Purse was born in 1839 in
Savannah, Georgia, to Thomas Pilkington Purse, a
Virginia native, and Eliza Jane Gugel, of Savannah. He graduated academically from
Oxford College of Emory University in Atlanta and commercially from Duff's Business Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He "taught school, read law a short time," before beginning a commercial life in Savannah. Purse's most noted achievements are the development of
Tybee Island, from largely a desert into a popular summer resort, and the construction of the
Tybee Railroad over large sections of salt marsh. He was also extensively engaged in rice planting. Daniel Gugel Jr. (1869), Thomas (1874), Henry (1878), Charles (1880) and Clayton (1882). The seventh died in infancy in 1885. After the
Civil War, in 1866, he went into business with
Daniel Remshart Thomas (1843–1915), a fellow Savannahian. Three years later, the two men built a duplex on
Taylor Street in Savannah, now known as the Thomas-Purse Duplex, in
Monterey Square. The western half is now known as the
Thomas-Levy House, with Purse owning number 14 next door. He was a prominent member of Savannah's
St. John's Episcopal Church, and was a
Freemason. ==Death==