Charles Burleigh Purvis public schools in DC. Purvis married Ann Hathaway on April 13, 1871. They had two children; Alice who became a physician and Robert who became a dentist. Purvis died in Los Angeles, California, on December 14, 1929. Charles Burleigh Purvis Charles Burleigh Purvis (April 14, 1842 – December 14, 1929) was a physician in Washington, D.C. He was among the founders of the medical school at Howard University. He was the first black physician to attend a sitting president when he attended President James Garfield after he was shot by an assassin in 1881, he was the first black physician
Charles R. Skinner in Washington D.C. in 1882, and had been asked to attend the execution of Garfield's assassin, Charles Guiteau, but was unable to attend due to the illness of his daughter. He was invited to Czolgosz's execution by the warden of Auburn Prison, and attended as one of only twelve "official" witnesses to the execution as required by New York law. Less than two months after shooting McKinley, Czolgosz was executed on October 29, 1901 in Auburn Prison. Czolgosz was executed in the electric chair, an early usage of this new form of execution. Thomas Edison later re-enacted the execution in