Rebecca Trotter Drake

I'm trying to get to know my female ancestors a little better.  As a genealogist, I sometimes just want to scream at all the women I know to leave SOMETHING behind; letters, journals, photos.  I fear that the next generation is going to be for a real tough battle to find pieces of their families, now that everything has gone digital and no one saves emails.

I have been reading my favorite book about women to help put Rebecca Trotter Drake into perspective: America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines by Gail Collins.  For anyone doing female family tree research this is an absolute treasure.

Another good one to add to your library or at least check out at your library is The Colonial Mosaic American Women 1600-1760 by Jane Kamensky.

The two books work well together -- America's Women is a little chattier, but there are some great statistics in The Colonial Mosaic.

When I'm doing general research, I keep a notebook handy and jot down information that I then try to put into perspective.  For example:  The first child born in America was Eleanor Dare in 1587.  Jamestown was founded in 1607. My Elizabeth Trotter was born in 1655 in New Jersey.  Her parents -- William Trotter and Catherine Cutbury Gibbs were both born in Massachusetts.  Rebecca was a 2nd generation American.

Back in those olden days, it took approximately 2 months to cross the Atlantic, and that's if everything went well.

One of the books stated that women lived most of their lives without back support.  They sat on stools or benches and most households had only one real chair, and you know who that was always reserved for.

Gleaned from the diaries of women in the 18th century (My Rebecca Trotter Drake would have been 45 years old), some of a women's duties were:

1. Candle making
2. Soap making
3. Butter and cheese making
4. Spinning
5. Weaving
6. Dying
7. Knitting
8. Sewing
9. Dressmaking
10. Tailoring
11. Shoe making
12. Millinery
13. Brew beer

In 1656 (Rebecca Trotter would have been a one year old baby) the New England General Court ordered "all hands not necessarily employed on other occasions, as women, Girles and Boyes" be required to spin 3 pounds of thread a week for at least 30 weeks a year"!

And speaking of spinning -- in a full day of spinning a women could walk over 20 miles -- all in the one room of her house.

Rebecca Trotter Drake had 14 children.  She had six sons before a girl came along.  She had 4 boys in 4 years, then a two year break, followed by son #5, another two year break and then #6 son. Can you imagine trying to ride herd on a hip baby, a toddler, a preschooler, a kindergartner, a first grader, a second grader -- all boys! Holy cow.  And Abraham was only a year old when Sarah was born.  

Rebecca Trotter Drake

Here are couple of things I found on the Internet regarding Rebecca Trotter.  I've learned that I can take fabulous pictures of my computer screen with my Iphone.  I just can figure out how to get them into a place where I can post them.  So I just email them to myself.

I've learned that when you are researching Middlesex County in New Jersey the same names keep popping up over and over.

Here is some info that I gleaned from The History of Middlesex County, New Jersey by John P Wall:

Stelton Baptist Church was founded in 1689.  The congregation was formed by 6 of the area's earliest European settlers:  John Drake (that's Rebecca Trotter's husband), Edmond Durham, Nicholas Bonham, John Smalley, Hugh Dunn and John Randolph.  These other names are littered through my family tree.  It goes on to say that John Drake, a nephew of Sir Francis Drake, became the first pastor of the congregation and  served in that capacity for 50 years.

Stelton Baptist Church in Edison, New Jersey is the second oldest Baptist Church in New Jersey and the 10 oldest in the United States.  It remained the Stelton Baptist Church until 1875 when it was renamed First Baptist Church of Piscataway.

The first church was erected in 1748.

Rebecca Trotter Drake

So I have been obsessing a lot about the women in the family.  I've put Lucia Cahoon Drake on hold until I can back up to Michigan and into the files at the Mitchell Research Center in Hillsdale.  Now it's time to obsess about another female who has even less information available.  And I tell you, for someone I know a lot about, I sure don't know anything of value.

When I'm researching a relative, I try to put a face to party, which is extremely difficult to do, but I kinda got a way around it.  I put in the dates and look through the google images, hoping i kind find a face that clicks.  For Rebecca Trotter Drake, I found this painting by Johannes Vermeer.  It's called the Milkmaid.

It is circa 1658.  Rebecca was born in 1655, but it took fashion a long time to make it from Europe to the colonies.  I like the fact that she is muscular with thick forearms and that she's working.  Rebecca Trotter Drake was married to a farmer.

I've also been reading the book America's Women: 400 years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines.  There is a ton of fascinating information about life in the Colonials.  I'll be including that in some of my future posts, but today, I want to get down what I know so I can study it in context.  

Rebecca Trotter was born in 1655 in Elizabethtown, Union, New Jersey, to William Trotter and Catherine Cutbury Gibbs.  Both of the parents were born in Massachussetts. I still need to look at a map to determine how far away Elizabethtown is from Piscataway, where Rebecca ended up.  All 4 of Rebecca's grandparents were born in England, so I'm assuming that she spoke with an modified English accent.

She married John Drake (more about him later) and had a whole passel of kids.  I'm still not 100% sure how many she had ... but at least 14.  She married John Drake 07 July 1677 which means she would have been 22 years old.  From what I've read in America's Women, it was not uncommon for girls to be married at 12 or 13.  Under what circumstance was she allowed to marry so late?

As far as I can tell, these are her children:

1. John  1678-1758
2. Francis 1679-1733
3. Samuel 1680-
4. Joseph 1681-1758
5. Benjamin 1683-1763  This is my line.
6. Abraham 1685-1763
7. Sarah 1686-1744
8. Isaac 1687-1702
9. Jacob 1690-
10. Ebenezer 1693-1740
11. Ephraim 1694-1725
12. Rebecca 1697-1749
13. Abigail 1699-
14. Hannah 1699-1740

There are also many family trees on Ancestry that have two more daughters:  Mary 1700-1740 and Elizabeth 1702-.