Page:Women of distinction.djvu/380

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WOMEN OF DISTINCTION.

CHAPTER LXXXIII.

MRS. C. L. PURCE.

(MATRON SELMA UNIVERSITY).

The subject of this sketch is the honored wife of Rev. Iv. C. Puree, D. D., President of Selma University, Selma, Alabama. Her maiden name was Miss Charlotte Cooper Sinkler. She is the eldest daughter of Mr. Paris Cooper Sinkler and Mrs. Tina Sinkler, and was born in Charleston, S. C. , August 4, 1855. She attended public and private schools in Charleston. Her mother and father dying while she was quite young, she was not only sister to her younger brothers and sisters, but acted the parents' part as well. She was baptized into the fellowship of the Morris Street Baptist Church in 1874 by Rev. Jacob Legare. In 1877 she went North and spent several years with relatives in Easton, Pennsylvania. On January 1, 1885, she was married to Rev. C. L. Purce, in Philadelphia, by Rev. Dennis, pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church. The couple then went to Selma, Ala., where they have been engaged ever since in doing what good they can to educate and elevate their people. She is the happy mother of one child, John William, who is seven years old. Mrs. Puree has been the matron of Selma University ever since her husband accepted the presidency in December, 1886. She is a devoted mother, an earnest wife and a perfect helpmate. Shoulder to shoulder with her husband she has done all in her power to lift up the moral tone and elevate the good name of the institution which has called out all her noble, womanly and queenly character. She has a