- JEFFERSON DRAKE, a time honored and pioneer settler of Green
county, Wis., was born in
- Jefferson county, Virginia, Dec. 22, 1812, a son of Robert
and Margaret (PARK) DRAKE, early settlers of the Old Dominion
of English descent. When our subject was but four years of age
he accompanied his parents from Virginia to Ohio, and there grew
to manhood. He was one in a large family of children born to
Robert and Margaret DRAKE, the others being Abner, Amos, Park,
Mendenhall, Samuel, Rena and Sarah, and Jefferson is the only
survivor.
- In 1840 Mr. DRAKE came to Wisconsin and located in Green
county. He did not remain on his
- first trip, but returned to Ohio, and did not make a permanent
settlement in the Badger State until 1845, when he located on
Section 17, in Clarno township. This was his home for upwards
of thirty years, when he sold out and purchased 120 acres of
land in section 23, Cadiz township, of which he afterward sold
forty acres, and now resides upon a well improved tract of fifty-six
acres in the village of Cadiz. He has ever been a highly respected
citizen, bearing a good reputation for fair dealing and strict
principles, and his pleasant disposition has won him many warm
friends.
- In 1857 Mr. DRAKE was united in marriage with Miss Mahala
MOORE, who was born in Ohio
- in 1834, and came to Green county with her father, Thomas
MOORE, in 1846. This marriage has been blessed with six children:
Laura, born in 1858 is at home; Lincoln, born in 1860, is a farmer,
and married Manzella AUSTIN, who bore him two children, Theodore
and Otha; Ida May, born in 1862, married Daniel HOWDER, of Cadiz;
Thomas, born in 1864, married Sarah McCAMANT, and has two children,
Iva and Glenn; Eli, born in 1867, married Eva ROBB, of Cadiz
township, and has three children, Floy, Lena and Bernice; and
Dora, born in 1869, is now deceased. In politics Mr. DRAKE has
been a Republican from the time that party first presented a
presidential candidate. His first vote for president was cast
in 1836, when Martin Van Buren was his choice, and he has never
missed a presidential vote up to the present, his last vote having
been cast for William McKinley, making nineteen different elections.
He is now the oldest resident of the county, and is hale and
hearty, with a remarkable memory that makes him a most pleasing
companion, and one much sought by the local historian.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; pp. 951-952.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
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