BIOGRAPHY: Franklin DRAKE, Mifflin County, PA

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The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising 
the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania.
Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, pages 514-515.

  FRANKLIN DRAKE, retired farmer, of Wayne township, Mifflin county, Pa., was 
born December 22, 1825, at Drake's Ferry, Huntingdon county, Pa.  He is a son of 
Samuel and Catharine (Beard) Drake.  His grandfather, Samuel Drake, Sr., born in 
New Jersey, established Drake's Ferry in Huntingdon county.  (See sketch of D. 
S. Drake, of Huntingdon).  One of his sons was Samuel Drake, Jr., the father of 
Franklin Drake.  This son was born in 1801, at Drake's Ferry.  He received an 
excellent education in the subscription schools of Huntingdon county, and was 
especially noted for his fluency as a reader.  Early in life he worked on the 
farm with his father through the day, and in the mornings and evenings, when 
there was the heaviest travel, he assisted at the Ferry.  In 1830 he gave up 
ferry work, devoting his time to farming, and about this time erected the large 
stone dwelling still standing on the furnace property.  Prior to 1837 he spent 
two years on the canal, one year as steersman for Captain Fields, and one year 
running on his own account a boat owned by Richard Miles, of McVeytown.  In the 
spring of 1837, selling the homestead farm to Capt. James Caldwell, of Mexican 
war fame, Samuel Drake removed to Newton Hamilton, buying a Wayne township farm 
of 100 acres of highly improved land, on which he erected a fine barn, and made 
other improvements.  In 1864 he removed from this farm to Mt. Union, where he 
died in 1866, at the house of his daughter, Mrs. Ross.  Samuel Drake married 
Catharine Beard, of a Mifflin county family, of Scotch-Irish descent.  They had 
seven children, as follows:  Franklin, of Newton Hamilton;  Nancy, born January 
1, 1827, wife of Alfred Walker, both deceased;  Catharine, born December 28, 
1829, wife of Alexander Taylor, both deceased;  William, born March 31, 1832, 
died in California;  James, born May 6, 1834, died in early life;  Sarah Ann, 
born July 16, 1839, who was also called away in youth;  Mary Rebecca, born July 
25, 1845, widow of John Ross, of Mount Union, Pa.  The mother of these children 
died at Mt. Union, in the year 1870.  Samuel Drake, or as he was generally known 
throughout Huntingdon and Mifflin counties, "Uncle Sam," was a very robust man, 
of a genial, happy disposition, which was manifested by his constant habit of 
singing.  He was highly respected for his unsullied integrity.  He was a very 
active member of the Baptist church, in which he became a convert in early life.  
He was guided even in the most trivial actions by his conscientious convictions 
of duty.  "Uncle Sam" took considerable part in public affairs, and was for 
three years one of the commissioners of Mifflin county, elected on the Whig 
ticket.  He was first a Whig and died a Republican.  He was a "mighty hunter," 
having in his early days shot many of the bears and other wild animals that 
infested the forests.  His son, Franklin Drake, attended the public schools of 
Newton Hamilton during the winter months, working on the farm during the summer, 
until, at the age of eighteen, he began to learn bricklaying and stone masonry, 
at which he worked for several years.  Later, in connection with Joseph Ewing, 
he bought the Gaff farm, which they cultivated together for two years.  He then 
sold out his interest to Ewing, worked a rented farm in Shirley township, 
Huntingdon county, for three years.  Selling off his farm stock, he moved to 
"Long Hollow," in Wayne township, Mifflin county, where he bought a small farm 
and also carried on mason work until 1892, when he retired to live with his son, 
John P. Drake.
  Franklin Drake was married at Concord, Franklin county, to Elizabeth Jane, 
daughter of Mitchel McKim, a Franklin county farmer of Scotch-Irish descent.  
They have three children;  Catharine (Mrs. George P. Foster), of Huntingdon, 
Pa.;  Rosa Belle, (Mrs. John H. Green), of McKean county, Pa.;  and Annie 
Elizabeth (Mrs. Thomas Chapman), deceased.  Mrs. Elizabeth J. (McKim) Drake 
departed this life in 1856.  Mr. Drake was again married April 3, 1860, to 
Elizabeth Jane Birely, born in Shippensburg, Pa.  They had three children, as 
follows:  John P.;  George A., a farmer, living on the old James Drake homestead 
in Wayne township, married Miss Alice Caldwell;  and Samuel R.   Franklin Drake, 
who is well-known throughout the county, and everywhere respected for his 
honesty, integrity and manliness, has always been an industrious and hard-
working man, a kind husband, an indulgent father and a worthy citizen.  He is an 
active and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was 
formerly one of the trustees.  He takes an active part in politics, and is a 
staunch Republican.  He has acceptably filled the office of school director in 
Wayne township.  He was also elected constable.
  John P. Drake, eldest son of Franklin and Elizabeth J. (Birely) Drake, was 
born February 26, 1861, in Wayne township, near Newton Hamilton.  Educated in 
the public schools, he passed his life upon his father's farm until he was 
twenty years of age, when he learned wagon-making with S. Ewing.  After this he 
was engaged for four years in the store of B. E. Morrison.  Since that time he 
has cultivated the John McDowell farm in Wayne township.  John P. Drake was 
married June 14, 1894, to Elizabeth, daughter of James and Elizabeth (McManigal) 
Dysart, of Newton Hamilton.  Their children are:  one son, who died in infancy;  
and Rebecca Elizabeth Drake, born March 11, 1897.  Mr. Drake is a Republican.  
He is a member of the P. O. S. A. and of the I. O. O. F.