14 Nov. 1766–19 Aug. 1847
In 1797 Purviance was elected to the Kentucky legislature, where he served several terms, but was not elected as a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1799 because he opposed slavery and advocated gradual emancipation. As a member of the Cane Ridge Presbyterian Church he was deeply moved by the religious revival that began in the area in 1800. In 1804 he joined a group of ministers and laymen that withdrew from the Presbyterian church because they could not accept certain doctrines, especially predestination. Renouncing all creeds except the Bible, they adopted the name "Christian" and soon developed a new denomination known simply as the Christian church.
Purviance migrated to New Paris, Ohio, in 1807, where he established a church of this new denomination and served as its pastor for most of the rest of his life. He was first elected to the Ohio legislature in 1809, serving as state representative for one year and as state senator for six years (1810–16); he was again elected state representative in 1826. He worked to have a state penitentiary established, opposed laws restricting the rights of free blacks in Ohio, and supported the effort to have Miami University located at Oxford, Ohio, serving this institution as one of its trustees. In the 1840s he supported the Washingtonian temperance reform movement. He died and was buried near his home in New Paris, Ohio.