Purcell community honors roots with memorial dedication
PURCELL, Mo. — Families and community members dedicated a new piece of history in honor of John Purcell in Purcell, Missouri.
“I knew I had roots here, but without any visible sign. It’s sort of it’s like, well, where where are they?” said Ronald Deutch and Pamela Slutz, dedicated John Purcell memorial.
That’s Ronald Deutch. Since 2020, he and his wife Pam Slutz have tried digging into Deutch’s family history, in effort to learn more about the Purcell name on his mother’s side.
“We thought for many years that I was Scottish because my mother thought we were from originally from Scotland, but that proved to be an error. We’re actually Irish roots,” said Ronald Deutch and Pamela Slutz.
After doing more digging into those roots, that’s when he found out about his great great grandfather-John Purcell, the first member of the Purcell family to settle on a farm in Purcell, Missouri.
But after finding out there was not a tombstone with that name in Purcell, Deutch and his wife wanted to change this.
“He had an ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War and it was through a wife, actually his ancestor who’s buried well, buried on the family farm, whose tombstone we’re dedicating today,” said Ronald Deutch and Pamela Slutz.
Originally John Purcell and his two of wives were buried on the family farm, they settled on.
In 1903, Purcell Missouri was founded and named by James Frederick Purcell, Purcell’s son.
But Saturday morning, he and his wife decided to dedicate a memorial at the Purcell Friends Cemetery where he felt it belonged.
“Being a Purcell and having the town Purcell within the area. We all have this connection to it, whether we actually know each other or not,” said Paul Purcell, attended with his family.
Families like Paul Purcell’s and community members gathered for the memorial dedication sharing history, and telling the history of John Purcell and how he made his way to Missouri.
“I think those are stories that will stay with us for the rest of our lives and we’ll continue to share them,” said Paul Purcell.
Guests also watched the unveiling of the official tombstone which now sits in the Purcell Friends Cemetery.
Families and town members were also given the opportunity to put down their own roots with fresh soil in front of the tombstone from the farm where John Purcell and his two wives were buried.
“To me, it was an emotional experience of kind of finally putting my roots down in this in this city,” said Ronald Deutch and Pamela Slutz.
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