This is info someone on the List might use in their line. I tried to make a connection, but have not as yet. My nephew in Louisville received this e-mail and forwarded it on to me, and now I to you. Hope this helps someone. Notes... Samuel Drake, son of John Drake, is my great-great grandfather. Drake Family History, as Near as It Can Be Traced Back from the Present Time Written by Anna (Drake) Smith, November 1902 About the year 1770, there lived somewhere in Pennsylvania a family by the name of Drake. Mr. Drake was an Englishman. His wife was a deaf and dumb woman, yet although not educated in an asylum as they are today, she could by signs talk with those she knew well. They had a family of five children, three sons and two daughters. Two of the sons served in the War of 1812; one returned home, the other was never heard from and was supposed to have been killed. Of those five children, the name of only one is known, Nathaniel Drake, the Grandfather of the present family of Drakes. He was born January 5th, 1773, married Nancy Houghland and died January 15th 1820. Six children were born to them namely: John, George, Elizabeth, William, David, and Jane. George died before the death of his father, and David after. Elizabeth married Nathaniel McDowell and died September 27th, 1873. However, I am going too fast and must go back some sixty years or more to trace the history of the Drakes. It is with the descendants of JOHN DRAKE that our history runs. The father of John Drake died while he was still a child. The mother was advised to bind her children out, but refused to give up even one. John was the main stay of the family. His mother in later years often said that a better son or harder worker never lived. That was before the time of common schools and each scholar had to pay their own schooling. John paid for himself and taught his brother and sisters. John Drake was born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, June 27th, 1806. His mother with her four children came to Ohio in 1825 and remained in Stark County about one year before moving to Wayne County where they lived about six years. While in Wayne County, John contracted to clear and fence fifty acres of land and split 5000 rails for an eighty acre tract in Jackson Township, Richland County, and which is now owned by his youngest daughter, Mrs. Anna Smith. In 1831, he came to this county, cleared a couple acres of land where the house and orchard now stand, built a log cabin where the kitchen of the present farm house stands and sent for his mother, brother, and sister. He with his brother, William, cleared the farm. He was married to Miss Susanna Henry, March 29th, 1938. The same spring moved into a log cabin where the main part of the house stands and only a few feet from his mother's. In 1849, he built the frame house now standing. William Drake bought 80 acres west of John's and moved there with his mother and sister, Jane. Nancy Drake died in 1855, aged 72 years. William and Jane never married. William died February 16th, 1872. Jane died February 22nd, 1900. To John Drake and his wife there were born ten children: William, Elizabeth, Sara Jane, Daniel, James, Jeremiah, Mary Ellen, Nancy Hannah, Susanna, and Samuel. William married Sidney A. Flora and the same year they moved to Williams County, Ohio. They had seven children: Martin Lewis, William Osker, Willis, Effie Grace, Daisy Victor, Bertha Gail, and Clara. Sydney A. Drake died January 18th, 1884 aged 39 years, 20 days. Daisy Victor Drake died November 11th, 1886, aged 1 year, 4 days. William died in infancy. Elizabeth Drake married George F. Gillespie. They had one child, Carrie Etta. Mr. Gillespie died August 1st, 1863. Later Elizabeth married James Wareham; they had four children: Anna May, Sarah Ruberta, William Drake, and Lena Esther. They lived in Richland County. Sara Jane married Aaron Rambo: They had five children: Eva N., Albert Wills, William, Clayton, and Anna Dosia. One son died in infancy. Aaron Rambo died June 2nd, 1893. Sara Jane Rambo died January 9th, 1902, aged 60 years, 17 days. Daniel married Mary Jane Trist. They had one child, Minnie. One died in infancy. They lived in Mansfield, Ohio.James married Eva R. Roush. They lived in Williams County, Ohio and had two children: Chester Cloyd and Milly Floyd. Jeremiah married Mary Jane Roush and lived in Williams County, Ohio. They had three children: Lora, Blanche, and Rolland. Lora died in her second year. Mary Ellen married G.H. Smith, the resided in Gentam County, Indiana. They had five children: Anna Belle, Dora V., Don Carlos, Edna, and Edwin. Nancy Hannah married Jacob A. Rowe and resided near Mt. Pleasant, Isabelle County, Michigan. They had four children, Daisy D., Anna Blanche, and Ellen Cora. One son died in infancy. Susanna married George B. Smith and resided on the old Drake farm. They had one son, John Wilson. Samuel married Laura Reynolds. They had two sons, Ralph and Ray. They lived in Williams County, Ohio. Of the descendants of John and Susanna Drake, there are living November 25th, 1902, birthday of Susanna Drake aged 88 years, nine children, twenty-nine grandchildren, and fifteen great-grandchildren. One daughter, six grandchildren, and two great grandchildren are dead.