Florida cemetery reveals man behind today's Drury High School in North Adams
Editor's note: This is the last in a summer-long series in which Advocate writer Judith Fairweather visits old cemeteries to try to dig up interesting tidbits of local history.
FLORIDA -- As I pondered my last Grave Matters column of the year, I found it only appropriate to bridge my time between my Advocate summer writing season with my return to my Drury High School classroom by finding the grave of Nathan Drury, founder of DHS.
Using the Berkshire Family History Association computerized Berkshire Index search tool in the local history department at the Berkshire Athenaeum in Pittsfield, I searched for both Nathan and his wife, Freelove, who are buried in the small Drury graveyard located on what was once their property in Florida.
In 1796, Nathan, who was born March 20, 1773, came to settle in the town of Florida from Temple, N.H. The first settler of Florida was Dr. Daniel Nelson, who arrived in approximately 1783, making Nathan one of the earliest settlers of the town.
According to "Over Pathways of the Past: Familiar Features of Our Valley -- How They Originated -- What Happened Along the Way" written by William B. Browne and published in the Transcript from Jan. 8 to May 28, 1938, Nathan "became a very large property owner and accumulated a modest fortune. He lived in the farmhouse still standing in the Drury District and is buried in the family burial lot near the house." Note this ran in 1938. I am unsure whether that farmhouse still stands in 2010.
Nathan lived there with his wife, Freelove, who was born in 1771. She received her own mention in "Forging of a New Mill Town: North and South Adams Massachusetts 1780-1860" written by Timothy Christopher Coogan in 1992. In discussing the changeover from a home-based to an industrial economy, Coogan cited the Berkshire American newspaper of North Village, which reported in the 1820s that Freelove, "wife of a prominent figure in educational reform in North Adams Š had done an enormous amount of domestic manufacturing in one year. Besides spinning and picking wool, she had 'hatcheled, carded and spun' 89 'runs' of tow and linen yarn.
"In addition to this she 'doubled and twisted 10 runs of yarn; spooled and quilled 237 runs; whitened 56 yards of cloth; knit 5 pairs of socks, 3 1/2 pair of stockings, and 4 pair of mittens; made 13 shirts, 4 pair of pillow-cases, 3 sheets, and 40 meal-bags.'"
Not much else could be found on either Nathan or Freelove, with the exception of two cards in the Shepard Card File, Florida, Mass., at the library. The librarian explained that these cards hold all sorts of vital statistics. The yellowing, brittle card I pulled out of the old-fashioned wooden card catalog drawer -- remember when we had to look up our books using the wooden drawers containing cards? -- with Freelove's name on it only said that Clarissa Hawks, born 1827, "lives with her," with another notation that was difficult to read. It looked like 1850 census, which would make sense, since Freelove died Jan. 15, 1851, at the age of 80. Perhaps Clarissa was her caregiver in the final years of her life.
Nathan's card contained the bequests in his will. Dated the day of his death (June 8, 1840), the card said Nathan had left Freelove the "home, furniture, livestock, $3,000 and resid." I can only surmise the last word was "residuals," meaning anything left over.
In addition, he left $1,000 to his nephew, Thomas H. Drury (Nathan and Freelove had no children); $1,000 to Mount Holyoke Fem. Instit. [sic], which was actually called Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, chartered as a teaching seminary in 1837 and the precursor to Mount Holyoke College; and $3,000 to establish Drury Academy. He also made bequests to his sisters Patty and Sally in the amounts of $10 and $5, respectively.
The writing on the card indicated the will was appealed by Patty and Sally on June 7, 1841. Also included were the following notations: RE 4925 and P 30,605. I theorize this might mean his real estate was valued at $4,925, and his property (cash and anything other than real estate) was worth more than $30,000. No wonder Patty and Sally were irritated.
In 1843, Drury Academy was built with that bequest of Nathan Drury. It was transformed into a free public high school in 1851. In 1867, the original building was torn down and replaced with a larger one. This building still exists as the home of the North Adams Public Schools administrative offices and the site of the now-closed Silvio O. Conte Middle School.
Our current building on South Church Street was built in 1976 during the open classrooms craze, but was renovated in 2001 to remake the school with traditional classrooms with walls -- thank God -- and update the electronic technology.
I approached the graves of Nathan and Freelove Drury with my usual reverence, but unlike all my other visits, I couldn't give them my undivided attention. The graveyard, off South County Road in Florida and marked with a beautiful sign, sits steps away from a pasture that was filled with cows. As the daughter of a retired small-animal veterinarian, I know a lot about many types of animals, but cows, not so much. As I approached the fenced-in plot, a massive cow lifted its head from its grazing and focused its unswerving gaze on me. A bit unnerved, despite the fact the pasture was surrounded by an electric fence, I kept one eye on the cow and the other on my work.
On the way home from my adventure, I stopped for a fabulous meal at the Golden Eagle Restaurant on the hairpin turn of Route 2. While I snapped pictures of the gorgeous sunset over the hills to the west, I offered up a silent thank you to Nathan Drury for his philanthropy. His bequest led to the creation of my school and thus to my place in the ranks of the DHS family. Honey, I'm home!
Until she once again dusts off her investigator's hat, you can read Judith Fairweather's education column, Time for Teacher, every third Thursday of the month. E-mail her at jfairweather@advocateweekly.com.