Courtney Drury was born in Wayne county, Indiana, November 23, 1820. He came to Mercer county, Illinois, with William Willits and family, in the fall of 1834. He remained with them for some time, and then sold goods for the firm of Drury & Willits. In 1842 he returned to his old home in Indiana, and went to school that fall and winter.
He was married April 12, 1842, to Ruth Willits, and removed to Mercer county, Illinois, in the fall of the same year. That winter he bought eighty acres of land, partly improved. He sold his farm in the winter of 1845, and the following spring moved to the village of New Boston.
Mr. Drury lost his wife February, 1847. He then returned to the State of Indiana, and spent the most of that summer there; then returned to New Boston, and, with James S. Thompson, purchased the mercantile establishment of Drury & Willits. The new firm conducted the trade of this house for eight years, at the end of which time they sold out, and Mr. Drury bought land near the village of New Boston, which he improved, and has engaged in farming and stock rising ever since.
Mr. Drury has made a specialty of breeding fine horses, and has had some of the best stock ever kept or owned in Mercer county. He has a passion for a fine horse, and gratifies it.
Editor's Note: New Boston is on the border of Mercer and Rock Island Counties.
History of Mercer County, Illinois, 1882
Pages 93-94
Submitted by Mary Lou Schaechter