Richard Dowdle Drake (1794 - 1866)

Born 1794 in Orange, New York, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1866 at about age 72 in St. Thomas, Elgin, Ontario, Canada

Biography

Capt. Richard Drake served in the 2nd Regiment of Norfolk Militia, Canada in the War of 1812
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Richard D. Drake, was in the 2nd Regiment, Norfolk Militia at the time of the War of 1812. He was only a Private at that point but according to his 2nd son, Daniel, "He served while the fighting was going on and was wounded in a skirmish at Sugar Loaf, near Port Colborne. He was principally engaged, however, in carrying despatches to Colonel (Thomas) Talbot along an Indian trail which then existed through the forest." (Talbot afterwards encouraged him to settle on Talbot Road) Richard was also, inevitably, involved with General Brock's "armada" of eclectic craft which took men down Lake Erie to Amherstburg in the victorious capture of Detroit. Those men who could not get on the boats marched to Amherstburg from Port Dover and arrived almost simultaneously due to Erie's storms. (I say inevitably, because every able man was involved in that expedition.)

Richard married Betsy McQueen, the daughter of UEL Daniel McQueen, a Port Dover resident. The marriage is validated through Daniel McQueen's Will and was probably c1816, Port Dover.(Note: Col. Talbot, situated at Port Talbot, Dunwich, Elgin, had the Talbot Roads surveyed from his property. Port Talbot was Lot Zero. To the west, the road followed an Indian trail to Sandwich - Windsor/Amherstburg. To the east, the road, also following an old Indian trail, went through what is now Fingal, St. Thomas, Aylmer and on to Delhi. So the property that Richard got was Lot 44, north side of the Talbot Road East, "TRE" in Southwold. Lot 45 was still in Southwold, but Lots 46 and 47 were in Yarmouth Twp. Lot 46, TRE was (south side) Daniel Rapelje's, Lot 1, Yarmouth and Lot 47, TRE (south side) was Lot 2, Yarmouth that Richard's father, William, settled. Looking at old Atlas maps of the Townships, or modern maps showing lots, the Talbot Road looked like a "zipper" going through the Townships - this was because they were following old trails and subsequent surveys abutted the Talbot Road.)

Richard settled on Lot 44, north side of the Talbot Road in Southwold, Elgin. There is a massive Canada Southern Railway Trestle that spans the valley at St. Thomas. It crosses, almost entirely, Lot 45, Southwold. Richard's property was (long before the Railways) at the west end of the trestle with his house very close to that junction. The east end of the trestle rests almost on the Yarmouth/Southwold townline, or very close to the start of Daniel Rapelje's property and house, on Lot 1, Yarmouth. Underneath the trestle, on Lot 45 Southwold, the tiny village of Sterling began...and ended, being superseded by St. Thomas. The trestle crosses the old "London & Port Stanley Gravel Road"/ Sunset Drive in St. Thomas, now/ Highway #4 from London to Port Stanley.

Richard was Captain in the 1st Regiment Middlesex Militia after moving to Elgin. In the 1805 census, Norfolk, Wo., Richard was 11, in the Woodhouse 1812 census he was 18 and in the 1842 census, Southwold he was 47 and there were 13 family members.

In the 1861 census, Southwold, Elizabeth had died and the children with him were: John, 22, Mary Louise, 21, Thomas, 16, Mathew, 14, and James (W.), 12. By 1871 no children remained at home and Richard had remarried to Cynthia (Unknown) age 65. Richard died in 1866 and due to a mistranscription is cited as dying on July 7, but it highly unlikely that he died the same day as Elizabeth. Cynthia, stepmother, lived the rest of her life in the House of Industry as an indigent.

Sources

The Long Point Settlers, R. Robert Mutrie; Frank Hunt Essays on Elgin County, edited by George Thorman; Norfolk Census records, Norfolk Historical Society; Anglican Records, Old St. Thomas Church, Baptisms, Marriages, Lemon & Thorman; Old English Church cemetery records, H. Buckland et al; Vignettes of Early St. Thomas, W. C. Miller; Men of Upper Canada, Elliott et al;

• Canada's GenWeb Cemetery Project Memorial
• Sherri Harder, firsthand knowledge. Click the Changes tab for the details of edits by Sherri and others.
• Library and Archives Canada, War of 1812, Certificates of service during the War of 1812, RG9 IB4, 38901