My Genealogy Hound

JOHN D. BURY, deceased, an early pioneer and honored citizen of Berrien County, Mich., emigrated from Canada with his parents about 1834, and located in the then wilds of the State, from that time his permanent home. His father, a native of England, was educated in the profession of medicine in Ireland and, a man of intelligence and marked ability, came to America with his wife, settling immediately in Pennsylvania. After coming here he followed the trade of millwright, but was a resident of the East when our subject was born, August 18, 1804, in Pennsylvania. The mother, after a time revisiting the home of her childhood, died on the ocean. The father married a second time, in Pennsylvania, and then removed to Canada, where he passed away, leaving a family of fourteen children by his second wife. Mr. Bury received his education in Canadian schools and there attained to manhood, marrying Miss Betty Green, who became the mother of three children: Freeman G., George F., and Betty, who married James Caldwell, one of the oldest settlers in the county, now deceased. Mrs. Betty (Green) Bury did not survive her marriage many years, and a second time our subject entered the bonds of matrimony, wedding Miss Fannie Byers, born in Byersville, Livingston County, N. Y. She met her husband while on a visit to relatives in Bainbridge Township.

This union was blessed by the birth of three children: C. B., of Benton Township; John D.; and Elsie I., who resides with her mother in Benton Harbor. Upon his first arrival in the State of Michigan Mr. Bury worked at his trade of a carpenter in Mottville and other places, and first settled in St. Joseph in 1835. In 1837 he located in the dense woods of Berrien County, and with energy and determination cleared a part of eighty acres. Prospering through his own unaided efforts, he accumulated property, and at one time owned six hundred and forty-four acres in Benton Township and one hundred and twenty acres in Hagar Township, besides other tracts of land. Possessing excellent business ability, our subject speculated in lands extensively and successfully and was widely known as a man of enterprise and sagacity. Politically, he was a strong Democrat and the only one in the township for a number of years. He was one of the chief organizers of the township, and during his long residence was known as a liberal and public-spirited citizen, ever ready to assist in matters of mutual welfare, and with generous heart extending aid to those less fortunate than himself. His death was a public loss and he was mourned by all his fellow-townsmen.

John D. Bury, youngest son of our subject, an able general agriculturist and breeder of fine horses of the Cleveland Bay stock, was born in 1864, on the old Benton Township farm and in the house where he now resides. He enjoyed the opportunities for a good common-school education and reached mature years self-reliant and energetic. He was united in marriage at the age of twenty-four years, December 11, 1887, to Miss Annie Lynch, being then engaged in the management of the two hundred and sixty-four acres of the family homestead. He now owns eighty-four acres of valuable land, one-half of which he has himself brought under cultivation, and his wife also owns thirty-six acres. In 1891 Mr. Bury first gave a portion of his time to handling his magnificent horse “Heslington,” a Cleveland Bay, imported by Banks Clauser, of La Porte, Ind., No. 687 — in American books No. 1348. Although much occupied with business, our subject is an active member of the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons of the lodge at Benton Harbor. Like his father, he is a Democrat and, ever interested in local and national issues, gives his hearty support to the “Party of the People.” One child, a son, named in honor of his father and paternal grandfather John D., a manly and promising little boy, has brightened the pleasant home, the abode of hospitality, within whose walls have gathered many of the old settlers, friends of a lifetime, tried and true. Mrs. Bury is a member of the Catholic Church of Benton Harbor.