Description
Thomas Pilkington Purse (1802-1872) was a Savannah merchant, railroad official, and church and civic leader. He was the first superintendent, and for 25 years a member of the Board of Directors for the Central Railroad and Banking Company of Georgia. He is credited with developing railroad time schedules. He was a city alderman, state senator, U.S. Appraiser of Customs, and a Civil War mayor of Savannah. He married twice, and was the father of 16 children. He is buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery. The large memorial window at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension is dedicated in his memory. His active and useful life spanned a time of great expansion in Savannah as well as one of war, tragedy, and Reconstruction.
Publication Date
Spring 1986
Recommended Citation
DeBolt, Margaret W., "Thomas Purse, Sr" (1986). Savannah Biographies. 126.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sav-bios-lane/126
