Part of the Indiana Biographies Project
Isaac N. Drury
A plain and unassuming and highly-respected citizen is Isaac N. Drury, the well-known contractor and bridge-builder of Richmond, Indiana. He was born in Canton, St. Lawrence county. New York, April 17. 1832. a son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Van Allen) Drury, who were well-to-do and prosperous farming people of St. Lawrence county.
Isaac N. Drury was reared a farmer and received a common-school education. At the age of eighteen he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed as a journeyman till twenty-five years of age. In 1853 he came west as far as Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained for two years, during which time he was engaged in building bridges over the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and in 1855 assisted in the construction of the Indiana Central and Dayton & Western roads, now a part of the Pennsylvania system. He also had charge, as foreman, of the bridge-building between Indianapolis and Dayton. In 1860 he was employed in contracting for and building railroad and highway bridges, going from that into general contracting, which he has since followed. In 1873 he located in Richmond, Indiana, where he still resides, doing business as a contractor, and employing from twenty-five to fifty men.
In 1859 Mr. Drury was married to Frances L. Northrop, daughter of Nathaniel and Roxyana (Lincoln) Northrop, of Rutland county, Vermont. They have one child. Ahce, who married F. J. Correll. a prominent tobacco and cigar merchant of Richmond.
The Drury family is possessed of quite a bit of interesting history. The father, who was born in Pittsford, Rutland county, Vermont, of Irish extraction, was a lineal descendant of Hugh Drury, who came from England to this country some two hundred years ago, and whose ashes now lie in King Chapel cemetery. It is also claimed that all people bearing the name of Drury are descendants of this Hugh Drury.
Isaac Drury, the father of our subject, grew to manhood in his native county and there learned the tailor's trade, which he abandoned later to become a tiller of the soil in St. Lawrence county. New York. He married Miss Elizabeth Van Allen, who was of old Holland-Dutch stock, and daughter of John Van Allen, whose wife was born in 1801 and died in 1871. Mr. and Mrs. Drury had a family of four sons and three daughters, all of whom, excepting Isaac N., are living in St. Lawrence county, New York. The children are as follows: Juliett Holt; Charles H., a farmer; Mary S. Smith; Isaac N.; Benjamin F., for thirty-five years a well known and successful practitioner of medicine in St. Lawrence county; Sarah Stacy; and Albert F., also a farmer. Isaac Drury was an active, earnest member of the Congregational church, in politics was a Whig, and was a man of sterling integrity and high principles. His death occurred in his native county in 1865, at the age of sixty-five.
While speaking of the history of this family we must not forget Calvin Drury, the grandfather of Isaac N. He was a Vermonter by birth and an extensive farmer by occupation, having spent his entire life in that state, and having been twice married. He was an active and influential member of the Congregational church, of which he was at one time secretary. He was also called upon to fill the office of township trustee, and in politics gave his support to the Whig party.
Isaac N. Drury is known in politics as a quiet and unobtrusive Republican, and socially is connected with Richmond Lodge, No. 196, F. & A. M.; Richmond Chapter, No. 4, R. A. M.; King Solomon's Commandery. No. 8, K. T. He is a very successful business man, and one to be thoroughly relied upon.
Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899