT HIS FATHER HAD DESCRIBED AS THE OLD HOME LAND. PUBLIC RECORDS SHOW HIS DESCENDANTS OWNING THE SHENADOAH CAVERNS UNTIL 1950. THESE CAVERNS ARE LOCATED ON THE BLUE RIDGE SKY-LAND DRIVE. MICHAEL'S SON, REUBEN, (MY 3RD GREAT GRANDFATHER) SETTLED ON CHESTNUT RIDGE IN HAWKINS COUNTY, TENNESSEE. THIS MOUNTAINOUS AREA IS SIMILAR TO THE OLD HOMELAND BACK IN FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND. LATER, THIS PORTION OF HAWKINS COUNTY CHANGED TO HANCOCK COUNTY. CENSUS RECORD OF 1880 LISTED REUBEN;S AGE TO BE 85 YEARS OLD. A CHURCH BEARING THE PURKEY NAME WAS LOCATED NEARBY UNTIL ONLY A FEW YEARS AGO. REUBEN HAD A VERY LARGE FAMILY OF WHICH MANY SETTLED IN OR NEAR MY BIRTH TOWN OF MORRISTOWN, TENNESSEE. ONE OF HIS SON'S, ASA, LIVED IN THE CENTRAL COMMUNITY HANCOCK COUNTY WHERE HE AND HIS SON, GEORGE, ARE BURIED IN IN THE SUTTON-PURKEY CEMETERY LOCATED ON THE NOAH SUTTON FARM.
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