JUDGE DAVID LAURY

            JUDGE DAVID LAURY, deceased, was one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of Lehigh County, and his life was a most useful and honorable one.  He was born June 1, 1805, in North Whitehall Township, which at that time was a part of Northampton County.  He was the son of John Laury, and the eldest of eleven children.  As a boy he attended a German school for a few terms, and learned to read and write that language.  He was brought up as a farmer and blacksmith, and in August, 1827, he married Miss Maria Kline, of the town of Lowhill, in the same county, with whom he lived happily for over fifty years.  His venerable helpmate died March 12, 1878.  Ten children were born to them, viz.:  Mary, wife of Thomas Newhard; Henry Kline Laury; Caroline, wife of Adam Laubach; Lewis K. Laury; Maria, who married Dr. Stephen Ruch, of Elmira, N. Y.; Josephine, wife of George F. Kimball; Miss Leah Laury; Rebecca, Mrs. Joseph Bibighans; David K. Laury, Jr.; and Alexander C. P. Laury.

            In 1832 Judge Laury located in the town which was named Laury's Station in honor of him, and built the large gristmill, the fine summer resort and the hotel, besides owning much valuable real estate, and Laury Island, in the Lehigh River, renowned as a popular picnic resort.  In early life he took an active interest in politics, and in 1838, with seven other gentlemen from this county, attended a convention at Harrisburg called to reorganize the Democratic party.  The body was known as the Young Men's Convention, and a result of their work was the election of David R. Porter as Governor of this state.  His first commission was as Captain of a company which had served in the War of 1812.  This commission was issued by Joseph Ritner, the anti-Mason Governor.  He was re-elected to the Captaincy for several terms.  In 1846 he was nominated for the Legislature for the district then composed of Carbon and Lehigh Counties, but was defeated.  In 1850 he was nominated and elected, and served four years.  In 1856 he was a Presidential Elector, and voted for James Buchanan.  In 1863 he was appointed Postmaster at Laury's Station, and held the office up to the time of his death.  In 1865 he was elected Justice of the Peace for North Whitehall, and in 1867 was appointed Revenue Collector for Lehigh and Northampton Counties.  He was elected Associate Judge of Lehigh County in 1868, and served with credit.

            At the time of the opening of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, in 1855, Judge Laury was appointed station agent at Laury's and held that position until his death.  He was an early advocate of the building of the road, and helped to collect money to pay for the first survey of the Lehigh Valley Road.  The ground occupied by the Laury depot was donated to the Lehigh Valley Company by himself and wife.  He had the confidence and esteem of Hon. Asa Packer, and between the two the most cordial relations existed.  Judge Laury was a Democrat all his life, and his first vote was cast for Andrew Jackson.  In church and Sunday-school work he was active, and it was one of his proudest boasts that he organized the first Sunday-school in the county, outside of the city of Allentown.  He was one of the pillars of St. John's Lutheran Church at Laury's, and was one of the committee that built the edifice.  He was indeed a remarkable man—was kind and charitable, and no one stood higher in the esteem of his fellow-men than he.

            Judge Laury on his father's side was of Scotch birth, while on his mother's side he traced his ancestry from Wurtemberg, Germany.  On account of his popularity and his being the oldest station agent on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, the last passenger locomotive built at the Lehigh Valley shops in South Easton was given his name, and was known as the “David Laury No. 5.”  His crayon portrait was hung in the cab of the engine.  In 1854 he was commissioned Major-General of the Seventh Division Pennsylvania Militia, comprising Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties, which office he held for over three years.  In 1858, when the Taylor monument was dedicated at Easton, his commission having expired and he being there as a spectator, General Scott, who was to be present to command the military, failed to put in an appearance.  No one else being present who would undertake to command, General Laury was persuaded to do so, and, quickly getting together a uniform and a horse, he assumed command.  When he rode up and down the line the assemblage cheered “General Scott,” taking General Laury for General Scott.  He often spoke about it, and said people should have known the difference, as he gave the command in German, while General Scott always commanded in English.  Few men in the county had more real friends than he, and few there are who will be more generally and sincerely mourned.  The loss of his wife in March, 1878, clouded his future greatly.  During his political career, she assisted him in conducting his business enterprises, and it was a common thing for her to go on horseback to transact his banking business and return the same day, a distance of fifty miles.  She was indeed a helpmate, and with her assistance his business prospered amazingly.  He died answering his watchers that he made his peace with God, and thus passed away peacefully a great man, and there fell upon the once happy home sudden gloom for the loss of one who for many years had been the comfort of so many.

Submitted by Shirley Reese Siltala