Chester County dedicated a historic marker in Mifflin Friday. The marker reads, “Born 1798 in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, Colonel John Purdy came to Tennessee in 1819. During the 1820s he served as Surveyor-General of the Ninth Surveyor’s District, with his office – home in Mifflin, which he named in honor of his Pennsylvania home. In 1825 he platted the first McNairy County Seat, which he named Purdy. Appointed Postmaster at Mifflin in 1834, he served as a member of the Constitutional Convention in Nashville that same year. Colonel John Purdy died in 1838 and is buried in the Old Mifflin Cemetery, now Chester County.”
