Woodford County Illinois - Biography of William Jury ***************************************************************************************** Submitted by Carol Genung. Copyright © 2008 through the current year. All rights reserved. Source: The Biographical Record of Livingston and Woodford Counties, Illinois; published in 1900 ***************************************************************************************** Prominent among the early settlers of Woodford county, Illinois, who have witnessed the marvelous development of this section of the state in the last half century, and who have, by honest toil and industry, succeeded in acquiring a handsome competence, and are now able to spend the sunset of life in quiet and retirement, is the gentleman whose name introduces this review. For many years he was successfully engaged in farming but is now living in retired life in Washburn. Mr Jury was born in Devonshire, England, December 26, 1828, and is a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Tanton) Jury, also natives of Devonshire, who in 1850 emigrated to the new world and took up their residence in Woodford county, Illinois. After spending two years in Cazenovia township, they removed to Linn township, where the father took up a tract of government land, to the improvement and cultivation of which he at once turned his attention, making it his home throughout the remainder of his life. He died on that place in 1872, and his wife passed away in Metamora township, in 1879, honored and respected by all who knew them. Their children were William, our subject; Elizabeth, who died in Cazenovia township, in 1850; Thomas, a resident of Washburn; and Mrs Mary Fulton, of Ford county, Illinois. The first fourteen years of his life William Jury passed in his native land, but in 1842 he set sail from Bideford, England, and after a long and tedious voyage of eleven weeks and three days landed at New York. He immediately came west, by the Great Lakes, to Chicago, and by wagon to Woodford county, Illinois, where he lived with an uncle for six years. He then returned to England, and came again to this country with the family in 1850. Since that time he has made his home uninterruptedly in Woodford county. The year of his arrival he bought land in Linn township and also took up a tract of government land, becoming owner of three hundred and twenty acres in that township, which he converted into a fine farm. There he made his home until his removal to Washburn in 1896. Being a skillful agriculturist and a man of excellent business and executive ability, he met with marked success in his farming operations, and besides the valuable property in Linn township, he owns over four hundred acres of well improved land in Cazenovia township. In 1857 Mr Jury was married in Peoria county, Illinois, to Miss Maria Radley, also a native of Devonshire, England, and to them were born six children, namely: Mary; Clara; William, deceased; Belle; Cora, deceased; and Clarence. Politically Mr Jury is identified with the Republican party, and was the first assessor of what is now Linn and Clayton townships. He also served as commissioner and school trustee of Linn township, and in early life took quite a prominent and influential part in public affairs. He was prominently identified with the organization of the county and of the townships of Linn and Cazenovia, and has ever borne his part in the work of progress and advancement. His career has been such as to gain for him the confidence and respect of all whom he has come in contact, and he justly merits the high regard in which he is held.