In the spring of 1834 Silas Drury and father, accompanied by a cousin, Charles Drury, and J. P. Reynolds, arrived. Silas Drury entered a piece of land, where he built a cabin and lived until he sold out to Daniel Noble, when he moved to Rock Island county, town of Drury, which bears his name. He then built a large mill on Copperas creek, familiarly known to all the old settlers as Drury's mill.
Mr. Drury's father, Charles Drury, and J. P. Reynolds did not remain long in Illinois, but took passage on board a steamboat at New Boston on their way back to Indiana by way of Cincinnati.
Reynolds returning the same season lived with Dr. Reynolds until the following spring of 1835, when he was married to Miss Hettie Elliott, formerly from Morgan county, Indiana. This was the first marriage in the township, which event is distinctly remembered from the circumstance that followed. Reynolds died in just four weeks after the wedding day, and was buried in Eliza cemetery.
Charles Drury, returning in the fall of 1835, was also married to Miss Nancy Prentice, who died eleven months after. He then moved to Rock Island county and studied medicine with Dr. Reynolds, after which he married Mrs. Eliza McGreer, moved back and practiced medicine throughout the township, living upon what is known as the E. W. Mardock farm. He quit the practice of medicine in 1851 and moved to Oregon.
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Submitted by Mary Lou Schaechter
To the Drury family is also due the establishment of several mills, Isaiah and Silas Drury building a grist-mill, a sawmill and a Wool-carding machine, quite a novelty in those days, on Copperas creek, as early as 1837.
To these mills, operated by water power, came the settlers from miles around, carrying their grain on horse-back, or in flat-boats, if they made the trip by water.
Going to the mill was a journey those days, and often was used as a reward of merit, to be bestowed upon the best worker on the family farm.
Submitted by Mary Lou Schaechter