Drury Myra Boyce

My latest project was chosen simply because I thought the monument was unique and pretty!  I could only imagine once it was cleaned that it would be radiant.  

When I began to research Drury Myra Boyce Ward, I found that she lived an amazing life and her family happened to be very interesting too!  Drury Myra “Dru” was the youngest child of Drury Graydon and Phebe Myra Boyce.  Her parents had a total of 7 children, but sadly suffered the loss of 4 children after arriving in Mississippi from South Carolina.  When Dru was only 1, her father and namesake, Drury Graydon, died along with one of her brothers, Samuel Downs.  One of the interesting things that I came across was that Dru’s parents, two sisters, and two brothers are all buried in a small abandoned cemetery on private land in Tate County.   I hope to see that cemetery soon.  I’ll keep you posted on that!  I was also able to secure two personal letters written between her parents when her father was in Mississippi and her mother was still in South Carolina.  Not to mention, Dru’s brother-in-law, L.G. Woollard – I have his personal diary from the Civil War AND he was instrumental in getting the city of Senatobia incorporated.  (I have the letter sent to the governor which is signed by some very prominent Tate County figures)

Back to Dru’s life…

After Dru’s father passed away, her mother, Myra, was left to raise 3 girls on her own.  From census records, I have concluded that Drury Graydon Boyce was quite wealthy which helps me assume that Myra was able to care of her family rather well.  Myra got remarried to L.C. Davis in 1858.  Together, they helped shape and mold 3 highly intriguing women.  

Dru was a very accomplished woman.  At the age of twelve, she joined the Methodist Church and was devoted to her church. She was an officer of the Foreign Missionary Society and was a very passionate proponent of spreading the gospel of Christ through mission work.  In 1872, Dru graduated from the State Female College in Memphis, Tennessee where she studied instrumental piano and wax flowers.  I would think that a young woman that attended and graduated from college in the 1870s was quite an accomplishment.

Dru lost her mother, Myra, during the 1878 Yellow Fever epidemic that struck North Mississippi.  Sadly, she had lost her step-father the year prior in 1877.  According to census records, Dru lived with her sister and brother-in-law, Lizzie and L.G. Woollard as a young adult.  In addition, it was probably rather strange for the time period, but Dru remained single waiting patiently for the right man.  In 1904, she married Captain Robert F. Ward.  She was 51 years old.  According the September 4, 1904 edition of the Commercial Appeal, “No wedding of recent date in our little town aroused so much interest.”  The article described the couple of “being members of the oldest and most aristocratic families of Mississippi.”  After the wedding, Dru moved to Crittenden County, Arkansas where her new husband was the Chancery Clerk.  

The couple enjoyed a blissful life for several years until tragedy struck.  On the morning of January 22, 1910, Dru went to start a fire. Her clothing caught on fire from a lamp that she had left on the floor the night before.  The January 23, 1910 edition of the Commercial Appeal ran an article about the accident. The lamp “being of flammable material, it was only a few seconds until she was surrounded with flames. She caught up some of the bed clothing and wrapping it around her, ran into the street calling for assistance”.  Her husband was obviously not in town when this occurred.  Dru was transported to a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee with burns all over her body.  She succumbed to her burns later that afternoon. Her body was brought to Senatobia for burial in Bethesda Cemetery.  

The “BEFORE” of Drury Myra Boyce Ward’s monument.