California Biographies, San Joaquin Valley

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


ALFRED EDWARD PURCELL, one of the original proprietors of the site of Oakdale, was born in 
Kentucky in 1825, and when a mere boy removed with his parents to Montrose, Lee county, 
Iowa, where he was reared on a farm in a new and sparsely settled country. His active mind 
received its first educational impulse at the rude schoolhouse in the vicinity of his home and his 
muscles were hardened and his exuberance curbed, in the hard struggle for existence which 
confronted the youth of his time and place. Into his uneventful farming existence came an 
opening for something better and broader with the breaking out of the Mexican war, in which 
he enlisted and veteranized, a volunteer in two Iowa regiments. 

With the desire for achievement surging in his brain, Mr. Purcell followed the universal trend of 
1850 and crossed the plains in an oxtrain, enduring the hardships, suffering and imminent 
danger common to the lot of the men of daring and courage who comprised the fortune 
seekers of that time. Not realizing his mining expectations, he turned his attention to sheep 
raising in partnership with A. J. Patterson, who is still living, purchasing a large tract of land, a 
part of which eventually became the site of the prosperous and homelike town of Oakdale. 
Success came his way, and his worldly possessions took on dignified and substantial 
proportions. The partners, out of the fullness of their opulence, and their public-spiritedness, 
presented one-half of the town site and the right of way to the railroad company to locate the 
town, the deeds to lots bearing the signatures of Patterson, Purcell & Jackson. The partners 
also owned a large tract of land in San Luis Obispo county, twelve miles from Paso Robles, 
where for some years Mr. Purcell lived, and engaged in an extensive stock business. On 
returning to Oakdale, he resumed his farming and stock raising at this point, his farm being one 
and a half miles south of the town, but eventually the approach of old age brought its additional 
burdens of ill-health and loss of energy, and his last years were spent in Oakdale, where he 
suffered greatly, although patient and uncomplaining. In this emergency the superintending of 
his farm and general business devolved upon his step-daughter, Sadie Kelley, now Mrs. 
Mehler, to whom he was devotedly attached, and in whose good judgment and ability he 
placed implicit confidence. Mr. Purcell married, in Keokuk, Iowa, in 1873, Mrs. Sabra (Williams) 
Kelley, who was born in Mansfield, Ohio, the widow of Dr. James Kelley, a graduate of the 
Keokuk Medical College, and a prominent physician and surgeon of Montrose for many years. 
Mrs. Purcell had one child by her first marriage, and two by her second. She is now living with 
her daughter, Sadie, in Oakdale. Mr. Purcell died in Oakdale July 24, 1902, and not within the 
memory of the oldest inhabitant of the town, has there been more sincere regret at the 
passing of its most honored men. He was the soul of integrity, the embodiment of industry, 
and the rarest example of good judgment, large-heartedness. and public-spiritedness, and his 
services in behalf of the early upbuilding of Stanislaus county and Oakdale cannot be 
overestimated. 

Mrs. Edward M. Mehler's career presents many claims upon the appreciation and gratitude of 
her fellow citizens of Oakdale. She is a woman of ability and resource, and in any emergency 
which has presented itself for her consideration, has proved herself apt and ready and faithful. 
As the manager of her step-father's estate she has shown unusual shrewdness and reliability. 
Prior to her marriage she engaged in educational work for ten years, nine of which were spent 
in her home town. In 1897 she started what has since become the largest, most complete and 
finest millinery establishment in Stanislaus county, bringing to bear upon her chosen occupation 
the taste, discretion, obligingness and business sagacity needful for the conduct of an 
enterprise patronized by the best and most exclusive trade in this part of the county. Mrs. 
Mehler is the mother of one son, Alfred Edward. Of the other children of Mr. Purcell's family, 
Alfred Edward died at the age of twenty-three, and Maude L. is the wife of Frank Anderson, of 
Seattle, Wash. The Purcell family, as established by the grand old pioneer, is honored for its 
good name, the beneficence of its members, their business ability, and their social and 
generally useful qualities.