Henry County AlArchives Biographies.....Drewry, John W. March 31 1860 - living in 1893
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Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 26, 2004, 10:03 pm

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
   JOHN W. DREWRY, capitalist and cotton buyer of Dothen, and one of the leading
business men of Henry county, was born at Spring Hill, March 31, 1860. He is a
son of John W. and Elizabeth (Etheridge) Drewry, the former of whom was born in
Georgia in 1827, and came to Eufaula in 1867. He has lived there ever since,
constantly engaged in his practice as a physician and surgeon. The mother of
John W. Drewry is a native of Georgia, and still survives. John W. Drewry grew
up in Barbour county, had the advantages of the common school, and early entered
the employ of his uncle, William H. Grice, at Eufaula, where he learned the art
of classifying and buying cotton, remaining in his uncle's employ until he had
accumulated sufficient means to pay tuition for a term at school. In 1879 he
entered the university of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, and at the end of three years,
graduated in five studies. He then entered the employ of his uncle, M. Grice, of
Eufaula, in buying cotton, and afterward became his partner in the manufacture
of brick. He continued thus engaged successfully for two years, and for five
years he was engaged in buying cotton. In 1887, he went to north Alabama and
engaged in the manufacture of brick there, in company with his brother, which
enterprise proved successful. After a sojourn in this part of the state he
returned to Eufaula, and in May, 1889, he located in the present town of Dothen,
where he has since continued to live. Here he engaged in his favorite
occupation, that of buying cotton, and was the first cotton buyer in the place,
and the founder of the business in Dothen. Previous to this time the cotton
produced in the county had to be conveyed to Columbia by wagons, there being no
railroad here, and the money paid out for it had to be sent to Columbia, and
thence by messenger throughout the country. The first year he was in business in
Dothen he bought 600 bales; the second year, 1,200, and the third year, 12,000,
showing a most gratifying increase in the business done at the new cotton
market. He is also engaged to a certain extent in the real estate business. He
has a large cotton ware-house, and since the advent of the railroad his
facilities for the handling of cotton have been largely increased, for he has
ample transportation for his goods. On January 19, 1888, he was married to Miss
Anna McDonald, the only surviving child born to John J. and Dora (Harris)
McDonald. The former is a wealthy planter of Georgia, farms on an extensive
scale, and is one of the well known figures in financial circles in Cuthbert,
where he lives, and where he is engaged in money lending. Mr. Drewry's wife was
born in Cuthbert, Ga., in 1869, grew to womanhood there, surrounded by the best
of educational facilities. She graduated from the Female college at Macon, Ga.,
in 1888. She was married at the age of nineteen years, and is the mother of two
children, Eva Gertrude and James McDonald. Mr. Drewry has seen Dothen grow from
a small hamlet of a few houses to a town of its present size and prosperity. He
has been instrumental in the up-building of all its industries, and was one of
the first to assist in the location of the compress here, which has a capital
stock of $30,000. In 1889, he erected his present handsome residence on Foster
street, which is built in modern style with all needed improvements. He is
recognized as one of Dothen's most active and prosperous business men, and is
now as actively engaged as at any previous time in his life. He has not
neglected to assist the church and schools to the extent of their needs, and his
ability, and in every duty of a citizen has set, and is setting, a good example.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 1085-1086
Published by
Brant & Fuller (1893)
Madison, WI

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