Charles Daniel Drake, 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.