USA > Pennsylvania > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Vol. II > Part 8
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Samuel Drake, son of Imla and Temperance ( MacPherson) Drake, was born April 26, 1774, married March 3, 1796, by the Rev. William Budd, Catharine Hulshizer, born September 14, 1775, died March 17, 1853, daughter of John Martin Hulshizer, born January 8, 1747, died April 9, 1810, and Margaret (Mellick ) Hulshizer, born August 20, 1757, died February 25, 1822. Mr. and Mrs. Drake resided on a farm near As- bury, New Jersey. They were the parents of eleven children :
I. Rebecca, born February 1. 1797, died De- cember 2, 1865. She was married (first) January 23, 1823, by the Rev. Jacob R. Castner, to Joseph Osmun, who died November 8, 1823; married (second) February 14, 1839, Jesse Stewart. Her son Joseph Osmun, born December 13, 1823, mar- ried Mary Vliet, born January 4, 1827, and moved to Oak Grove, Dodge county, Wisconsin, where their daughter, Lauretta White, was born December 2, 1852, married July 2, 1874, and died December 27, 1900.
2. Margaret, born November 5. 1798, died July 21, 1881. On February 23, 1829, she be- came the wife of Thomas Moffet, who died De- cember 6, 1837.
3. Sarah, born June 9, 1801, died December 19, 1802.
4. John, born December 19, 1803, died April 28, 1873. He married. September 25, 1827, Mar- garet Stewart. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. W. Sloan. Further mention made below.
5. Martin, born May 19, 1806, died May 2, 1887. He married, September 1, 1841, Sophia S. Meginley, born April 21, 1821. died July 28, 1890. Her parents were James Meginley, born
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
May 20, 1778, died December 5, 1858, and his wife, Catharine (Dewitt) Meginley, born May 20, 1787, died April 24, 1851. June 9, 1854, Martin Drake and family moved to Wisconsin, and settled on a farm in the town of Clyman, Dodge county, in September of the same year, remaining there until death. Their children were: I. Martha, born January 18, 1843. 2. Theodore, born August 29, 1844, married Mary J. McQuivey, May 28, 1871, and their children are: Frances M., born August 22, 1873; Nellie M. Brewster, born February 14, 1876, married January 19, 1900; Carrie L., born April 3, 1884; Charles P., born November 27, 1888; and Robert G., born October 1, 1893. 3. Charles, born Au- gust 5, 1846, married, December 19, 1876, L. Emma Lyon, who died April 23, 1901. 4. Caro- line, born September 9, 1848, became the wife of George H. Wilson, October 5, 1898. 5. Tamzon, born November 28, 1850. 6. Robert C., born June 18, 1853, married, May 25, 1887, Hermione Creydt, and their children are: Edna C., born October 1, 1891 ; Raymond L. born February 25, 1893; and Alice M., born June 20, 1897. 7. Mary C., born March 16, 1859, became the wife of Edwin D. Cole, June 19, 1899.
6. Imla, born April 16, 1808, died July 26, 1808.
7. Temperance, born November 28, 1809, died June 17, 1872. She married, December I, 1831, Luther Calvin Carter, who was born March 31, 1807, died November 6, 1842. Their children were: Elizabeth, born January 17, 1833, married January 3, 1853, William W. Sterrett and died September 1, 1870; Mary Catharine, born Feb- ruary 5, 1835, married, October 21, 1857, Imla Drake Williamson, and died October 29, 1860; Charlotte, born May 18, 1837, married, February 25, 1862, William H. Parker; Sarah Anderson, born July 9, 1839, married, April 29, 1858, George Hoffman ; Margaret Drake, born Septem- ber 9, 1841, married November 19, 1873, James Irving Stevenson.
8. Mary, born August 22, 1812, died Feb- ruary 6, 1852.
9. Samuel Stewart, born January 14, 1816, died August 18, 1867. He married, September 19, 1839, Susan Axford Vliet, born September 20, 1819, died August 22, 1898, and their remains were interred in Oak Grove Cemetery. In April, 1854, Samuel S. Drake and family went to Wis- consin and settled on a farm in the town of Oak Grove; he was the proprietor of the only hotel in that town. Their children were : I. Emma M., born April 24, 1842, married, February 2, 1864, Warren Finch, and their children are: Edwin,
William, Nettie, who married Andrew Hart, 1895 ; and Mabel. 2. Edward H., born July 19. 1844. married June 19, 1866, Adele Bassett, and they are the parents of one son, Harvey S., born No- vember 30, 1886. 3. Lewis M., born August 22, 1848, married, December 16, 1869, Frances V. Huxford, who died October 27, 1900, and was buried at Oak Grove Cemetery, and their children are: Howard B., born No- vember 19, 1880, and Harry Stewart, born No- veinber 14, 1882. 4. Amanda, born January 6, 1851, married January 6, 1869, Henry Notting- ham, who died September 22, 1898, and was buried at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and their child is Louis, born February 6, 1876, married June 10, 1896, Jessie Clason. 5. John, born July 3, 1854. 6. William A., born May I, 1856, mar- ried, August 29, 1878, Frances Woodworth. 7. Charra E., born May 12, 1859.
IO. William, born June 22, 1818, died Feb- ruary 14, 1892. He married Rachel Morgan Ax- ford, daughter of Daniel and Margaret (Mor- gan) Axford, who was born August 18, 1817, and died March II, 1896; they resided for many years at Hackettstown, New Jersey. Their children were : I. Henrietta Axford, born September 28, 1839, married Josiah Ketcham, of Hackettstown, New Jersey, and their children are: John, Irving and Lizzie. 2. Adaline, born December 31, 1840, married James Dufford, of New York City, and their children are Frank, Annie and Lizzie; 3. Daniel Axford, born December 20, 1842, died February 5, 1857 ; 4. Albert Livingston, born May 3, 1844, died July 31, 1899; he married Kate Vliet, of Orange, New Jersey, and their children are Nel- son and Harry. 5. Margaret Morgan, born Au- gust 17, 1847, became the wife of Sylvanus D. Budd, of Newark, New Jersey, and their chil- dren are Mary, Sarah, William and Helen. 6. Catherine, born April 27, 1849, became the wife of Jacob D. Flock, of Hackettstown, New Jersey, and their children are Ella, Edith and Rachel. 7. William Henry, born May 2, 1852, married Adaline Ayers, of Hackettstown, New Jersey .. and they have one son, John. 8. Richard Van Horn, born March 31, 1857, married Rose Win- termute, of Mt. Vernon, New York, and they have one son, Frank.
II. David Andrew, born March 9, 1823, died March 22, 1878. He married, July 2, 1855, Lucy Barr.
John Drake, fourth child and eldest son of Samuel and Catherine (Hulshizer) Drake, was
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
born near Asbury, Warren county, New Jersey, December 19, 1803, and died at Easton, Pennsylvania, April 28, 1873. He was brought up on his father's farm and at the age of twenty-five left home and settled in the village of Broadway, in his native county, where he kept a hotel and carried on a small country store. Three years later he removed to Towns- bury, where for two years he kept store and oper- ated a saw mill. His next location was at Bridge- ville, where his attention was devoted to mer- cantile pursuits. In 1836 he settled in Easton and started in the grocery business in 1837, asso- ciating with himself as a partner his former em- ploye, Derrick Hulick, in the firm of Drake & Hulick. Easton was then an important town, and it was there that he was so long in business with Mr. Hulick, first in the retail trade, but later developing into an extensive wholesale establishment whose goods were distributed not only throughout the Lehigh Valley but in western New Jersey and even in southern New York. The establishment of this firm being be- fore the construction of the many railroads which now traverse these rich sections of Pennsylva- nia, developing as much if not more substan- tial wealth than the same area of any other sec- tion of the United States, Drake & Hulick gathered into the town of Easton and trans- ported thence to the great marts of trade, New York and Philadelphia, the produce of the coun- try by means of wagons. These were under the superintendence of the junior partner, while the senior managed the mercantile and financial branches of the business at home, with the result that the house soon came to control a very large trade in all the surrounding country. Mr. Drake was also the prime factor in what was one of the important enterprise of its day in that region. Before the day of railroads and as head of the firm of Drake, Wilson & Company, Mr. Drake established a line of canal boats between Easton and Philadelphia which became one of the princi- pal means of merchandise transportation, develop- ing an extensive traffic which reached all the Le- high Valley. He was largely instrumental in the development of the iron trade, being one of
the original subscribers, organizers and directors of the Thomas Iron Company, and the Carbon Iron Company, and one of the five original own- ers of the Delaware Rolling Mill. He was a stockholder and director in the Farmers' & Me- chanics' (afterwards the First National) Bank of Easton, and was public-spirited in every measure conducing to the welfare and prosperity of Easton.
He had no especial taste for politics, but al- ways adhered to the Whig and after its dissolu- tion to the Republican party. John Drake was married September 25, 1827, by the Rev. W. Sloan, to Margaret Stewart, born September 21, 1809, daughter of Samuel Stewart and Catherine Carpenter, and granddaughter of Thomas Stewart and Rachel Dewees. Thomas Stewart was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, March 19, 1752. Rachel Dewees was born at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in 1760, and was daughter of William Dewees of that place. Sam- uel Stewart and Catherine Carpenter were mar- ried January 20, 1807. She was a daughter of Balser Carpenter, of Sussex county, New Jersey. Children of John Drake and Margaret Stewart :
I. Catherine Stewart, born January 3, 1828, now (1905) living in Easton, Pennsylvania.
2. Samuel, born July 16, 1830, died June 29, 1893 ; married January 16, 1862, Sarah B. Arndt, died June 14, 1884.
3. Thomas Stewart, born January 26, 1832, died July 16, 1899 ; married April 3, 1858, Mary Ann, daughter of Thomas and Martha Pyle; she was born March 12, 1835, in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, and died April 18, 1878. Thomas S. Drake and wife resided in or near Easton all their married life, and their remains are interred in the Easton cemetery. Their children are: I. William Semple, born August 16, 1858, died un- married October 6, 1889. 2. Herbert Thomas, born June 7, 1860; married March 4, 1884, by Rev. J. M. Anspach, to Elizabeth, born Septem- ber 13, 1861, daughter of the late Joseph and Sa- rah Nicholas, of Brodheadsville, Monroe county, Pennsylvania. Their children: Katherine May, born May 23, 1885 ; Thomas Stewart, February I, 1889; Herbert Raymond, March 17, 1892; Frank E., July 27, 1804. 3. George Howard, born September 27, 1862; married, Mary Alice, born March 9, 1865, daughter of the late Joseph and Sarah Nicholas, and sister of Mrs. Herbert
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
Drake. Their children : George Howard, Jr., born November 19, 1892; Emily Alice, April 18, 1896. 4. Harry T., August 6, 1864, died November 24, 1864. 5. Robert Pyle, born November 30, 1865. 6. Margaret May, born April 29, 1869; married, September 14, 1899, Howard Hunt Ben- nett, born July 19, 1870; their children: John Drake, born July 7, 1900; Howard Hunt, Jr., January 17, 1903. 7. Emily Alice, born May 13. 1872, died April 29, 1875. 8. Lillian Maud, born March 29, 1875; married September 26, 1900, Harry Frank Lesher, born November 8, 1880: their one child is a daughter, Margaret Drake, born February 21, 1902.
4. Ellen, born November 22, 1834; married October 8, 1856, William Brawnlow Semple, born July 10, 1831, died June 29, 1868. Their children: 1. Margaret Drake, born July 29, 1857; married March 1, 1882, William T. Fee, born in Niles, Ohio, May 6, 1854; he resided many years in Warren, Ohio, where their chil- dren were born, and is at present United States consul at Bombay, India, where their daughter Ellen Semple died of the plague in 1904. Their children: Warren Harold, born August 31, 1883 ; Clarence Edward, May 3, 1886; Ellen Semple, May 17, 1894, died March 20, 1904. 2. Elizabeth, born November 29, 1859; married March 12, 1890, Stewart Maurice Hohl, born August 25, 1858. Their children : George Mau- rice, born July 23, 1891 ; Stewart Maurice, Jr., July 8, 1897; Emily Drake, February 6, 1903; 3. Isabelle, born January 12, 1862. 4. Clarence Howard, born October 25, 1865; married Octo- ber 23, 1889, Mary Ellen Engleman, born August 8, 1866. Their children : Helen Engleman, born May 14, 1891 ; Clarence Howard, Jr., April 24, 1894 ; died April 8, 1895 ; Elizabeth Drake, Octo- ber 21, 1900.
5. Sarah Stewart, born March 10, 1837, died July 2, 1884.
6. Lewis Clewell, born October 13, 1839. He was shipping agent for the Thomas Iron Com- pany at New York, for many years, and died un- married at Easton, November 10, 1883.
7. Mary Carpenter, born July 15, 1842, died November 23, 1862.
8. Emily, born December 1, 1844: married September 18, 1873, James Whitfield Wood, born January 17, 1845, in Deckertown (now Sussex) Sussex county, New Jersey, son of Rev. James Washington Wood, D. D., and Elizabeth C. Wood. Their children : I. Margaret Drake, born May 5, 1877 : died February 19, 1879. 2. Fred- erick Raymond (namesake of the immediate sub- ject of this sketch), born January 19, 1880. 3.
Emily Virginia, born August 19, 1884, died Jan- uary 13, 1890.
9. Howard, born April 3, 1847 ; married De- cember 14, 1876, Annie L. Shouse, of Camden, New Jersey, died July 7, 1899. Their child by adoption is Gladys Drake. Howard Drake was educated at the Vanderveer school. He entered the wholesale dry goods and notion business un- der the instruction of Captain Jacob Hay, later conducted a general store for the Thomas Iron Company at South Mountain, Pennsylvania, and in 1877 entered the wholesale grocery firm of J. Drake's Sons & Co., with his brother Samuel, and Winfield S. Hulick, at Easton, where after an honorable business career he developed an un- explainable illness, and died suddenly at Watkins Glen in 1899, as above, respected by all who came in contact with him.
IO. Frank, born September 29, 1849, died May 3, 1894. He was a graduate of Dr. Hammond's Lawrenceville (New Jersey) school, and entered Lafayette College in the class of 1873. He left college to go into business, and after several years spent with his brother Lewis in New York re- turned to Easton and connected himself with the wholesale grocery business of J. Drake's Sons & Co., where he was employed at the time of his death.
II. John Drake, Jr., born April 11, 1852, died in Saylorsburg, Monroe county, Pennsylva- nia, January 6, 1880. He pursued a business career, and was for a number of years connected with J. Drake's Sons & Co.
John Drake, father of the family named above, died in Easton, April 28, 1873, and his wife died June 6, 1877. Their remains rest in the Drake family plot in Easton cemetery.
Samuel Drake, second child and eldest son of John and Margaret (Stewart) Drake, was born in Broadway, Warren county, New Jersey, July 16, 1830, and died in Spring Lake, New Jersey, June 29, 1893, where he had spent the two last summers of his life. His education was acquired chiefly at the Vanderveer school in Easton. In 1847, at the age of seventeen, he entered his father's wholesale grocery house. Ten years later he became one of the firm, the style of which was then changed to Drake, Hulick & Company, and so continued until 1872 when, upon the death of Mr. Hulick, the name was changed to J. Drake, Son & Company. In 1877 Howard Drake came into the firm and the style then became J. Drake's
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
Sons & Company. Samuel Drake, the surviving partner of the old firm, was actively connected - with the business until the time of his death. He was closely identified with various enterprises of Easton and the Lehigh Valley. He was a di- rector of the First National Bank of Easton; was largely interested in the Thomas Iron Company, of which he was a director and vice-president ; serving in the latter capacity until his death; and was also vice-president and director of the Edi- son Illuminating Company of Easton, a director of the Easton Trust Company, and of the Easton Water Company ; and a manager of the Fire In- surance Company of Northampton county.
Originally Mr. Drake was a Whig, but he connected himself with the Republican party at its organization. He was deeply interested in national and state politics, but never aspired to public office. He was a member of the Second Presbyterian church, and fra- ternally a Mason. The extent and importance of his business interests, his loyal citizenship, and equally loyal friendships, made him one of the most honored citizens of Easton, and his death was sincerely and generally mourned.
Samuel Drake married January 16, 1862, Sarah Arndt, born June 30, 1837, daughter of Jacob and Sarah Arndt, of Greenwich township, Warren county, New Jersey. In the paternal line she was descended from Hanns Arndt, of the village of Warpen, bailiwick of Coswig, Anhalt- Terbts, Germany. (See Arndt sketch on follow- ing pages.) From him the line of descent runs through Martin and Martin Conrad to Bern- hard, who was founder of the Arndt family in America. Bernhard Arndt (1), born in 1700, emigrated from Baumholder, Lichtenberg, Ger- many, in May, 1731, landing in Philadelphia. His son Jacob (2) was born in the same village as himself, March 24, 1725, and was six years old when he came to America ; he died in North- ampton county, Pennsylvania, August 3, 1805. His son Abraham (3) of Greenwich township, was born January 31, 1759, and died in 1845. His son Jacob (4) was born September 2, 1788, and died May 28, 1852. He married, June 26,
1817, Sarah Stewart, born October 26, 1801, daughter of Robert and Mary Stewart. Their daughter, Sarah B. Arndt, who became the wife of Samuel Drake, came to Easton in 1862, and connected herself with the Brainerd Presbyterian church, where all of her children were baptized except the youngest, Laura. She was an earnest Christian and a devoted wife, sharing her hus- band's struggles and triumphs. During the last ten years of her life her husband was much of an invalid, and required her constant care. She succumbed through heart failure to the dread disease typhoid fever, after an illness of six weeks.
The children of Samuel and Sarah (Arndt) Drake were:
I. Mary Virginia, born July 15, 1863 ; mar- ried November 15, 1888, James Madison Porter, and has one child, James Madison Porter (4th) born March 7, 1897.
2. Fred Raymond, born June 12, 1865.
3. Estelle, born May 30, 1867, died December 9, 1868.
4. Carrie Arndt, born April 30, 1869; mar- ried, January 5, 1898, John Rice, and they have two children: Virginia, born August 8, 1899; and John Jr., born June 18, 1903.
5. Laura Edna, born September 12, 1874.
Fred Raymond Drake, second child and eldest son of Samuel and Sarah (Arndt) Drake, is the eldest son of the eldest son to the fourth gener- ation. He was born June 12, 1865, in Easton, Pennsylvania. He began his education in the public schools of that city, was subsequently under private tutorship until 1882, when he en- tered Lafayette College, from which he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1886, and took the Master's degree in due course. He was awarded the Shakespeare prize in his junior year, and graded as a speaker at commencement. In college he joined the Zeta Psi fraternity, and has ever since been deeply interested in its wel- fare. He was elected Alpha Sigma Alpha in 1891 at Providence, Rhode Island, and Phi Alpha, or international president, at Easton, in 1898; and since 1895 has continuously been a member of the
46
HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
committee of patriarchs of the fraternity; and is president of the Tau Chapter Association of Zeta Psi of Easton, Pennsylvania.
Since 1886 Mr. Drake has been in active busi- ness in Easton, in connection with the wholesale grocery house established by his grandfather in 1836, and with which his father was connected ·during his entire active life. In 1889 he became a member of the firm of J. Drake's Sons & Com- pany, which in 1899 became Drake & Company. He is closely identified with various important corporations, being a director and the auditor of the Thomas Iron Company ; vice-president of the Northampton Trust Company ; vice-president of . the Easton Gas and Electric Company ; and pres- ident of the Commonwealth Water and Light Company of New Jersey.
Mr. Drake has been for several years actively identified with the National Guard of Pennsyl- .vania, in which he has made an excellent record. In 1898 he organized a company for service in the Spanish-American war, and which was desig- nated as Company E, Eleventh Regiment Provi- sional Guard. It was not called into the national service, and in 1899 was transferred as Company I to the Thirteenth Regiment National Guard. At the organization of the company Mr. Drake was elected first lieutenant, July 12, 1898. He was promoted to captain September 27, 1898, and served as such after the transfer of his company to the Thirteenth Regiment, and until he was ap- pointed aide-de-camp with the rank of captain of the staff of Brigadier-General J. P. S. Gobin, commanding the Third Brigade, National Guard of Pennsylvania. Under Captain Drake the Eas- ton company received the highest inspection rat- ing of any company in the state at each succeed- ing brigade inspection. He served with his brigade during the industrial disturbances in the anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania, in 1902, and was acting quartermaster of the brigade dur- ing a great part of his tour of duty, which ex- tended over the long period of ninety-four days, seventy-two days being spent in the neighborhood of Shenandoah, and twenty-two days in Wilkes- Barre. He was appointed as aide-de-camp on General Gobin's staff, December 5, 1903.
Mr. Drake is favorably known in lit- erary and social circles. He aided in the founding of the Easton Public Library, and is vice-presi- dent of its board of trustees. He is vice-president of the Pomfret Club of Easton ; and is a governor of the Country Club of Northampton county, of which he was an organizing member. He holds membership in the Markham Club of Philadel- phia, and the Pennsylvania-German Society. He is also a member of the University Club and the Shakespeare Society of New York City. His deep interest in literature is best attested by his connection with the last named body and the Eas- ton Public Library. His private library is of great value, a particularly interesting feature be- ing several unusually fine editions of Shakespeare.
ARNDT FAMILY. I, John Arndt, at pres- ent residing in the borough of Easton, in the county of Northampton, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, who was one of the subscribers to this American edition of the Holy Bible, do de- clare my wish and solemn desire that this valu- able work consisting of two volumes shall after my decease go to and be considered as the prop- erty of the eldest male branch of my posterity. With a most solemn request that the same shall forever, or as long as it will last, go to and be considered as the property of my eldest male de- scendant, or on failure as such to the eldest male descendant of any of my daughters. Hoping that my posterity will pay so much respect to my memory and wishes that they will not by sale, barter, or neglect, ever part with the book and thereby violate my most sincere expectations ; for verification of this intention I have herein put my signature, which is well known to my present existing acquaintances, this 4th day of July, In the Year of Our Lord, 1807.
JOHN ARNDT.
As the above is my intention it occurs to me that it will be very natural for some of my family or posterity to express a wish to know something of mine and their ancestors. To comply with such a desire, if it should ever exist in any one, I will endeavor to inform them the traditions that I recollect and some written documents that I now
47
GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
have by me, where my ancestors emigrated from. Most of them were poor, humble mechanics, conse- quently lived in obscurity, unnoticed by the bulk of mankind, and if everyone who is the temporary owner of this book will be at the trouble to make addition hereto, our posterity may be furnished with some sketch of genealogical information.
The first ancestor I could hear from was Hans Arndt, a respectable farmer in the village of Warpen, in the bailiwick (Amt) of Coswig, in the principality of Anhalt Zerbts, in Germany. He was the father of Martin Arndt, who intermarried with Maria, a daughter of Hanns Sager, a re- spectable citizen of Zerbts. They had an only son named Martin Conrad Arndt, who in early life expressed an inclination to travel, for which leave was obtained from his parents, and before he departed from home a writing on parchment was given to him, dated at Zerbts, 13, March, 1678, which amongst other things certified that he was born of good German blood, and not of the Wenzischen; what this distinction is I was never informed of. This Martin Conrad, it seems, eventually settled himself in the dukedom of Zweibenchen, and in lawful wedlock got two chil- dren, one a son named Bernhard, and a daughter that was married to a Mr. Conrad, the grand- father of Frederick Conrad, one of our late rep- resentatives to congress. Bernhard Arndt became married to Anna Maria, a daughter to Andress Decker, residing in Corborn, in said dukedom, and settled himself in the borough of Baumholder, in the bailiwick (Amt) of Lichtenberg. In this marriage and settlement there is a circumstance that may appear very singular to a freeborn American citizen, and, under a belief that a short detail thereof may stimulate posterity, ever give rational support to legal liberty without travel- ing into the wide fields of speculative and licen- tious proceedings, which by the demagogues of the day are construed to be the rights of men. The village, is seems, where this Andress Decker resided, was subject to a kind of villianage, or vassalage, something similar to the fate of a Vir- ginia slave, or negro, who is transferred with the soil which his master owns when he chooses to sell the same; therefore when my grandfather,
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