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| Nannie Drewry 1852-1950 |
The Drewry's were an old and established family in Dresden Tennessee. I don't have the full connection yet for them to the Moran's but I do know that Nannie's sister Florence married John W. Blakemore and the Blakemore's are also related to the Moran's.
Nannie's parents were John Jay Drewry and Francis Bertha Swift and together they had at least six children. After the death of Francis in 1866 John Drewry married Kate Blakemore Bell. (another Blakemore connection there.)
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| Nannie Drewry bedecked in jewels |
Letter to John W. Moran from Nannie Drewry:
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| Nannie Drewry Lettery page |
Dresden Tenn.
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| Nannie Drewry page 2 |
Dear Mr. Moran:
I've gotten me a fresh tablet and you are to have the initial letter from it though I greatly fear a want of interest in its pages for I've been closely at home and have'nt seen my nearest neighbors for a month.
*Burns and Virginia have had the measles and **Sister has'nt, so I've made myself rather a prisoner. I believe I have been more frightened than She was. And so I have'nt seen ***Jim, except when he flies by for his breakfast, sometimes he goes by in a mad rush with the dogs leaping and barking around him and I feel gladly sympathetic when I see the door close on him, for I know he's hungry. *I believe she is referring to the children of Finis Garrett, Burns and Virginia Garrett. **She is probably referring to her sister, Florence Drewry Blakemore. ***Jim is probably Jim Moran, the eldest son of J.W. Moran.
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| Nannie Drewry page 4 |
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| Nannie Drewry page 3 |
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| Nannie Drewry page 5 |
Dresden is changed of course but I think its hardly as interesting. Miss Kitty is back but she has never recovered her strength and has cold after cold. ****Mrs Barr has been here since I wrote, she said she would see you on her return to Nashville. We can't find out whether they will be with us next summer or not, we hate to give them up. *****Mr Scott has not been well this winter but has kept at work. Miss Pat has gone out to Denver to see John for two months.
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| Nannie Drewry page 6 with her signature |
******J.W. Moran was probably spending time and recuperating in Nashville at the home of his daughter, Fannie Moran Ezzell.
Affectionately,
Nannie Drewry
Both John Jay Drewry and his daughters Nannie Drewry and Florence Drewry Blakemore are buried in Sunset Cemetery, Dresden Tennessee.
Here is John's Obituary from The Dresden Enterprise, Friday November 11, 1904:
On Sunday night November 6, at 12 o'clock, John J. Drewry departed this life, having been sick several weeks. Mr Drewry was eighty-three years of age and left two daughters, Mrs. Florence Blakemore and Miss Nany Drewry, and one son Horace Drewry, who resides in California surviving him. For many years he had been a citizen of Dresden and he was universaly loved.
His father was at one time U.S. Marshal in Nashville, and his grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Few men have made a better use of their opportunities and amassed a larger amount of general information than he. He had been a reader of history, poetry, and the classics since boyhood and a retentive memory stored away the learning thus accumulated, until he was, up to very recent years, a storehouse of general learning. No man has ever lived in Dresden who enjoyed a joke or ore keenly relished good wit than Mr. Drewry. His was a gentle and kindly life, and his love of nature and the beautiful in humanity made him an attractive figure amongst men. Many gems of verse have come from his pen, always to the delight of his friends. On numerous occasions, short poems written by him have found their way into print. His soul bubbled over with music and poetry and love. There were none who knew him but who were fond of his society and his charming stories.
He was a companion to his daughter, and made home happy for her all through the latter's years of his life, while bereft of others, to whom he was fondly devoted. At one time he was the register of Weakley County and made a splendid officer. Again, he did a kindness for the Confederate soldiers of Weakley County; while commissioner of registrations, after the war, that placed the veterans under great obligations of gratitude to him. There were few men like him, and the ever changing years, as they come and go, will not soon produce such a philosopher and kindly soul as left Dresden when the voice of John J. Drewry was hushed in the silence of death.
The funeral ceremonies were conducted by Bro. Russell at the late residence of the deceased, and in the presence of weeping relatives and friends, and he was buried by the hand of affection beneath a bank of beautiful flowers. The friends of his youth are all gone, and while tracing the shadows of life, the shadows of death fell on him, and his eyes closed to this earth forever. A sweet perfume will still linger about his precious memory, and hundreds who knew him here, and loved him, will be thankful for his life and happiness which he taught and illustrated to others.
God bless the children, and especially she (Nannie Drewry) who will set by the window and listen for the footfall that will never return, and watch for the sight of that good father who is gone.
