Joel S. DRAKE
1884 History of Clay County, p. 399.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Bowling Green and Washington Township.

JOEL S. DRAKE, of Bowling Green, was born in Meade County, Ky., January 24, 1831, and is the seventh of nine chldren of Greenberry and Nancy (Lane) Drake, nativce of Virginia and of English origin.
Our subject was reared on a farm, working in the summer and attending the common schools in the winter seasons. In this way he acquired an education that qualified him as a school teacher.
In his younger days he also acquired the trade of brick-mason, which trade he followed for twenty-eight years. After serving his time, he went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he sojourned about fifteen years, when he returned to Bowling Green, and purchased a farm of 140 acres near the town, and on this farm he now resides; said farm has all the improvements necessary to make home pleasant and attractive. He was married, June 18, 1873, to Melissa Shafer, a native of Owen County, Ind., and a daughter of Elijah and Rhoda Ann Shafer, natives of Ohio, and of German and Irish descent. To them have been born four children, viz., Maude S., Nancy A., Howard J., and Albert A., all of whom are living. October 7, 1880, Mrs, Drake died. She was a devoted member of the Christian Church. By his own hands and skill, Mr. Drake has made the farm he now owns and occupies; in short, he "is the architect of his own fortune."