MILLS NEVEL DRURY

	1757	NORTH CAROLINA
		DELILAH DUKE
	CHILDREN	CHARLES NEVEL DRURY DELILAH DRURY Margaret Drury
	PARENTS	CHARLES DRURY MARTHA NEVILLE
	1819	CAMDEN COUNTY, GEORGIA
Mills Drury, was the son of Charles Drury, and his wife, Martha. Martha's maiden name is not known at the present time. However, her maiden name may have been Nevil or Nevill because this was the Mills Drury's middle name which he gave to the Catholic priest when his son Charles Nevel Drury was baptized in 1790. This same middle name of "Nevills" was given as the middle name of Mills Drury's son, Charles and his daughter, Margaret. The surname "Nevels, Neville, etc. " is also in Halifax County, North Carolina. 791- (276) MILLS DREWRY of Halifax Co. To Benjamin McCulloch of same. 2 Oct. 1775. 50 pounds Virginia money. 137 acres which Charles Drewry decd. had willed to his son sd Mills Drewry, on east side of Little Swamp, joining Alex. McCulloch, Charles Drewry. Mills Drewry (signed). Wit. S. Stokes, Alex. McCulloch. Nov. Ct. 1779, CC Ben McCulloch. (The above deeds are found in "The Deeds of Halifax County, North Carolina 1771-1786" US/Ca n 975.648 R2b v. 2 located in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah) Mills Drury married Delilah Duke, the daughter of Joseph and Mary Duke, of Bute County, North Carolina , before 1778, He is listed in the will of Joseph Duke as the husband of his daughter, Delilah Duke. This will is dated 11 Jan. 1778. This was the time of the American Revolution when the colonies rebelled against English rule and many families were divided in their loyalty. The Drury family was also divided. Henry Drury fought for the Americans against the English. Mills Drury favored English rule and became a loyalist. Pay abstracts found in the book: "Loyalists in the Southern Campaign, dating from 1780 through December of 1782, show that Mills Drury was a private in Major Daniel Plummer's Regiment, Fair Forest Militia, Ninety-Sixth Brigade in 1780. Pay Abstract #134, Col. Thomas Pearson's Regiment, Little River Militia, for the period of 60 days service from 7 March -5 May 1782, shows that a Lieutenant Robert Taylor was reduced in rank and left the regiment. Mills Drury was promoted from private to lieutenant and took Robert Taylor's place in the regiment. Mills Drury served bravely but England lost the war and Pay Abstract #167, Colonel Thomas Pearson's Regiment, Little River Militia, Ninety-Sixth Brigade, Charlestown, South Carolina. 148 days pay, 6 August -31 Dec. 1782 shows Mills Drury there in Charleston, South Carolina when the war ended. Because of his military involvement and because he was a loyalist, he and his wife and two children were forced to leave the United States. He chose to go to East Florida which was then under English rule. As a result, he and his family were placed on an English ship and brought to East Florida. The 1783 census of East Florida states that Mills Drury had a wife and two children and lived on the St. Johns River. He is listed together with his wife and two children as a South Carolina refuge, "South Carolina Refugees in East Florida, A Return of Refugees with their families and Negroes, Who Came to the Province of East Florida on the Evacuation of the Province of South Carolina, received from Gen. Leslie, 15 July 1783; micro filmed from the original in the East Florida Papers, British Public Records Office by the University of Florida. This information was found in the Georgia Genealogy Magazine, Vol. 34, no. 1-2 (131-132), page 146 (975.8 B2gg). In 1783, Florida was again returned to Spanish rule under the Treaty of Paris. Again, these settlers were faced with the decision of whether to stay and begin a new way of life or to leave and begin over in a new location. If they chose to stay, the settlers had to show their loyalty to Spain by "availing of Spanish protection" or retire (leave). Mills Drury chose to stay. As a result, two of his children were baptized into the Catholic faith. Parish records at the Cathedral in St. Augustine show that on 11 May 1790, Mills Drury and his wife had a son and a daughter baptized into the Catholic faith: Carlos Nevel Drury, son of Mills Nevel Drury and Patty Drury of North America, now residents of the Nassau River of this province. His age was 5 years. Margarita Nevel Drury, two years old, daughter of Mills Nevel Drury and Patty Drury of North America, now residents of the Nassau River of this province. We do not know why Mills Drury's wife was listed by the nick name of "Patty" since we know that her given name was "Delilah" based upon the will of Delilah Duke's father, Joseph Duke. Delilah Duke did have a younger sister named "Martha" who was called "Martha" in Joseph Duke' s will and called "Patty" in the will of their mother, Mary Duke. This Martha "Patty" Duke was still single and a minor in North Carolina when Mary Duke made her will in Feb. 1789 which was recorded in Warren County, North Carolina. Martha (Patty) Duke married Joshua Bobbitt . Matthew Duke was a first cousin of Martha Duke. The Bobbitts, Matthew Duke and the Joseph Duke family were adjoining neighbors. Matthew had no sister or daughter by the name of Martha and he was the "friend" appointed by Joseph Duke to be an executor of his estate. On several occasions Matthew Duke acted in behalf of Joseph Duke after the death of their father in 1779. Charles Nevel Drury who was called "Carlos Nevel Drury" in his baptismal record was five years old in 1790. Thus he would have been born about 1785 after his parents arrived in East Flor ida. His sister, Margaret who was called "Margarita Nevel Drury" in her baptismal record was 2 years old in 1790. So Margaret was born about 1788 in East Florida. Since Martha (Patty ) Duke, the sister of Delilah Duke was still single in 1789 and married in 1806, she could not have been the parents of the Charles Nevel Drury and Margaret Nevel Drury. It is possible that Delilah Duke was also nicknamed "Patty". Sometime before 1800, Mills Drury and his family crossed the St. Marys River and moved to Camden County, Georgia. Mills Drury is listed as a registered voter in Camden County on 3 Oct. 1 803. Spanish land grant records show Mills Drury, Jr. claiming the 300 acres at Drury on the Nassau River about four miles from its head as heir of Mills Drury, Sr. The survey and plat by Pedro Marrott is dated 7 April 1792. Mills, Jr. apparently went back to Florida from Camdenand claimed this early land of his father's. Three hundred acres of land was surveyed for Mills Drury on 10 February 1817 in Camden County , Georgia. The land was on a branch of the Satilla River and Post Road runs through the property. This would put it in the vicinity of Owens Ferry today. (Land Plats Book F, 1816, 1837 , Page 2) 25 January 1835, Charles N. Drury, Daniel Atkinson, John Taylor and Henry Miller, the heirs of Mills Drury, Sr. sold to Hugh Brown land lying on the north side of the Satilla River containing 300 acres, originally granted to Mills Drury for $350.00 (Book M, p. 233). Mills Drury died in Camden County, Georgia about 1819 because the confirmed deed to the East Florida grant was confirmed 19 Nov. 1819 (Con. D23; DG V67) to Mills Drury, Jr. for himself and others, heirs of Mills Drury, Sr. shows that Mills Drury, Sr. was dead at that time. Delilah Duke, the wife of Mills Drury probably also died in Camden County, Georgia but when she died has not been established.

DRURY