Peter Drake
ID # 1311, (1827-)
| Birth | Peter Drake was born in 1827 at Canada. |
| Marriage | He married Lucinda Vrooman, daughter of Arents Schuyler Depeyster Vrooman and Mary Douglas, on 1 November 1854 at Oxford Co., Ontario. MS248 reel 1, Vol. 2, page 237 Brock District Marriage Register Extracted from a list of marriages solemnized by Edward Topping, a minister of the Baptist denomination in Woodstock between October 18, 1854 and October 18, 1855. Peter Drake and Lucinda Vrooman, both of East Oxford, on November 1, 1854, by banns. Witnesses Harry Almas and Matilda H. Topping Typically, for a district marriage register, the parents's names are not given. Harry Almas just may have been Lucinda's brother-in-law. See notes under Lucinda's father, Arents Schuyler Depeyester Vrooman. As of 1849, the old Brock District had ceased to exist and Woodstock was the county seat of the new county of Oxford. It appears that a county marriage register was not yet in use. Indeed, for other counties, the era between the end of the districts and the inception of county marriage registers - 1854 included - was a blank for marriage registrations. The clerk at Woodstock must have been a bright light, for he just continued to use the old Brock register for some years and so we are fortunate to have records, such as the Drake-Vrooman marriage shown above. There was another Vrooman family in Woodstock in early years, but we can be in no doubt that Lucinda Vrooman Drake was the daughter of Arents, for he was with Peter and Lucinda in Ensley, Newaygo County, Michigan, in the 1870 U.S. census. |
| Note | Solid information for Peter is scarce. A certain death registration for him has not been found. His marriage to Lucinda Vrooman is recorded in the Brock District Marriage Register in 1854. Peter and Lucinda have not been found in either the 1861 Canada West every person census or in the 1860 U.S. census, though a Peter Drake appears in the agricultural census for 1861 for Garafraxa Township in Wellington County. He is shown as owning 100 acres of township lot 19 on the 2nd concession. By 1870, Peter and Lucinda are in Ensley, Newaygo County, Michigan, and with them is Lucinda's father, Aaron (Arents). Also with them is Eliza Drake, age 20, who may be a sister or a niece - the connection is uncertain. In 1880, Peter and Lucinda are still in Ensley and with them is Emerson Vrooman, Lucinda's nephew. Eliza Drake, in 1880 is in Montcalm County, Michigan, working as a domestic and in the household is Charles Richards who she later married. Peter is next found in the 1910 census at Ensley. He is 75 and a widower and with Eliza (Drake) Richards in her daughter's household. He may be the Peter Drake, born Canada, who died on 3 July, 1915, on the Poor Farm in Misaukee County, Michigan. His date of birth, however, is shown as February 19, 1835, and his age is shown as 80 years, 4 mos., 21 days. His parentage is unknown. This Peter is buried in a cemetery in Reeder Township and it is not certain that this is Peter, husband of Lucinda. |
| Last Edited | 4 Mar 2020 |