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. 

When the Drakes Fell Apart

This is what I thought I knew about my line of the Drakes.  We stick together.  We don't move away from each other.  We always married into the Stouts.  We name our children after our favorite relatives.  That's why there are so many Johns, Amoses and Williams.  We don't leave our children.  It is not uncommon to see whole pages of the Federal Census filled with Drakes -- side by side.

I've been trying to figure out what happened to the John Stout Drake and Lucia Cahoon kids.  Allison Royse Drake turned out to be a mean drunk, but hopefully I'll be able to shine a little light on that later.  I am pretty convinced that Sidney S Drake, moved to Arkansas where he met and married Sarrah Staggs.  There is a Sidney S  Drake living in Atkins, Pope, Arkansas who was born in Michigan.  His father was born in New York.  Unfortunately, 1910 Federal Census says that his mother was born in New York as well -- which isn't the case for my Sidney S Drake.  His mother -- Lucia Cahoon was born in Plymouth, Wayne, New York.  Of course, if it was his wife giving the info to the census taker, she might not have known and just assumed.  If this Sidney S Drake, is my Sidney S Drake, he had one child -- a daughter named Lucredia.

Now there is Emery Eugene Drake -- or it could possible be Eugene Emery Drake -- I've seen it both ways.   I have found him in Family Search marriage license.  In 1884 he was living in Travis City.  On October 28, 1884, he married Jennie O'Connell.  He was 42 years old.  His dad, John Stout Drake, died May of 1884.  I wonder if Emery moved before or after.

I also wonder if these kids were all trying to escape John Stout Drake or had travel and communications just made it easier to get up and go?  I sure wish I could find information regarding John Stout Drake's character.

I have signed up to take a class on genealogy through social networking.  It is on August 4 at the main branch of the public library.