Drake, Benjamin, author, was born in Mason county, Ky., Nov. 28, 1794. He was a brother of Dr. Daniel Drake. He removed to Cincinnati about 1815, was admitted to the bar about 1825, and practised law during the remainder of his life. In 1830 he established and became editor of The Western Agriculturist, and subsequently edited the Cincinnati Chronicle, His published works include: Cincinnati in 1826 (with E. D. Mansfield, 1827); The Western Agriculturist and Practical Farmer's Guide (1830); The Life and Adventures of Black Hawk, with Sketches of Keokuk, the Sac and Fox Indians, and the Late Black Hawk War (1838); Life of Gen. William Henry Harrison (with Col. Charles S. Todd, 1840); and Life of Tecumseh, and his Brother the Prophet, with a Historical Sketch of the Shawanee Indians (1841). He died in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 1, 1841.

Drake, Benjamin Michael

Drake, Benjamin Michael, educator, was born in Robeson county, N.C., Sept. 11, 1800. He removed to Tennessee where he joined the Methodist Episcopal church and became a preacher in 1820. In 1821 he was transferred to the Mississippi conference. He rounded the first Methodist church, New Orleans, La., and in 1828 was elected president of the Elizabeth female academy, the first school in Mississippi under the auspices of the Methodist denomination. This position he resigned in 1832 to return to the itinerant ministry. In 1854 he was made president of Centenary college, Jackson, La., and held the office until his death. He received the degree of D.D. He died in Churchill, Miss., May 8, 1860.

Drake, Charles Daniel

Drake, Charles Daniel, jurist, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 11, 1811; son of Dr. Daniel and Harriet (Sisson) Drake. He was a student at St. Joseph's college, Bardstown, Ky., 1823-24, and at Partridge's military academy, Middletown, Conn. 1824-25. He was appointed a midshipman in the U.S. navy, 1825, serving till January, 1830, when he resigned to study law. He was admitted to the bar in Cincinnati in 1833, and in 1864 he removed to St. Louis, Mo. In 1838 he organized the St. Louis law library. He was a member of the Missouri house of representatives, 1859-60, a member of the Missouri state constitutional convention of 1863-64, and in the last session was vice-president of the body, and the instrument framed became known as "Drake's constitution." In 1867 he was elected U.S. senator from Missouri serving until December, 1870, when he resigned to accept from President Grant the appointment of chief justice of the U.S. court of claims, which position he held until January, 1885, when he retired. He received the degree of LL.D. from Hanover college, Indiana, in 1863, and from the University of Wooster, Ohio, in 1875. His widow, Margaret E. Drake, died at Washington, D.C., April 30, 1896. He published: A Treatise on the Law of Suits by Attachment in the United States (1854); Union and Anti-slavery Speeches Delivered During the Rebellion (1864); and Life of Daniel Drake (1871). He died in Washington, D.C., April 1, 1892.

Drake, Daniel

Drake, Daniel, physician and educator, was born in Plainfield, N.J., Oct. 20, 1785. In 1788 his parents removed to Mason county, Ky., and in December, 1800, he was taken to Cincinnati, Ohio, to study medicine. He began the practice of medicine in Mason county, Ky., in 1804, and attended lectures in the University of Pennsylvania in 1805 and again in 1815 and 1816, and was graduated in 1816. He was professor of materia medica in Transylvania university, Ky., 1816-18. In 1819 he obtained from the Ohio legislature the charter of the medical college of Ohio, located in Cincinnati; and from that time till his death he was engaged in teaching in different medical schools in that city, and in Lexington and Louisville, Ky., and Philadelphia, Pa. In 1821 he obtained from the Ohio legislature a grant of money to erect a hospital in Cincinnati. He established the Western Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences in 1827, and was its editor until 1848. He published: Picture of Cincinnati and the Miami Country (1815); Practical Treatise on the History, Prevention and Treatment of Epidemic Cholera (1832); Practical Essays on Medical Education (1832); and Systematic Treatise on the Principal Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America (2 vols., 1850-54). See Life of Daniel Drake (1861) by his son, Charles Daniel Drake, LL.D. He died in Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 6, 1852.

Drake, Francis Marion

Drake, Francis Marion, governor of Iowa, was born in Rushville, Schuyler county, Ill., Dec. 30, 1880; son of John Adams and Harriet J. (O'Niel) Drake, natives of North Carolina; grandson of Benjamin and Celia (Thayer) Drake of Nash county, N.C.; and great-grandson of James Drake of Virginia. In 1837 the family removed to Fort Madison in the territory of Wisconsin and in 1846 to Davis county, where John Adams Drake founded the town of Drakeville and where Francis Marion attended the district school and assisted his father, the principal business man of the place. He organized a wagon train in 1852 and crossed the plains to California, fighting his way through tribes of hostile Indians. He returned to Iowa in 1853, and in 1854 drove one hundred milch cows across the plains and mountains to California. This time he undertook to return by sea and was wrecked in the Yankee Blade when eight hundred lives were lost. With the other survivors he returned to San Francisco and made a safe passage to New York in the Golden Gate. He then engaged in business in Drakeville and in 1859 in Unionville. He was major in the Union army, 1861-62, under General Prentiss and repulsed General Price's army at St. Joseph, Mo. He was lieutenant-colonel of the 36th Iowa volunteers in the army of the Tennessee, 1862-64, commanded a detachment at Elkins's Ford in April, 1864, where he drove back General Marmaduke's division; and commanded a brigade at Marks's Mills, April 25, 1864. At the latter place he was defeated by six times his number under Maj.-Gen. J. F. Fagan. His regiment was captured and he was left on the field by the enemy, as mortally wounded. He rejoined his regiment at the end of six months and was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers by President Lincoln. After leaving the service he practised law and engaged in the promotion of railroad enterprises in Iowa, Indiana and Illinois. He founded Drake university, Des Moines, Iowa, and was its principal benefactor. His first gift of $20,000 in 1880 was followed by liberal sums each year. In 1898 he gave to it over $25,000 and he liberally assisted other schools, churches and charitable institutions. He was a candidate for governor of Iowa before the Republican state convention of 1893, but did not receive the nomination. In 1895 he was nominated and elected. He refused a second term, as an accident resulting in injuries that threatened the reopening of the wound received at Marks's Mill, warned him of need of rest, and he retired from office, Jan. 1, 1898. He was married in 1855 to Mary Jane Lord. His son, Frank Ellsworth, took charge of his father's large interests at Centerville, Iowa, and his other son, John Adorns, became a lawyer in Chicago, Ill. zzz

Drake, Francis Samuel

Drake, Francis Samuel, author, was born in Northwood, N.H., Feb. 22, 1828; son of Samuel Gardner Drake. He completed the public school course in his native city, entered his father's bookstore in Boston, and was later employed in a counting house. In 1862 he followed his brother, Samuel Adams Drake, to Leavenworth, Kan., and for five years engaged in bookselling, returning to Boston at the end of that time. He published: A Dictionary of American Biography (1872); Memorial of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati (1873); Life of General Henry Knox (1873); The Town of Roxbury (1873); Tea Leaves (1884); and Indian History for Young Folks (1885). He died in Washington, D.C., Feb. 22, 1885.

Drake, James Madison

Drake, James Madison, journalist, was born in Somerset county, N.J., March 25, 1837. At an early age he learned the printer's trade in his father's office in Elizabeth, N.J., and in 1852 was employed on a Trenton newspaper. In 1853 he established the Mercer Standard and in 1857 the Evening News. In 1860 he issued The Wide Awake, a Republican campaign sheet. He was an alderman of Trenton, 1860-61. In April, 1861, he organized the first company of volunteers raised in New Jersey, declined the captaincy and accepted the rank of ensign. After serving three months he re-enlisted in the 9th N.J. volunteers with which regiment he remained until the close of the war, being promoted through the several ranks to captain. He was wounded at Winton, N.C., in 1863, while leading his company in a charge. In the battle of Drewry's Bluff, Va., May 16, 1864, he, with most of his command, was captured and confined in Libby and other prisons. While being transferred from Charleston to Columbia, S.C., on Oct. 6, 1864, Captain Drake with three comrades escaped from the train, and after forty-seven days' wandering reached the Union lines at Knoxville, Tenn. He was presented with a congressional medal, accompanied by a complimentary letter from the secretary of war, by recommendation of General Grant. After the close of the war he returned to Elizabeth, N.J., where he published The Daily Monitor. In 1889 he established the Sunday Leader and the Daily Leader. He was the organizer and commander of the Veteran zouaves of Elizabeth, and was brevetted brigadier-general by special act of the state legislature. He is the author of: History of the 9th New Jersey Volunteers; Fast and Loose in Dixie, and Across the Continent.

Drake, Joseph Rodman

Drake, Joseph Rodman, poet, was born in New York city, Aug. 7, 1795. He was left an orphan at an early age and entered a mercantile house. He displayed exceptional talent as a writer of poetry from his childhood. Business life proving very uncongenial, he decided to study medicine and in 1813 began a course of study in a physician's office. In that year began his friendship with Fitz-Greene Halleck. In 1816 he was admitted to practise medicine and in the same year was married to Sarah, daughter of Henry Eckford, the naval architect. His best known poem, "The Culprit Fay," was written in August, 1817, and gained for the young poet a world-wide reputation. In March, 1819, in conjunction with Mr. Halleck, he began anonymous daily contributions to the New York Evening Post under the pen-name "Croakers." His poetical works, collected by his daughter Halleck, were published in one volume in 1836, and included The American Flag and The Culprit Fay. An illustrated edition of the latter appeared in after years. Fitz-Greene Malleck's poem beginning "Green be the turf above thee" was written upon being apprised of Drake's death. He died in New York city, Sept. 21, 1820.

Drake, Samuel Adam

Drake, Samuel Adam, author, was born in Boston, Mass., Dec. 20, 1833; son of Samuel Gardner and Louisa Maria (Elmes) Drake. He was educated in the Boston schools and in 1858 removed to Leavenworth, Kan., where he was a journalist and merchant until the breaking out of the civil war. He joined the Kansas militia as captain in 1861, and was promoted brigadier-general of militia in 1863 and colonel of the 17th Kansas volunteers in 1864. He returned to Boston in 1871 and devoted his time to literary work. He published: Hints for Emigrants to Pike's Peak (1860); Old Landmarks and Historic Personages of Boston (1873; new ed., 1895); Historic Fields and Mansions of Middlesex (1874); Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast (1875; new ed., 1897); General Israel Putnam (1875); Bunker Hill (edited, 1875); Captain Nelson (1879); History of Middlesex county, Mass., to the Present Time (2 vols., edited, 1880); Around the Hub (1881); The Heart of the White Mountains (1882); A Book of New England Legends and the Folk Lore in Prose and Poetry (1884); Our Great Benefactors (edited, 1884); The Making of New England (1886); The Old Boston Taverns and Tavern Clubs (1886); Burgoyne's Invasion of 1777 (1889); The Pine Tree Coast (1891); The Taking of Louisburg, 1745 (1891); The Battle of Gettysburg (1892); The Making of Virginia and the Middle Colonies, 1578-1701 (1893); Our Colonial Homes (1894); The Making of the Ohio Valley States, 1660-1873 (1894); The Campaign of Trenton, 1776-77 (1895); The Watch Fires of '76 (1895); On Plymouth flock (1897); The Border Wars of New England (1897). zzz

Drake, Samuel Gardner

Drake, Samuel Gardner, antiquarian, was born in Pittsfield, N.H., Oct. 11, 1798; son of Simeon and Love Muchmore (Tucke) Drake, and a descendant of Robert Drake, who emigrated from England about 1642 and settled in Exeter, N.H., as a merchant. In 1818 Samuel Gardner became teacher of a school in London, N.H., and in 1819 and 1820 taught in New Jersey. He continued to teach in his native state until 1825, meanwhile taking great pleasure in collecting old books. In 1828 he embarked in the book auction business which proved a failure and was discontinued in 1830. He then opened an antiquarian book store on Cornhill, Boston, the first store of the kind in the United States, and it was well patronized by book collectors. Mr. Drake became interested in the aboriginal history of the country and made exhaustive researches for his "Book of the Indians" (1834; 11th ed., 1851). In 1845 he took an active part in the formation of the New England historic, genealogical society, was its first corresponding secretary, 1845-56, and its president, 1858-59. In November, 1858, he went to England to collect material for his books and remained abroad two years. He received from Union college the honorary degree of A.M. in 1843. His principal publications are: A Reprint of Church's History of King Philip's War (1825); Indian Biography (1832); The Book of the Indians (1833); The Old Indian Chronicle (1836); Indian Captivities (1844); Genealogical Memoir of the Family of Drake in America (1845); Life of the Indian Chief, Brant (1848); News from New England (1850); Memoir and Pedigree of Cotton Mather (1851); Old Dorchester (1851); Prince's Chronology (1852); History and Antiquities of Boston (1856); Result of Some Researches Among the British Archives for Information Relative to the Founders of New England (1860); Memoir of Sir Walter Raleigh (1862); Mather's History of Philip's War (1862); Early History of New England (1864); Annals of Witchcraft in the United States (1869); and History of the French and Indian War (1870). He died in Boston, Mass., June 14, 1875. Duyckinck, Evert Augustus, author, was born in New York city, Nov. 23, 1816; son of Evert Duyckinck, bookseller. He was graduated at Columbia college in 1835, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. After one year spent in Europe he returned to New York determined to adopt a literary profession, having already been an acceptable contributor to the New York Review. In 1840, in company with Cornelius Mathews, he established Arcturus, a monthly periodical, which they continued for two years and in which be published a series of articles entitled "Authors at Home and Abroad." From 1847 to 1853, in conjunction with his brother, George Long Duyckinck, be edited and conducted The Literary World which they rounded and devoted to reviews of books, art and literature. In 1854, with his brother, he began the publication of "The Cyclopædia of American Literature" completed in two volumes, giving a comprehensive list of American authors, with selections from their writings, portraits and facsimile autographs. This was revised in 1865. He was a trustee of Columbia college, 1874-78; a member of the New York historical society, and read before that body: Memorials of Francis L. Hawks, D.D., LL.D. (1867-71); Memorials of Francis T. Tuckerman (1872); and Memorials of James W. Beekman (1877). He read before the American Ethnological society Memorials of Samuel G. Drake (1876); and prepared a Memorial of John Wolfe (1872). He published: Wit and Wisdom of Sydney Smith, with a memoir (1856); Willmot's Poets of the Nineteenth Century (American edition, 1858); Irvingiana (1859); History of the War for the Union (1861-65); Memorials of John AIlen (1864); Poems Relating to the American Revolution With Memoirs of the Authors (1865); Poems of Philip Freneau (1865); National Gallery of Eminent Americans (1866); History of the World, etc. (1870); Biographies of Eminent Men and Women qf Europe and America (1873-74). William Allen Butler read a biographical sketch of Mr. Duyckinck before the New York historical society (1879), and the Rev. Dr. Samuel Osgood published a memoir of him (1879). He died in New York city, Aug. 13, 1878.

Lucy R. Drake

Among the works of faith well known in Boston is the Consumptives' Home, carried on after the manner of George Müller's Orphan House in Europe, the laborers asking God for means to carry on their work, and receiving aid as in answer to prayer; and with this establishment is connected a lady known as a deaconess, Miss LUCY R. DRAKE, of Boston Highlands. "The Boston Journal" referred to her in August, 1875, in an account of a Methodist camp-meeting held in South Framingham, Mass., as follows: "The preacher's place was supplied by a deaconess connected with Dr. Charles Cullis's Grove Hall institution known as 'a work of faith,'-a lady of prepossessing personal appearance, and one of those whose Christian labors during the past seven years have entitled her to the respect and even love of the many New Englanders with whom she has become acquainted. Miss Drake is one of the few women who have attained success as platform-speakers at an early age; and words fall from her lips with a sweetness and power rarely seen. We asked her in private conversation to-day what was the object of her labors as she travelled over the country, having never met her before. Her eyes were lighted as it were with earnestness, and her entire countenance pictured religious zeal, as she replied, 'My mission is to preach Christ to the poor.' She is doing a noble work; and in this connection we would state that Dr. Cullis intends sending her as his first missionary to India during the latter part of September. Should her life be spared until that time, the heartfelt 'God-speed' of many will go with her.

"Miss Drake also engaged the attention, and labored to spiritually enlighten the minds, of the 'lambs of the flock,' as she gathered them into the children's meeting one half-hour after the public dinner service was over, by delineating to their youthful minds prominent Bible characters, and gently speaking to them of the little temptations which would assail them in their onward journey in life."

Mrs. Wood was educated by private tutors and attended Miss Peebles' and Miss Thompson's school from 1884 to 1890. In 1891 she was married in New York to Henry Alexander Wise Wood, the inventor and writer. He was born in New York, March 1, 1866, and was the son of Fernando and Alice F. (Mills) Wood. Fernando Wood served as Mayor of New York for several terms, and was a member of Congress for twenty years. Drake Mills, father of Mrs. Fernando Wood, was the second President of the Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railway Company.

De Kay, George Coleman, naval officer, was born in New York city in 1802; son of Capt. George and Katherine (Coleman) de Kay; grandson of Major George de Kay, and a descendant of William de Key, the first fiscal or treasurer of New Netherlands (1641). An orphan when very young, he was educated in his native city and at a private school in Connecticut, and at an early age ran away from his guardian to become a sailor. He rapidly rose in his work and was entrusted by Henry Eckford, the naval architect, to convoy several war vessels to South America. In 1827 he entered the naval service of the Argentine Republic and served as a commander of the brig General Brandtzen in the war with Brazil. He won by his distinguished service promotion to the ranks of captain and commodore. He was a friend of Bolivar the liberator. After the conclusion of the war he took Mr. Eckford to Constantinople in a frigate which the latter had built for the Sultan, and remained there until the death of Eckford in 1832. In 1833 he was married to Janet, daughter of Joseph Rodman Drake, and made his home in New York city, removing later to Washington, D.C. During the famine of 1847 in Ireland, Commodore de Kay petitioned congress to send to that country a United States vessel laden with food. His request was granted and he was placed in command of the frigate Macedonia used for that purpose. See Fitz-Greene Halleck's "Life of Commodore George C. de Kay" (1847). Of his sons, Joseph Rodman Drake de Kay (1836-1886) was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for bravery during the civil war; George Coleman de Kay, born in 1842, served as a lieutenant of artillery and was killed in the service, July 27, 1862, and Sidney de Kay served in the infantry. While a commodore on furlough in the navy of the Argentine Republic, George Coleman de Kay died in Washington, D.C., Jan. 31, 1849.

Drake, Alexander Wilson

Drake, Alexander Wilson, engraver, was born near Westfield, N.J., in the year 1843; son of Isaac and Charlotte (Osborn) Drake. He studied wood engraving under John W. Orr of New York city, and under William Howland; and drawing under August Will, at Cooper union, and at the National academy of design. He was a teacher of drawing at Cooper union and took up the study of painting. He was in the wood engraving business on his own account in New York city from 1865 to 1870, when he accepted the position of art superintendent of Scribner's Monthly, which in 1881 became the Century Magazine. He organized the Bartholdi loan association which raised the money to build the pedestal for the statue of Liberty in New York harbor. He is the author of numerous contributions in prose and verse to current literature, and was elected a member of the Century association, the Players' and Grolier clubs, the Architectural league, the Municipal art league of New York, and the Caxton club of Chicago, Ill.