Dear Drake Exchange: Please, no one leave the list over the slave controversy. Yes, some Drakes owned and/or were slaves. Yes, finding data on them is pretty much next to impossible. Yes, slavery and the post c.w. institution called share cropping caused much much misery. Yes, there are Drakes in different races. But to leave a computer list serv over something NONE OF US HAD ANY CONTROL OVER AND SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED OVER ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO is sad. I have been gathering historical data on known slave holding plantations and non related families who owned slaves. This at least gives me some idea of what it may have been like. Me personally, if I had lived back then I would have perferred getting cash during the reading of the will. But a Drake ancestor became the owner of two slaves when her dad went to meet Mr. Equal Opportunity Employer in the sky. We cannot imagine today in the 90s what it was like to own or be owned. The mystery surrounding who's a Drake and who has cousins in another race could probably be solved by DNA studies. I doubt they will ever be done, though. Sir Francis millions have vanished. I jokingly tell people the Drake millions (dollars) are there, it is just that they are now Drake millions (people.) So there is no monetary battle to be waged. Also, unlike the Jefferson-Hemings debate, no gravesites to seek, no burial plots to argue over. When I am at the local library I read historical publications AND writings by people who were alive in the 1860s. That at least gives me a clue about what life was like back then. Monticello has a softbound book on Slavey. It is published by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation and is written by Lucia Stanton. The address is Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc., Monticello Catalog, P.O. Box 318, Charlottesville, VA 22902 The book gives a very indepth look at the institution of slavery and includes Hemmings and Fossett family trees. Perhaps a clickable square on Drake slaves could be included at the Drake Family Worldwide Website. Martha