Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1889

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Muscatine County, Iowa, 1889, page 339
DR. CHARLES DRURY, a retired physician and prominent pioneer of Muscatine County, Iowa, of 1836, was born in Wayne County, Ind., Oct. 23, 1814, and is a son of Samuel and Anna ( Reynolds ) Drury, who were natives of Pennsylvania, and who at an early day left that State and emigrated to Ohio, locating in Pickaway County, where they made their home for a few years, and in 1811 removed to Wayne County, Ind. Samuel Drury was a soldier in the War of 1812, serving as a ranger under Gen. Taylor, and was one of the party to escort him from Louisville, Ky., to Vincennes, Ind., the headquarters at that time. Their family consisted of four children : A. Julia married George Raines, who died in Indiana, while she died in Kansas; Emily, wife of Wesley Harper, a resident of Minneapolis, Minn.; Charles, of this sketch; Anna, who died at the age of twenty years. In his political sentiments the father was a Whig. Both parents died in Indiana.

The days of his boyhood and youth of our subject were passed in his native State, and his education was received in the pioneer log school-house so common in that day, with its puncheon floors, rude benches and immense fireplace. After the death of his father he was thrown upon his own resources for a living, and worked at any employment which he could find until in 1836, when he determined to cast his lot with the pioneers of Muscatine County, Iowa, and crossing the Missisippi River, made a claim in Moscow Township. In company with a man by the name of Webster he laid out the town of Moscow and sold a few lots, but in the spring of 1837 he sold his interest in the town site, and in 1841 commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Reynolds & Blake, the former his uncle. On the death of the latter gentleman he formed a partnership with Dr. Reynolds, with whom he continued to practice until 1844, when he removed to Illinois, prosecuting his profession in that State until 1850.

In the spring of 1845 Dr. Drury was united in marriage with Mrs. Eliza McGreer, nee Brandenberg, who was born in Ohio in 1811, but was reared in the State of Indiana. Previous to her marriage with Dr. Drury, she wedded William McGreer, and to them were born five children, three of whom are now living: John, now residing in Chicago; Rhoda, wife of Henry Murdock, of Rock Island Co., Ill.; and Mattie, wife of Henry Geiss, a druggist of Muscatine. The death of Mr. McGreer occurred in Illinois.

In 1851 Dr. Drury returned to Muscatine County, and became a resident of the city where he has since made his home. In 1852 he crossed the plains to California, where the cholera was then raging, and as he had a supply of medicine with him he relieved the sufferers as far as he was able. After two and a half years spent in that Western land he returned to Muscatine, where he engaged in the practice of his profession for many years, when he retired from active life. Politically he was a Whig in early life, but in 1856 voted for Buchanan, and has since supported the party of which he was a candidate. The Doctor is a man of sterling integrity, sound judgment and uncompromising honesty. As a citizen and pioneer he is held in the highest respect by all, and we are pleased to record his history with that of many other prominent pioneers of Muscatine County, in which a half-century of his life had been passed.

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