My Genealogy Hound

JONAS DRURY. The life record of Mr. Drury discloses a career remarkable in many respects, and peculiar qualities of character among the greatest of which were kindness, charity, probity, and a keen observation of what was going on around him in the world. He had been identified with the history of Springfield, for many years before his death, having been a resident of the city since 1856. He was born March 13, 1810, at Temple, Me., and departed this life at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Georgie D. Runyan, in 1890, lacking only nineteen days of numbering his four-score years. With the exception of whitening his hair and rendering his steps less elastic, time had made but few inroads upon a form more than ordinarily vigorous and active. His immediate progenitor was the Rev. John Drury, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a Captain in the War of 1812, and at one time a member of the Maine Legislature. He gave to his son a good education, the latter completing his studies in the Maine Wesleyan Seminary.

In 1835 Jonas Drury repaired to Providence, R. I., where he followed the profession of a teacher several years. In 1840 he located in Aroostook County, Me., and as he had especially fitted himself for a civil engineer at college, he was now engaged by the State in surveying its northern portion. For thirteen years following, he was Judge of the Court of Commissioners. He devoted his time in the summer to surveying, and in the winter to lumbering. He led a hard and rugged life among the Maine woods, inhabited by wolves, bears, deer, elk, and other wild animals.

In the meantime Mr. Drury was married March 13, 1843, to Miss Lavina McCloud. There were born to them three children: Georgie, Mrs. Dr. Runyan, of Springfield; Josie, now Mrs. Williams, of New York State; Mary, Mrs. E. B. Reifsnider, of Springfield, all of whom are living. The wife and mother died in Cincinnati, October 10, 1885.

Mr. Drury had been reared by his honored father to sentiments of patriotism, and at an early period after the outbreak of the Civil War he responded to the call for volunteers, and gave his time and services to his country until the close of the conflict. In June, 1866, under the auspices of the Government, he took charge of a corps of men who engaged in the removal of Union soldiers from Southern battlefields to the national cemetery at Chattanooga, Tenn. He estimated that while thus engaged, and in the two years following, during which he was employed by the Government in examining the validity of claims, he walked over four thousand miles a year.

The changes of the seasons possessed for Mr. Drury a remarkable interest, and for the long period of sixty-five years, he kept a close and minute record of the weather, taking observations six times a day, permitting not even the strife of war to interrupt him in a single days observations. For this purpose he had various apparatus, pluviometers and barometers, making observations from the different forms of clouds, cirrus, cumulus and nimbus. He left chests full of weather records which are of almost inestimable value. When this habit became generally known he was in almost constant receipt of letters from parties who had lawsuits on hand in which the weather was the chief factor. In this manner several cases of litigation were settled which could scarcely have been done satisfactorily in any other manner. Finally, by special request, he furnished reports to the great dailies, including the Cleveland Leader , and the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. In order to further aid him in his observations, he invented several curious contrivances, one of which he called a “moon winder,” and which he used for ascertaining the location of the lunar sphere, which he always maintained had no little to do with the condition of the atmosphere.

In his duties in connection with the removal of the Union soldiers, Mr. Drury, for whom the matter possessed unalloyed interest, met with many interesting incidents. Upon one occasion he was desired to find the bodies of six Union soldiers who had been killed by rebels for capturing an engine, and trying to run away with it. He succeeded in his search, and the heroes now sleep in graves marked by monuments telling the story of their valor. During those days he made the acquaintance of LeCaron, the noted French spy. As a testimony of friendship, LeCaron one day drew Mr. Drurys salary and disappeared.

The life of Mr. Drury if written up in detail, would make an interesting volume. He was well known to nearly all the residents of Springfield, and a familiar figure on Center Street, where, during almost every afternoon in the summer, he would be found sprinkling the roadway. He was a man of high courage, and during his migrations to the South frequently traveled under the guise of a minister — a “hard-shell Methodist” as he called himself, and whose doctrine he told the people, was to “mind his own business, and to let other people’s business alone.” By adopting this policy, he escaped unmolested, although frequently engaged upon most dangerous missions, He was one of the most trusted employes of the Government, and faithfully did he fulfill the duties committed to him. His remains were followed to their last resting place by a large concourse of people among whom his name will be remembered for many years to come.