Jerningham Drury (b. 1765 - d. 1826)
MSA SC 5496-047803
Property Owner, Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Biography:
Jerningham Drury was a farmer in Lothian, Maryland. Drury was born February 8, 1765 to Charles and Mary Birkhead Drury of Maryland. Drury married Sarah Hill (Daughter of Abel Hill), April 14, 1790 and together they had five children Sophia (b. 1791), Abel Hill (b. 1793), Mary (b. 1794), Jerningham (b. 1797), and Sophia K. D. (b. 1799). Sarah Hill Drury died October 12, 1800 leaving Jerningham Drury a single father. He married a second time Sarah Simmons (b. 1778) September 29, 1801, and together they had six children, Richard (b. 1805), Susannah (b. 1807), Mary (b. 1812), David (b. 1814), Ann Maria (b. 1819), and Eliza (b. 1822). The Drury's were members of the St. James church in Lothian, MD. The family resided on the property Birkheads Parcell and Birkheads Meadow, which Drury purchased in 1799. In November 1804 Jerningham Drury, represented by Phillip Barton Key, brings a Bill of Complaint on behalf of himself and his son Abel Hill Drury (a minor) against the heirs of Susannah Hill, Abel, Joseph, and Morgan Hill (also minors). The court dismisses the case November 12, 1804. The case is filed again and all parties involved agree to divide the land.
Drury worked as a surveyor and tobacco inspector at Tracy's Landing. Like others of this period, Drury was a slave owner and owned at least 23 slaves in his lifetime. Drury kept a diary which lists expenses, court cases and fees, the births and anticipated manumission dates of enslaved African Americans. During the 1790 census Jerningham Drury owns six slaves. In 1805 he placed a runaway ad for his slave Will Hawkins , and another slave Jack Offer was committed as a runaway in 1809 by the Sherrif of Anne Arundel County. Will Hawkins was manumitted by Drury in December 1805. In 1820 Drury declared his slave Sarah to be freed on the first day of January 1823 by manumission and made provisions for her two sons Richard and Thomas to be freed in 1843 and 1845. Drury willed his slave girl Matilda to his daughter Sophia Drury Childs. Matilda is the only slave of Jerningham Drury mentioned in his last will and testament. Drury also makes mention of Matilda in his diary, stating that she is to be manumitted in June 1828.
Jerningham Drury died June 11, 1826 and is buried at The Orchards in Lothian, Maryland. In his last will and testament Jerningham Drury devised a portion of his propertyto his son Abel Hill Drury and that part of his property which he lived on to his three daughters Susanna, Mary, and Ann Maria Drury to be sold and equally divided among them. In April 5, 1838, Richard Drury, son of Jerningham, was appointed trustee to sell and convey the property by decree of the High Court of Chancery in the state of Maryland. The property was conveyed to Sarah Drury (widow of Jerningham Drury) by Richard Drury, May 3, 1839.
Return to Jerningham Drury's Introductory Page
|
Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!
|