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Library of Virginia
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Drewry Family Papers, 1868-1998. Accession 51766. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Purchased.
Patrick Henry Drewry was born in Petersburg, Virginia on 24 May 1875. He graduated from Randolph-Macon College in 1896, and then studied law at the University of Virginia. Drewry was admitted to the bar in 1901 and commenced practice in Petersburg, and was in partnership with Charles T. Lassiter (1870-1930). He was also a director of the Petersburg Savings and American Trust Company. He served in the Virginia State Senate from 1912 to 1920, and was a delegate to the Democratic State Conventions in 1912, 1916, 1920, and 1924, and the Democratic National Convention in 1916. He married Mary Elizabeth Metcalf (1871-1959). Drewry was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Walter A. Watson (1867-1919), and served from 27 April 1920 until his death on 21 December 1947.
His son, John Metcalf "Jack" Drewry was born on 23 December 1911 in Petersburg. He attended Randolph-Macon College and the University of Virginia, and practiced law in New York City. In 1939, he moved to Washington DC, where he served as chief counsel of the U.S. Maritime Commission until 1947. He then served as counsel and chief counsel to the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee until 1969. John M. Drewry married 1) Nancy Tucker Wilson (1912-1995), the daughter of James Southall Wilson and Julia Gardiner Tyler, on 22 December 1938. They divorced in 1950. He married 2) Judith_____ (b. 1927). John Metcalf Drewry died in Alexandria on 18 January 1978.
Papers, 1868-1998, of Patrick Henry Drewry (1875-1947) of Petersburg, Virginia, and his son John Metcalf Drewry (1911-1978) of Alexandria, Virginia. The bulk of the collection covers the years 1910 to 1960.
This collection is arranged into the following series:
I. Correspondence. II. Subject Files.Topics of the correspondence include invitations and speaking engagements, Petersburg history, and the marriage of John M. Drewry to Nancy Tucker Wilson in 1938.
The subject files include clippings, greeting cards, information on President Franklin D. Roosevelt's judicial reorganization proposal, invitations to keel layings and launchings of numerous ships, materials relating to the reorganization of Petersburg city government in 1917, memorial addresses delivered in Congress upon the death of the Rep. Drewry, photographs, programs, and research notes on Petersburg history, especially Fort Henry, and notable citizens in the area. There are also 11 scrapbooks on Petersburg's history, as well as essays, poetry, literature, and cases in which Rep. Drewry was involved when he was practicing law.