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Compiled by John H. Wheeler Published in 1903 by B. F. Bowen Biography Page 181 - 182 |
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CHARLES H. DRURY
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The popular citizen and enterprising business man whose name furnishes the caption of this article needs no formal introduction to the people of Cadillac and Wexford county. For a number of years identified with the commercial interests and always taking an active part in promoting the welfare of the public, he has risen to a high place in business circles, besides earning the reputation of one of the county's broad minded, progressive men of affairs. Charles H. Drury, president of the Kelley & Drury Hardware Company of Cadillac, is a native of Michigan, born July 18, 1848, in the city of Detroit. His father, Nathaniel Drury, was an artist and for many years followed scenic painting in various parts of the United States, visiting many of the largest cities in the course of a singularly brilliant and successful professional career. He was a man of fine attainments and high social standing and excelled in the calling to which his life and energies were mainly devoted. He died some years ago in the city of New Orleans, whither he had been called in the line of his work. The maiden name of the subject's mother was Sarah A. Kress. She was born in Penn Yan, New York, bore her husband two children, and departed this life in Adrian, Michigan, which place she was making her home at the time of her death. Charles H. Drury spent his early years in the city of Adrian and after receiving a good practical education in the public schools began life for himself as a clerk in a hardware house, a line of business for which he displayed unusual aptitude and in which his abilities as a salesman soon became manifest. From 1862 until 1879 he followed clerking, principally in the city of Adrian, but in August of the latter year came to Cadillac and accepted a position in the hardware house of Cloud & Mitchell, where he remained a few months, resigning his place in the spring of 1880 for the purpose of engaging in the same line of trade for himself in partnership with Frank C. Sampson. Messrs. Sampson & Drury soon became the leading hardware dealers in Cadillac and the firm as originally constituted lasted about ten years, at the expiration of which time A. W. Newark purchased Mr. Sampson's interest and became the subject's business associate under the style of Newark & Drury. Under this joint management the business continued during the ensuing five years, when Mr. Newark sold out to F. B. Kelley, thus forming the Drury & Kelley Hardware Company, and as such it has since existed. It is not only the largest and most successful hardware firm in Cadillac, but one of the most enterprising partnerships of the kind in the northern part of the state. The company commands an extensive local and general trade and is widely known in commercial circles, enjoying exceptional standing with the leading business agencies of the country, and the remarkable advancement made since its organization may be taken as an earnest of a still larger and more prosperous career in the future. Mr. Drury is easily one of the leading men of Cadillac and as such occupies a conspicuous place in the estimation of his fellow citizens. He takes a lively interest in whatever tends to advance the material growth of the city, supports with a liberal hand all worthy enterprises having for their object the social and moral welfare of the community and his influence has ever been exerted on the right side of all local issues. His career has been one of continued activity, attended in the main by remarkable business advancements and financial prosperity. He is essentially progressive in all he undertakes and, endowed with the ability and tact to mould circumstances to suit his purposes. His success in rising superior to adverse conditions and mounting to his present high and honorable position in the world of affairs indicates a power such as few possess. The domestic chapter in the history of Mr. Drury has been one of almost ideal character, but it is not for the writer to lift the veil from the sacred precincts where much of his inspiration, courage and confidence have been born and in which the grace and dignity of noble womanhood, the devotion of motherhood and the charm of childhood shine with such peculiar luster. Suffice to say, however, that on the 24th day of January, 1871 he was united in marriage with Miss Alice C. Webster, the accomplished daughter of Orange Webster, of Cadillac, a union resulting in the birth of three children, the oldest of whom, Margaret, is now the wife of Charles Gibson, the other two, Edwin C. and Franklin, still being members of the pleasant home circle. Mrs. Drury is a lady of refinement and gracious presence, taking an active interest in the social, church and benevolent life of her home town and holding the appreciative regard of all who come within her kindly and helpful influence. In addition to his large and constantly growing business affairs, Mr. Drury has long been a factor in the public concerns of Cadillac, having served acceptably as treasurer of the city, besides doing much in other than official capacities to promote its material progress. He is also connected with the People's Saving Bank, of which he is now vice-president, and he is now president of the Cadillac Can Manufacturing Company, a large business enterprise with which he is identified and for the success of which lie has put forth such strenuous and faithful efforts. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and religiously belongs with his wife to the Methodist Episcopal church. The foregoing review of the life of one of Cadillac's enterprising business men and prominent citizens is necessarily general in character and scope. To enter fully into all the interesting details of his career, touching the struggles of his youth and young manhood and the success of later days, would require an article far in excess of the limits of this review. Enough has been submitted, however, to prove that he is entitled to a first place in the ranks of the determined, energetic, self-made men of Michigan, whose enterprise and unswerving honor have wrought from the wilderness a state second to none in the grand constellation comprising our proud national union, and to show that he fully merits the high esteem in which he is held by the people among whom his lot has been cast. |