Allison Royce Drake -- the Adult Years

So 1871 proved to be a rough year at the Drake Farm.

Bird is 14 years old, Allison is 12 and Jane is 10.  John Stout Drake manages to wait a whole 13 months before he remarried.  To me, this implies that John Stout was back in the courting game within a few months after Lucia's death.

The kids were busy with school, church, chores and farm work.  Allison and Bird were the only male youngsters left to pull the load and they also probably spent time helping out at their grandfather's (Amos Stout Drake) place as he was still farming.

Second oldest sister, Mary Serenus, married Ira Charles Hill in 1875 and moved away.

In 1879, 22 year old Bird married Eugenia Priestly and the 1880 United States Census shows Bird in residence at the Priestly Farm.  Why the Priestly Farm where there were two grown farmer sons living there as well?  That left only Allison at the Drake Farm.  Was John Stout becoming a tyrant as he got older?  Or was the new and younger wife, lazy or bitchy or a bossy boots?

The 1880 United States Census enumerates both Allison and his sister Jane  aka Jen with a farmer named John Sprowle or Sprowls.  John had a wife Elizabeth and an 11 year old daughter, Mary.  Allison is listed as a farm laborer and Jen as a domestic servant.

I wonder how this came to be because John Stout Drake is still listed in the 1880 Federal Census as being a farmer with his wife, Mary and his two daughters:  Ann who is 30 and Lucy who is in school.  there are no farm laborers recorded with the Drakes.

The Sprowls and the Drakes live and farm in Hillsdale County, Michigan.

Did Papa John throw Allison out?  Allison was, after all, 21 years old.  Did Allison get tired of working for free?  Did new wife Mary finally convince John that Allison caused too many problems.  Jen went with Allison to the Sprowls.  Maybe she thought Allison was getting a raw deal on the family farm.  Maybe she was having problems herself with her dad and/or her step mom.

Jen married George Priestly (Bird's brother-in-law) on 25 December 1881.  Her sister Lucy was a witness.  Allison Drake married Jane Myers in June of 1882 in Camden, Hillsdale, Michigan.

What Did I Miss?

I am looking at a transcription from FamilySearch.org fromthe "Michigan, Births and Christenings, 1775-1995," for Lucia M. Drake.  The reason I printed this out was because it was a record for Lucia stating that she was born in Amboy, Hillsdale, Michigan.  I have also found a document that said she was born in Ohio.  It was just something to think about as the folks in that part of Michigan went back and forth across the state line all the time, but I was looking for more information about my great grandfather Allison Royce Drake. 

Anyway, on this birth record, it says her mother is Jane Drake, but the father's name is Henry Drake.  Now I don't think that Jane had a child with a Henry Drake, but I'm wondering if the reason I can't find any death records, or newspaper articles or anything like that is because he went by the name Henry.  His son Royse Allison went by the name "Bill."  Apparently his uncle, Frank Converse (Lucia Melissa's daughter) husband, that said Royse was too pretty of a name and he was going to call him Bill ... and it stuck. 

So maybe Allison went by Henry. I think he was a shady character and maybe he was looking to disappear.  It's something to check out, at least.  Leave no stone unturned.

The Children of John Stout Drake and Lucia Cahoon

As I continue to work the family group sheet for John Stout Drake and Lucia Cahoon, I find myself in a rush to get down every thing I'm working on as well as all the questions.

So I was researching Jane Drake.  Not a lot of information out there.  But I know, that her ancestors think that she was THE most important of all the John Stout Drake and Lucia Cahoon's children.  Personally, I thought she died young. According to what I could find out about her -- and remember that this isn't documented yet so I can't officially insert it into my family tree -- she was born in Hillsdale, Michigan on 23 Apr 1861.  I also found information that says her name was Jane Carel Drake and she went by Jennie.  Well hot diggity dog.

One of the questions I've been carrying around was this:  In the 1880 United States Federal Census, I have found Allison Royse Drake listed under John Sprawls in Hillsdale, Michigan.  In regards to his relationship with the head of the house, John Sprawls, it is said "servant."  Also listed in that household is Jennie C. Drake who is also listed as servant.  Up until now, I had no idea what their relationship with each other was. And now I believe that they are brother and sister.

On some of the public family trees on Ancestry.com, it is said that she married George Priestly and had three (all unnamed) children.  And I've found one tree that says there is a daughter named Kate.  There is a good chance that this could be true, as Jen's brother, Bird A Drake, married Eugenia Priestly.  Now I have to dig around and see if they were brother and sister as well.

There is also an individual on Ancestry involved with the Hoag family line that feels like a kindred spirit.  It's a hunch, but I thing it is a cousin that comes down John Stout Drake and Lucia Cahoon, to Allison Royse Drake to Hattie Gavena Drake who was my grandfather Don Dee Drake's sister.

John Stout Drake -- Where do I Start?

Too many unanswered questions and not enough resources.  I feel that all it would take would be a couple of days at the Hillsdale Library.  Maybe this fall!  It seems like every article I read about the Drake family, the writers say that there has been so much written about this pioneer family that they aren't going to go into it.  Where is all this stuff that's been written about  us?

I guess I need to get an actual death certificate for Lucia Cahoon.  Then maybe some people on Ancestry have an Elinore Drake on their tree.  Next I need to find a marriage license for John Stout Drake and this Elinore woman.  Perhaps she was from Ohio?  Seems like the Drakes went back in forth over the state line.  Then I guess I should call JM Converse.  I consider him the patriarch of the family and he might remember something.  And then write Jeanne Converse his mother.  Jeanne was married to  John Converse.  John Converse's mom was Lucia Drake, daughter of Allison Royse Drake and Jane Myers.  Allison was a son of John Stout Drake.  Jane Myers eventually lived with Lucia Drake Converse and Lucia Drake Converse ended up living with John and Jeanne Converse on the farm.  Wouldn't it be great if there was something in the attic?  I got to get on it.  Jeanne has got to be in her mid-90s.  When I talked to JM over Thanksgiving, he said that she was still sharp as a tack, but her eyes are going.

I will continue to develop the family group sheet starting with John Stout Drake and Lucia Cahoon.  I never really much cared about doing family group sheets, but they give such a better picture into what was going on in any particular family.

I also intend to start a John Stout Drake page on Facebook.  I have signed up for a class at the public library for August 4.  It's how to use social networking in genealogy.  I just know there are cousins out there that have the information I need.