The Purdy Family of Long Island

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The Purdy Family of Long Island

All of the following information as well as other "Purdy" family pieces on this site have been submitted by Alan E. Dinn Purdyboats@aol.com.
Alan is a Descendant of Francis Purdy and the historian of the Purdy Boat Company

    The name “Purdy”, together with variants such as Purdie and Purdue, originated as an “oath-name”, a nickname applied to a person who used a particular oath frequently. In this case, the oath was the Anglo-Norman pur Die, from the Old French p(o)ur Dieu, “by God.”
    The Purdy family that is the subject of these files came from Yorkshire, England, in the early years of the 17^th Century. Francis Purdy, the earliest known forbear of the family, was born there ca. 1562, and married Elizabeth ___ in 1581. Their son, John Purdy, and wife, Elizabeth Bradish, and their son Francis are believed to have emigrated to Concord, MA, ca. 1632. Francis later moved to Fairfield County, CT, where he married Mary Elizabeth Brundage. Over the next century or so, there came to be a large Purdy family in Fairfield County and adjacent Westchester County, NY.
At the time of the American Revolution, the Purdy family was split into several pieces. The “Patriot” branch remained in the New York City area, and eventually spread westward, while several “Loyalist” Purdy families were resettled in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Ontario.
    Some descendants of the “Patriot” Purdy family came to settle in Suffolk County, NY, in the 19^th Century, and their offspring are still found in the Amityville area. A group of descendants of one “Loyalist” Purdy family from Nova Scotia settled in Port Washington, Nassau County, in the 1920s and operated a boat yard there for some 50 years, where they designed and built custom power race boats and yachts. Offspring of that family are located in various Nassau and Suffolk communities.

*"Imp II," a Gold Cup Champion raceboat, built by the Purdy Boat Company of Port Washington in 1929*