Amos Stout Drake in the Book The Bean Creek Valley ...

First:  I wish I could buy every book I ever wanted regarding my Family Tree as well as all the states and places the lived, as well as books about events that happened in their lifetimes.  Now, the library is  mighty good at providing many of the history books, and the Fort Myers main library, has a pretty awesome genealogical section.  However,  it doesn't have the book The Bean Creek Valley: Incidents of Its Early Settlement: Collected from the Memories of Its Earliest Settlers, Now Living and Verified by Reference to Official Documents by James J Hogaboam.

And since I'm not a multimillion area, I wish it was possible to print that one page from a book that mentions my ancestor  from Google books.  I still haven't figured that out and if there is, indeed, a way, then someone please email me.  Instead, determined to have the information, I will right it down long hand.

Here is an excerpt from the above mentioned book by James J Hogaboam.

Page 129:

"Only the eastern part of the township comes within the scope of our undertaking.  Amos S. Drake settled in town nine South, two west, in December, 1838, but the town settled quite rapidly.

"In February, 1839, Sarah N. Drake died; her funeral sermon was preached by Elder Stout, who, at the time, lived in the vicinity of Bird Lake.  It was the first sermon preached in that town.

"In December, the same year, Samuel Carl and Jane Drake were married by Mr. Fowler, of Camden."

"When Rowland was organized, town nine south was attached, and shared in all the mutations that township endured.

"In 1850, all that part of towns nine south, ranges two and three west, lying within the state of Michigan, and one tier of sections off the south side of town eight south, ranges two and three west, were organized into a new township and called Amboy.  Nearly all the improvements have been made since that time.

"The grist mill owned by Waldron & Hall, was built about thirty years ago, but there was a saw-mill there several years earlier.  Besides this, there is the Higby & Osborn Mill, the Manly or Lewis Mill, and the Bryan Mill.  There has been a Chilson Mill, but it has ceased to work.

"There are two churches, the Baptist and the Methodist, and both have neat and commodious houses.

"The first township meeting was held on 23rd day of April 1850, at the house of Amos Drake.  John King was moderator, and Gideon G King, clerk.  Amos S Drake and John P Corey were inspectors of the election.  Officers elected:  Nathan Dewey, Supervisor: Gideon G King, Clerk; Charles Clark, treasurer.  Nathan Edlinger, John King and Charles S Baker, justices of the peace; Henry Prestage, John Goforth and Gideon F. King, commissioners of highways; Charles Farley and William Drake, school inspectors; Amos S Drake and John King, directors of the poor, and Joseph Philbrick, Charles H Barton and Paden Marshall, constables.

 This book is also for sale at Amazon.com in various forms.  It's on my wish list!

Dennis E Austin Writes Home Toledo June 21st 93

Dennis E Austin wrote home every once in a while, which says something about a grown ass man living far from his family.  It also says a lot about his family who has saved these letters for over a hundred years.  It's not like he was famous or anything like that, just a well loved son.

Toledo, Jun 21st 93

My Dear Parents Bro& Sister

I rec'd the postal asking where I was at.  Well I am ashamed of it but it is work and sleep.  I am afraid I sleep too much, but it is so hot the sleep I get don't do me much good. Still I am just as fat as ever.  I wish you could see my new fishing rig it is a beauty.  I shall be over in August to Try it.  It hardly seems as if I could wait until then, but I suppose I will be obliged to.

What nice growing weather this is.  How are all the crops looking?  I just feel as if I could lay under an apple tree for about three days with out sleep or eating.  Well suppose you are all just as jaded only you have good sleep and 8 or 9 hours at one time.  How did Claud enjoy himself when he was down.  Griff is down the week.  we have some new curtains.  I got Min a nice guitar.  And next week she will have an organ for her birthday present.  Well I am getting along quite well for a greenhorn.  I had a little bad luck last saturday night.  I was nearly into Marshall it was very Foggy I felt a little jar.  we ran into and Extra that had Broken tow and that not sending a man back far enough puts all the blame on them  I was sorry too for it smashed my engine and their caboose very badly.  no one was hurt I was very glad of that.  My head man and the eng & fireboy all jumped 

I shall not wait so long before writing again, I think I shall go to a lake sunday well I will close for this time Hoping you hear good letters full of everything coming our way I am as ever

Your Son & Bro

D Austin

American Popular Culture Through History

I tell you, for someone that loves history, I sure didn't like history.  At least not the way that it was taught at South Junior High and Loy Norrix High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  It was just dates.  The only thing I really remember was how painfully bored I was. I hold Miss Anna Bodine who taught -- droned -- through a year of US History at Norrix responsible.  I know that there are some excellent history teachers out there, my brother Dob Drake being one of them.  But maybe, if the substandard teachers were held accountable, they might have tried a little harder. 

When I am working on my family tree, I really like to submerse myself and try to figure out where they all fit in time.  I want to be able to see it.  For example, my Drakes moved from Piscataway, New Jersey to upstate New York in 1800.  Not the 1800s, but the year 1800.  I have no idea what it must have felt like to push inland, leaving family and friends.  Sad yes, but we were capitalizing on the opportunity brought on by the distribution of the war lands.  What were they wearing back in those days, eating, dating customs?  I know that the Drakes lived with the Stouts, that they traveled from NJ to NY and then on to Michigan.  There are many many Drakes in the Stout family trees and vice versa.

One way I get a taste, something that pulls me closer to my ancestors -- those long ago and also my mom and dad who have been dead for many many years is to read random history books.  I recently stumbled on a series called:   American Popular Culture Through History. The series contains books entitled:

• The 1900s
• The 1910s
• The 1920s
• The 1930s
• The 1940s
• The 1950s
• The 1960s
• The 1970s
• The 1980s
• The 1990s
• The 2000s
• The Revolutionary War Era
• The New Nation 1783 - 1810
• The Antebellum Period
• The Civil War and Reconstruction
• The Gilded Age

At the moment I am reading The 1920s:

Ive also gone ahead and ordered the 1900s.  They aren't cheap, but you should try to get them from your library.  Inside American Popular Culture Through History: 1920s you'll find chapters like Life and Youth during the 1920s, advertising, architecture and Design, Fashion, food and drink, leisure activities, literature, music, performing arts, travel and recreation, visual arts, the costs of products in the 1920s.  Twelve bars of Ivory Soap could be had for 49 cents.  And you'll note that I had to write out "cents" because the computer keyboard doesn't have a cent sign.  I wonder if the kids today, even knows what a cent sign looks like.  A Steinway grand piano cost $1425, a Rolls Royce $10,900.  Pork chops were 36 cents a pound, bread was 12 cents a loaf. 

Of course this may mean nothing to you, but myself and my friends were all children of children who lived through the depression.  Practically every one's dad had gone to war.  Our moms worked outside the home until they were married.  They still worked, but only until the first baby came along.  Then they stayed at home until the youngest started kindergarten and they went back to work, but only during school hours.  I remember 19 cent gas and 25 cent cigarettes.  Hell, I actually remember BUYING Marlboros for my dad when I was 7 years old.  Of course, he'd written a note to the gas station attendant that it was okay for me to buy them. 

Studying these different eras help me understand my roots a little better.

A side note:  on the cover of 1920s are some flapper girls flirting with the camera.  On the cover of the 1980s is Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs.  Some of you will remember Miami Vice like it was yesterday.  Some of you will wonder who they were.  It's all relative.

Don Dee Drake of Michigan 1896 - 1967

Don Dee Drake was born 22 Jun 1896 in Springport, Michigan and died 14 Jun 1967, about one month after my dad (his son died).  He was the son of Allison Royce Drake and Jane Meyers Drake.  He was one of 4 children: Hattie, Lucia and Royce Allison were his other siblings.  He had 4 children:  Martha Jane, Donald Duane (my dad) and Jack Scovill with his first wife, Ruth Henrietta Scovill Drake.  When she died, he remarried Ellen Fitzgerald.  She had a son, Dave, and then another son with Don Dee, named Richard.

I wasn't a fan of Ellen Fitgerald AT ALL.  My dad never spoke ill of her, but he had a pretty miserable childhood on account of her.  And I didn't care much for me Grandpa Drake either.  Come to think of it, we called my mom's dad, Cleo Mallison Hughes Grandpa and the other one Grandpa Drake.  Hmmmm.  I wonder if that's significant?

It seemed like he was always questioning us about why we weren't as smart, athletic, popular etc. as "The Cousins."  He and Ellen Fitzgerald used to give expensive gifts, but it was always something that they thought you should have, not something that you actually wanted.  In 1967 all I wanted was a baseball mitt.  Instead I got a pink and white linen gingham dress that had about 4 yards of fabric in the skirt, with a big sash and pink heart buttons up the front of the bodice.  Can you imagine how awful that would look on a skinny girl with stork legs, scabby knees, 30 pounds of hair AND cordovan colored high top corrective shoes?  Please.

But as I learn more about the family, I'm thinking that maybe Don Dee Drake did the best he could with what he knew.  I had a relative tell me that Allison Royce Drake liked to drink.  Seems to be a trait that all us Drakes have.  But Allison was a mean drunk.  A mean drunk usually translates to "knocking your family around" or saying terrible things.  That's just my experience.

The 1910 United States Census has the last of the Drake Family spread across three locations.  Lucia had married Frank Converse and Hattie had married Dana Fuller.  My Grandpa Drake is 13 years old and Royce is 6.  They are living in a boarding house in Charlotte Ward 4, Eaton, Michigan.  Their dad is living in Woodstock, Lenawee, Michigan in a boarding house, doing odd jobs.  He's 51 and "single."  Remember that.

Jane Myers Drake is living in Charlotte Ward 4, Eaton, Michigan.  She is a roomer at another house.  Maybe she was a housekeeper.  She is "M1" which I believe means "Married Once."  I wondered what the hell happened in this family?  When I pulled up a map, I discovered that while they might not be living together, Jane Myers Drake lived right around the corner from her two boys.  Allison was a substantial distance away.

Years later, after his wife Ruth Scovill Drake died, all three of his children -- Martha Jane, my dad Donald Duane Drake and brother Jack Scovill, were sent to live with Ruth's folks.  And they were pretty old.  They had a boarding house -- geez, what is it with this family and boarding houses?  But it couldn't have been too bad as my dad learned to speak German and polish which would help him in his Army years, and he had some real funny stories about that time in his life.

But still -- I could never, NEVER farm my kids out.  Who would do something like that to his children.  Especially when you've got your other kid and step son living with you.  And your newer younger wife isn't working.  It just set wrong with me.

So this morning, I ran a google map to see where Grandpa Drake was living in 1940.  324 W. Forest, Ypsilanti, Michigan.  Pretty nice house, right?

 

It's apartments now, and for all I know it could have been apartments back in 1940.  And right around the corner, practically was where my dad and his siblings were living.  It would have to be difficult to live that close to your dead wife's parents with your new young wife and kids, don't you think?  

But here's the picture that kind of changed my mind about my Grandpa Drake:

 

On the bottom of the picture it's written:  Don and Royce and Brownie.
On the back:  Don Drake Age 10
                     Bill Drake Age 3
                 To be Duane's

Duane is the name that everybody in the family called my dad.  Except my mom.  She called him Don.  All his friends and fellow coaches called him Dobbie.  Which is also what they called my Grandpa Drake -- which another story for another post.  And Bill was what everybody called Allison Royce Drake.  When referring to him, we all say Uncle Bill.  Bill was the nickname that Lucia's husband, Frank Converse gave him. 

But here's the deal -- this is what I gather from this pix:  Don is definitely not starving, but his weight could mean that he is eating a diet of starches.  Or he could be a stress eater.  It doesn't look like he's in a suit suit, but a jacket and pants.  And really could the faces on these boys be any sadder?

So, while Grandpa Drake wasn't the best dad in town, he probably did the best he could do with what he knew.

 

A Drake By Any Other Name:

So here's a bit of info from Ancestry.com:

"English: from the Old English by name Draca, meaning ‘snake’ or ‘dragon’, Middle English Drake, or sometimes from the Old Norse cognate Draki. Both are common surnames and, less frequently, personal names. Both the Old English and the Old Norse forms are from Latin draco ‘snake’, ‘monster’ (see Dragon).  As in Draco Mallfoy.

That seems to be the general consensus.

But then it gets a little crazy:  i have found some definitions that say that if someone had the nickname of Drake, that person would be "formidable and fierce in battle."

And I've found several locations that state that Drake came from the word Draker  which is a standard bearer.  In other words the guy that holds the flag.  Not a desirable position to be in during battle, I would think.

And then there is Draco which supposedly means dragon and a drake that is a male mallard duck.  I think our Drake men would prefer that they are named for fearless, ferocious dragons, rather than for a duck.  Because we waddle like ducks?  Because we are constantly quacking.  Or maybe it's a compliment, that we have nice tail feathers!

Other ways I have seen Drake spelled:  Drak (like Quack), Draike, Draik and Drayke.

There are a lot of Drake Family Crests, but all of them pretty much have a dragon on them.  This is my favorite:

A Family Treasure

I have in my possession a little book called:  Select Remains of the Rev. John Mason, M.A. It is very old.  Its cover is embossed linen? and the pages are yellowed and stained and has been nibbled on more critters that I care to think about.  I never paid much attention to it until recently.

I have learned some very important facts and have made some educated guesses.  Such as, I always wondered if the Moores were Catholic.  Mom and Dad came from Ireland.  However this is not a Catholic text and obviously it was very important to the family, so I'm thinking that the Moores were just a big farming family and not Catholic.

On the inside of the book, Libbie Moore has written her name everywhere:  Miss Libbie Moore's Book, Michigan.  And Miss Libbie Moore's book, Brooklyn, Michigan.  And at the top of that first page, Miss Libbie Moore, Born Sept 12/47.  So what have we learned?  I now have Miss Libbie Moore's birth date as well as where she lived.  At the bottom of the page in pencil, it is written:  From Mother to Claude my Dear Boy 1922.

On the fly leaf it is written:  Miss Libbie Moore's Book, Brooklyn, Norvelle, Mich and below that is the date 1857 which doesn't seem to be connected to anything.  At the bottom of the page is written:  To Illda from Gramma.

We then come to another page that says:  Miss Libbie Moore's Book, Brooklyn, Michigan  from her father James Moore born Dec 11/1800.  Hello!

Then comes my favorite page.  I looks like my great grandfather was learning to print his name.  He has written D - E - N - N - I - S, all in capitals, with both Ns and the S backwards.  I wonder if his ma gave him hell for writing in her book, although apparently it's okay.

So far, I have found no hiding writing in the book itself, but I'll admit that I haven't turned every page.  On one of the pages in the back this is written:  Aunt Susan English died Oct. 13th, 1861 on Sunday at 3 1/2 oclock.  I wrote this one week from her death and I was there when she died.  Oct 20th, 1861.  Libbie L. Moore, Libbie Moore.

Neva C Austin

Things I really hate:

Finding the right person, with the right dates, with the right locations with the wrong parents.

Take Neva C Austin.  I have postcards from Neva to her granny Elizabeth Moore Austin.  I have her living in Cambridge, Lenawee, Michigan and Jackson, Michigan.  She died in Brooklyn, Michigan.  Neva would have been my granny Illda Martha Austin Hughes' cousin.  And she married Leland Brighton.

Her dad is Claude Austin, aka Claud Austin, aka Claudie Austin.  And her ma is Katherine Austin.  I'm still doing research, but I believe Katherine's maiden name was Wallace.  I also have Katherine spelled with a C in a few federal census.  I've got Neva all over the place, but none with the correct info for both parents.  Neva had a sister named June who has vanished without a trace.  The last time a relative did that I eventually found him living in Utah with 3 wives.

Here's a pix of Neva with her dog, Jack.  It was sent to her granny Libbie Moore.

Here's a  picture of Illda Martha Austin.  I believe it is post 1912 and pre 1915.  I think the two girls look alike considering Neva is about 6 and Illda is probably around 16 or 17.