After the 1860 census and before the year 1871, my great grandfather, Thomas M. Drake and his pregnant wife, Sarah A. Smith Drake, and their son, William Joe Drake, left Greene Co., IN to travel in a wagon train on the Trail to Texas. Sarah gave birth to twin sons. One son died and Tom buried the child. Within a short time, Sarah and the other twin died. He returned to where the first child was buried, dug up the grave "in a saddle between two hills in Kansas on the Trail to Texas" William Joe remembered, then Tom tore apart the wagon, built a common casket and buried his wife and two infant sons together. He and William Joe and possibly another son, Worthy Drake, traveled by horseback to Missouri. Worthy was a sickly boy and didn't survive to have children. Tom married 2) Dice, and his only child by her was born 1871. Family lore says she was born in Indian Territory, but the OK historical society wrote there are no records of either the marriage or the birth and there should have been. That leaves the possiblility Tom and Dice Drake were married in MO and daughter Laura Drake born there, as well. Tom married 3) Rufina Folsom, a barely teen daughter of a Choctaw judge and an angry one at the marriage. There are no records of his marriage to Rufina in Indian Territory. Their first son, George Washington Drake, was born in "New" Mexico, MO, 10 Dec. 1886. His birthplace on the 1900 census listed NM and puzzled all of us, since we knew he was born in Mexico, MO, but an article on the county site explained the New Mexico name. The fact that Tom chose this area was intriguing. I wonder if Tom was familiar with the area as this was his place of "shelter" from an angry father and leader in the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory where he was no longer welcomed? Could he have spent the earlier years in this area after Sarah died and prior to his travel to Indian Territory? By the birth of his next child, Tom and his family were back in Indian Territory. Father Folsom never forgave them but did allow them to return to the territory. Is there someone in Audrain Co. who could check for two marriages? Thomas M. Drake to Dice prior to 1871 and Thomas M. Drake to Rufina/Refina Folsom prior to 1886. And George W. Drake's birth? Thank you so much. Shirley Maynard Hampton, VA MaeMay510@aol.com