Benjamin Michael Drake, 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.