Samuel Drake and Nancy Hamilton

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Husband Samuel Drake ¹

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           Born: Abt 1754 - New Jersey
     Christened: 
           Died: Abt 1827
         Buried: 

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         Father: [Ancestor] Drake (      -      )
         Mother: 

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       Marriage: 1782 1

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Wife Nancy Hamilton ¹

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           Born: 1762 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 1833 1
         Buried: 

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Children

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1 F Mary Drake ¹

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           Born: 1783 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 1814 1
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Thomas I. Postlethwaite (      -      ) 1

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2 M James Drake ^{1 2}

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           Born: 1787 - Drake's Ferry, Wayne Twp, Mifflin Co, PA 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 1844 1
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Elizabeth Postlethwaite (1790-1854) 1 2

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3 M Samuel Drake ¹

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           Born: 1801 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 1867 1
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Catharine Baird (      -      ) 1

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4 F Katy Drake ¹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: James Baird (      -      ) 1

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5 F Sallie Drake ¹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Mathew Glasgoe (      -      ) 1

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6 F Rebecca Drake ¹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Abram Vandevander (      -      ) 1

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7 F Jane Drake ¹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Joseph Colter (      -      ) 1

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8 F Elizabeth Drake ¹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Peter Cornelius (      -      ) 1

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9 U [Unk] Drake ¹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: when about eight years old
 Cause of Death: Drowning
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Did Not Marry

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General Notes: Husband - Samuel Drake

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He served in the Revolutionary war, after which he established Drake's ferry in the year 1783, and took up his residence there. Little is now known of the early history of Samuel Drake, who was born in the State of New Jersey about the year 1754. He was endowed with rare native energy and unfailing perseverance, but his opportunities for educational improvement were meager; he was, indeed, a self-educated man. The establishment of the ferry was a notable enterprise; it became a prominent landmark, and was then the only crossing place over the Juniata river provided for the traveling public on the great thoroughfare from Standing Stone (now Huntingdon, Pennsylvania) to Chambersburg, Hagerstown, Harper's Ferry and Baltimore, the principal route of traffic during the first quarter of the 1800s. That route was originally an Indian trail, and was afterwards used by the traders and wagoners. Drake's ferry and tavern or inn was a noted stopping place for travelers, who generally arrived in the evenings and departed in the mornings, thus enjoying a night's lodging and rest. The tavern and stables were on the north side of the river, just west of the later county bridge. It was at this house that the dispute occurred in 1791 concerning the boundary line of the counties, which resulted in the arrest of the sheriff of Huntingdon county and his being lodged in the Mifflin county jail. The ferry was operated for many years, and not until the building of the canal, about the year 1830, was it abandoned. As a token of respect for its day and generation a reference is made to it in Fuller's poem on Jack's Narrows, of which we here quote some lines:
And here a century old to-day-
Drake's Ferry lives in name!-
How bright the story of its years!
How far its patrons came!
What bustling life, what moving wealth
Confided in the skill
Of one tradition praises well,
And loves his memory still.
In 1783 Samuel Drake came into possession of 50 acres of land known as the Ferry tract; in 1790 he took up 150 acres additional, later known as the Matilda Furnace farm. This furnace was built in 1836 and named in honor of a daughter of Samuel Drake, afterwards married to Captain Caldwell, who died in the Mexican war from a wound received in the attack on the City of Mexico.
In 1795 Samuel Drake also came into possession of 95 acres in Wayne township, just east of the Furnace property. The latter tract was later known as his son James Drake's homestead farm. In all, he owned upwards of 300 acres of land in the vicinity of Mt. Union, Pa., much of which was cleared and put under a state of cultivation. He continued to run the ferry until his two sons, James and Samuel, were old enough to take charge of it. They managed it for a number of years, until Samuel Drake, Jr., moved to the Furnace farm. He died about 1827, aged about seventy-three years. He was a Whig, and was a member of the Baptist church, services being held in his house.

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General Notes: Wife - Nancy Hamilton

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She was of Holland or low Dutch descent.

1 Editor, Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley (Chambersburg, PA: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897), Pg 50.

2 Raymond Martin Bell, The Bell Family of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania (Ann Arbor, MI: Edwards Brothers, Inc., 1941), Pg 64.