For the last few years, I have been working with <mailto:RWhite4853@aol.com>Ruthe White, <mailto:bmcmanis@rochester.rr.com>Bea McManis, and others to place William Drake -- who md. Eunice Helme and was father of (among others) three pioneers of Genesee Co., NY -- among the many William Drakes who lived in New York State ca.1750-1850. After much frustration and many dead ends, I'm pleased to report that this William is William4 Drake (in the line of John3 and Christina Kermer, John2 and Martha Oldfield, Jesayas1 and Aeltje Adams Brouwer Drake), b. May 04, 1758, bapt. August 31, 1760, Dutch Ref. Ch., Smithfield, Northampton, PA, d. June 18, 1828, aged 70y 1m 14d, bd. First Gayhead Cemetery, Ira Vail Road, Cairo, Greene, NY. This places him in the family of Drakes that resided at various times during the 17th-18th Centuries in Brooklyn, Queens, Orange, Dutchess, Albany, Ulster, and Genesee Counties (NY) and in Smithfield (now Stroudsberg), Northampton (now Monroe), PA. And links him to the English, Dutch, and French Drake wives' families in this line (e.g., Grassett, Oldfield, Kermer, Verdon, Brouwer). While I have not yet posted (nor do I have) info on all of the siblings in this line, I have now posted the following: -- a <http://web.mit.edu/mboleary/www/Searls/William_Drake_ISO.html>description of the line and the original analysis of the many Wm Drakes in NYS ca1750-1850, -- a GED2HTML <http://www.mit.edu/~mboleary/Searls/d0003/g0000015.html#I00361>web tree of this Drake line, -- a <http://web.mit.edu/mboleary/www/Searls/johndrake.html>photo of William's son John Drake (my 4th gt grandfather), and -- <http://web.mit.edu/mboleary/www/Searls/drakesources.html>key sources on this line of Drakes. This "Drake-through," was based on a tombstone transcription for William and his wife, Eunice Helme Drake in the First Gayhead Cemetery, Greene Co., NY. Many thanks to <mailto:shasenkopf@yahoo.com>Sylvia Hasenkopf for this transcription and her excellent <http://www.rootsweb.com/~nygreen2/index.htm>Greene County site! Unlike the Drakes of CT, the Drakes of NY, PA, and NJ still have no authoritative history/genealogy and much misinformation about them remains in circulation (e.g., the erroneous identification of John2 Drake's wife as Magdalena Brouwer, instead of his actual wife, Martha Oldfield). This "Drake-thru" places the William who was left unplaced by Bennett & White, in their excellent 1971 NYGBR article on the Helmes family, and by <http://www.beekmansettlers.com/>Frank Doherty in his hallmark work on the settlers of the Beekman Patent, Dutchess County, NY. I invite you to check out the pages above and welcome corrections, additions, questions, etc. from any and all interested folks interested in these Drakes. I also welcome hearing from anyone with info on this line, and especially any info that: -- contradicts or supports this identification of William; -- pertains to William and Eunice's children (i.e., John who md. Clarissa Worth, Samuel who md. Sylvia Thorn, Jessamine who md. Mary ?, James who md. Hannah Blackmore, Mary "Polly" who md. Silas Bullock, Claudius who md. Lydia Brewster, Ransom who md. Loretta Jump, Susan who md. Moses Cooke, Catherine who md. Horace Jump, and Joseph -- about whom I have no marriage info but whom I assume died s.p., since he alone was buried with his parents) and their descendants; -- documents the ancestry of Christina Kermer, wife of John3 (John2, Jesayas1) Drake; -- documents the death of John3 Drake -- bef. Feb 06, 1779 and probably in PA; -- fleshes out the migrations of John3 from Queens Co., NY (where he was born in 1722) to Smithfield, PA (where he md in 1749) to Long Island (where his son Samuel was supposedly born in 1753) back to Smithfield (where his sons Wm4 and Jesse were bapt. in 1760) to Damascus, Wayne, PA (where his kids Benjamin and Elizabeth were born in 1766 and 1767) to ___, where he died; -- fleshes out the migrations of William4, from ___ (where he was b. 1758), to Smithfield, PA (where he was baptized in 1760), to Dutchess County (where son John was b. 1781), to Greene Co (where some books list his sons Samuel and James as being born in 1783 and 1786), to Catskill Town, Albany, NY (where he is prob the Wm Drake listed in the 1790 Census), to ____, Greene Co., NY (where he shows up in the 1800 and 1810 Censuses) to Cairo, Greene, NY (where he appears in the 1820 Census), to the Cairo, Greene Co., NY (where he was buried in 1828); and -- fleshes out William4's land transactions. Many thanks to all of the correspondents (including members of DRAKE-L, GREENE-L, DUTCHESS-L, etc.) who've helped piece this together. Best regards, Michael ------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Boyer O'Leary MIT Sloan School of Management Organization Studies PhD Program 2 Elm Court, Somerville, MA 02144-2542, Tel 617/776-7352 [Home] Fax 810/885-2514 e-mail: mboleary@mit.edu, michael.oleary@alumni.duke.edu [lifetime]