Allison Royce Drake: Part 4

I'm still trying to figure out who the Elinor is listed with the John Stout Drake family in the 1870 US Census.  She is listed right under John Stout -- where the wife is usually listed.  She has a line before her name which usually indicates that her last name is the same as the head of household. Just like the children are listed.  The 1870 Census does not include a box to explain relationship of said person to the head of house.

So I've tried to get creative with different scenarios.

1. The Drake Family was enumerated on 23 August 1870.  Someone showed up @ the house to record the information.  It looks like a man's handwriting.  I believe that Lucia could have been at the very beginning of her last pregnancy.  Had that realization of yet another child pushed Lucia over the edge?  Was she a little crazy?  Or maybe she didn't know yet.  Maybe she hadn't even missed her cycle yet.  There were no EPT kits in those days.  But after at least 9 pregnancies, maybe she just knew. Maybe she was already experiencing morning sickness.
2. James was no longer living in the household.  Eugene - who was now 22 years old was no longer at home.  Sydney -- 19 years old -- was gone as well.  Were they really done or was the person answering the Enumerator's questions unaware that the boys were out in the fields, working the farm?

• There is an Amos J Drake married to a Mary living in Hillsdale.  My James Amos is married to a Mary.  It seems like James -- the first son -- was named after John Stout Drake's father (Amos Stout Drake). And just a note to myself here -- Lucia's dad was James Cahoon and I believe that Lucia moved to Hillsdale with her brother James.
• There is and EE Drake living at the residence of E Delavan in Moscow, Hillsdale, Michigan.  I'm pretty sure there were not a lot of EE Drakes in the same county.  This is probably my Emery Eugene.  EE was 24 years old in 1870 and my Eugene was 22, but if Eugene was working as a farm laborer, his employer would only know what Eugene told him.
• I have not yet been able to locate Sidney -- son number 3 -- in the 1870 US Census -- yet.  But I also don't know what his whole name is.  Apparently, this Drake family was big on name children after relatives and then calling them by the middle name.  From what I understand, this was pretty common practice and not just a Drake thing.  

Could the Enumerator walked up to front porch and discovered house swarming with children and babies making a racket?  Or could they be in the middle of illness?

1. Could "Elinor" actually have been Lucia?  I have no record of her middle name although I have seen an "M" and/or an "A" as a middle initial.  And considering some naming patterns, it was not uncommon for a husband to call his wife by her middle name.  
2. The Drakes were enumerated on 23 August 1870.  Elinor was listed as 43 years old -- which would have been Lucia's age as well.  Elinor was listed as having been born in Michigan -- just like Lucia.   Unfortunately, the 1870 US Census does not make note of where each individual's parents were born.  

I searched Hillsdale County, Michigan for women born in 1827 with the name of Elinor.  There were:

• Elenor Vanelstine.  Born 1831 in Michigan.  She lived in Somerset, Hillsdale County.  She was enumerated with her husband 18 July 1870, almost a month before the John Stout Drakes.  And as we all know -- so many things can happen in a month. 

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.