My Genealogy Hound

J. D. DRURY. One of the most industrious and most deserving citizens of the town of Gibbon, Buffalo county — a town noted for its many industrious and deserving citizens — is James DeLoss Drury, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Drury came to Buffalo county in October, 1871, since which time he has been a resident of the county, having passed through all the trials and hardships that the earlier settlers were called on to undergo, making his way, as most of them did, against great odds through many long years of patient toil and heroic endurance. Mr. Drury came to Nebraska direct from his native place, Erie county, Pa. His parents still reside in Erie county, his mother having been born and reared there and his father having passed all his maturer years there. His mother’s maiden name was Mary Ann Sheppard, being a daughter of Jacob Sheppard. His father, Peter Drury, was born in Wesleyville, N. Y., followed the business of a sailor on Lake Erie for some years, and afterwards settled in Erie county, Pa., where he married and has since resided. Only two children were born to these — William C. and James DeLoss, both now residents of the town of Gibbon, Buffalo county.

James DeLoss Drury was born April 19, 1850. He was reared in his native place, growing up on his father’s farm, receiving a good common school training and afterwards learning the trade of a barber. January 13, 1870, he married Miss Ida Ames, daughter of Alva Ames, of Erie county, Mrs. Drury being a native of that county and she and her husband having passed their younger days together as school-mates. Of the five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Drury, three are still living, viz. — Mabel A., born September 25, 1873; Dollie F., born August 31, 1875, and Willie V., born March 20, 1880. The two deceased were Lillian G., born December 25, 1870, in Erie county, Pa., and died April 8, 1879, and Gertrude, born December 9, 1877, and died July 13, 1879.

October 26, 1871, Mr. Drury took a homestead in the northwestern part of the township, filing on the northeast quarter of section 8, township 9, range 14 west, and after spending the winter of 1871-2 in Gibbon, he moved out on to his claim the following spring and began active operations as a farmer.

What has been said in this volume of the trials and hardships of numbers of other old settlers is true in an even greater degree of Mr. Drury. The first few years of his residence in Buffalo county were filled with struggles, often of an apparently hopeless nature, and nothing but the pluck, energy and endurance which he brought to bear in the contest would have brought him through them. His crops were swept away year after year either by the grasshoppers, hail or drouths. And then on top of these discouragements there came family sickness, extending through the long and wearisome months, ending at last with the visitation of the grim monster death, robbing him of two little ones, first pledges of his early married life. But Mr. Drury never gave up. He labored hard and trusted to the future. Oftentimes he would work all the week on the farm, turn his team out on Saturday afternoon, walk into Gibbon, six miles, and work till midnight at his barber’s chair, returning home in the early morning hours, frequently having to lie down by the wayside to rest, not reaching home till Sunday morning. Through such toils and hardships he labored for nearly ten years, slowly accumulating some means and reaching a position where he could in some degree become master of his circumstances. In the spring of 1882 he gave up his farm, bought property in Gibbon and went there to reside, his family following in August. His first step was to build, erecting at that date a building on the lot he had purchased, where he opened a barber shop and billiard room, since continuing at the same place and at the same business. He has improved his property, owning now one of the best business houses in the town, it being a two-story frame with a basement, located on Railroad street, opposite the Union Pacific depot. Mr. Drury has confined himself strictly to business, attending to his own personal affairs, and finding in so doing his greatest pleasure as well as his highest reward. He has many friends and is universally liked, being regarded as an energetic, progressive, hard-working man, who is deserving of the best that the future may have in store for him. He has a pleasant home — the good wife who gave up the home and friends of her youth to share his fortunes in the rugged life of the West still abiding with him and bearing him the cherished companionship which he sought with her hand.