Appanoose-Lee-Davis County IA Archives Biographies.....Drake, Francis Marion 1830 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/ia/iafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 9, 2007, 3:59 am Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896) GEN. FRANCIS MARION DRAKE was born in Rushville, Schuyler county, Illinois, December 30, 1830. He was the second son of John Adams and Harriet Jane (O'Neal) Drake, natives of Nash county, North Carolina. The father was of English descent, and traced his relationship back to Sir Francis Drake, as also to the distinguished Adams family. He learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed until 1830, when having acquired sufficient capital he entered mercantile business, afterward engaging in that of banking, which he followed to the close of his life, with much credit and success. He removed from Rushville to Fort Madison, Iowa, in 1837, and within his nine years' residence there he was elected and served as Probate Judge of Lee county. Again in 1846 he removed to Davis county of the same State, where he founded the thriving and substantial village of Drakeville, established a general store, and, associated with his two sons, John Hamilton and Francis Marion, built up a large mercantile, packing and milling business, which was continued for many years and was quite successful. He commenced the banking business at Drakeville in 1866 and ten years later removed to Centerville in Appanoose county, where, while president of the Centerville National Bank, he died in May, 1880, at the age of seventy-eight years. He was a member of the Iowa State Legislature, representing Davis county in the session of 1852-3, elected on the Whig ticket. He was a friend of the famous Alexander Campbell, was one among the early reformers and died in the Christian faith. His wife was a woman of superior intelligence and Christian character. She was the devoted mother of a large family of children, one of whom, William Henry Harrison Drake, was killed in the battle of Fort Donel-son in the charge of the Second Iowa Regiment. She died in Centerville, December 5, 1885, at the age of seventy-six years. Francis Marion Drake, the subject of this sketch, received a good business education and has led an active and successful business life. At the age of sixteen he entered his father's store as a clerk, in which employment he continued, until he became of age, when, during the gold excitement in California, he decided to work out his own fortune. He crossed the plains to Sacramento in 1852, with an ox train, taking with him two ox teams and five men. After crossing the Missouri river, in flatboats, at Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), he organized a small train called the Drakeville train, of which he was chosen captain. At the crossing of Shell creek, Nebraska, in command of twenty men he had a severe engagement with about 300 Pawnee Indians, defeating them and inflicting upon them heavy loss in killed and wounded. His venture in California proving quite successful, he again crossed the plains in 1854, taking with him a drove of cattle and some horses and oxen, reaching Sacramento with them in excellent condition and with a small percentage of loss. On his last return from California, he was a passenger on the ill-fated steamer, Yankee Blade, which was wrecked and totally lost on the Pacific ocean, September 30, 1854, off Point Aguilla. He narrowly escaped and was picked up on a barren coast five days later. On his return home Mr. Drake entered into the mercantile business with his father and his brother, John Hamilton, under the firm name of Drake & Sons, in which he successfully continued until January 1, 1858, when he drew out, taking in part as his assets the milling interests of the firm. He continued in the milling business until the fall of 1859, when, having succeeded in putting the property on a paying basis, he disposed of it and established a general mercantile and stock business at the village of Unionville in the adjoining county of Appanoose, which he profitably continued until the outbreak of the Civil war. In 1861 he enlisted and was commissioned Captain of a company, which was organized into Colonel Edward's Independent Iowa Regiment, of which he was elected Major, and with this command served through the critical times of 1861 in Missouri, driving the forces under General Patton from the northern part of the State. He was assigned by General Prentiss to the command of St. Joseph, holding the position at the time of Colonel Mulligan's surrender to General Price at Lexington and defending the attack on St.. Joseph soon afterward. At the organization of the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry, in 1862, Mr. Drake was made Lieutenant Colonel and in the military history of the three years' hard and efficient service of that regiment, his name stands conspicuous. He took prominent part in the campaign of General Steele from Little Rock to re-enforce General Banks on his Red river expedition in Louisiana in 1864, and rendered important service. His gallant defense at Elkin's Ford on the Little Missouri river, while in command of a detachment of 500 men, against General Marmaduke's division of 3,000, resulting in holding the ford after a severe engagement lasting from early daylight until noon, was highly commended by his superior officers and he was soon afteward [sic] placed in command of his brigade. On the 25th of April, 1864, at the bloody battle of Mark's Mills, while in command of his brigade of less than 1,500 men and arrayed against the combined cavalry forces of Kirby Smith, about 6,000, commanded by Major General Fagan, he was severely wounded in the left thigh and fell into the hands of the enemy. The wound was pronounced mortal, the thigh bone being slightly fractured by a Belgian ball weighing one and a half ounces, the bone splitting the ball and the pieces being afterward extracted from different parts of the body, excepting about a drachm of lead buried in the bone, where it still remains. Owing to the severity of the wound he was not held a prisoner and after a confinement of nearly six months, his wounds being sufficiently healed, he in October following, by the aid of crutches, rejoined his command at Little Rock. He was soon afterward recommended for promotion on account of special gallantry and hard and efficient service, and was brevetted Brigadier General of United States Volunteers and assigned for duty commensurate with his rank. He relieved General Thayer of his command at St. Charles on White river and later commanded a brigade in the division of General Shaler and the post of Duvall's Bluffs, Arkansas, until his muster out of service, in 1865. After the war General Drake resumed the mercantile business, but by reason of his wounds was unable to give it his active personal attention and became associated in the practice of law with Judge Amos Harris, with whom, and afterward with General A. J. Baker, he successfully practiced the legal profession for about six years. He acquired the reputation of being a good criminal lawyer, and, though retired from practice, was prevailed upon in 1879 to engage with General Baker in defense of the notorious Bill Young of Missouri, who was accused of murdering the Spencer family and who after acquittal was lynched by the infuriated citizens who believed him guilty. For the past twenty-five years General Drake has been engaged in the railroad and banking business; has projected and constructed and put in operation five railroads. He is president of the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroad, and Albia & Centerville Railroad Companies; a director of the Keokuk & Western Railroad Company; and president of the Centerville National Bank. He is also president of the board of trustees of Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, which bears his name as one of its founders and its most liberal benefactor. He has also been a liberal contributor to other educational institutions, to the building of scores of churches, to the missionary societies and the church extension fund of the Christian or Disciple Church, with which he stands prominently connected, and is now serving his eighth yearly term as president of the Iowa State Board. He has been honored with the presidency of the National Board for the term of one year. In the spirit of public enterprise and improvement in his town, county and State, he has not only been a leader but one of the most liberal contributors. He is kind-hearted and a true friend to the poor, the afflicted and the persecuted. On the 10th of July, 1895, General Drake received the nomination by the Republican party and was on the 5th day of November, elected Governor of the State of Iowa by an overwhelming majority, which exalted position he now holds. General Drake has been an Odd Fellow since 1854, is a past Noble Grand and a member of the encampment. He has been a Mason since 1859, ranks as Sir Knight, and is a member of the Mystic Shrine. In Odd Fellowship and Masonry he is held as an honorary member, exempted from dues in the lodges to which he belongs because of his liberal benefactions in freeing them from indebtedness incurred in the building of their halls. In politics he is a Republican and has been honored as a delegate from Iowa to three Republican national conventions, and as many more national conventions of the Republican League. General Drake was married December 24, 1855, to Mary Jane Lord, of Ohio, a native of New Brunswick, Canada. She died at Centerville, Iowa, June 22, 1883. Mrs. Drake was a woman of superior intelligence, a leader in society and in the church. Her character for sincerity was especially marked, as were also her kindness and liberality, and she was loved and admired by her associates. She was the mother of seven children, six of whom are now living, George Hamilton having died at the age of twenty-two months in 1870. The surviving members of the family are: Frank Elsworth, John Adams, Amelia, Jennie, Eva and Mary. Frank resides in Centerville, is president of the Centerville Coal Company, and is extensively engaged in dealing in bituminous coal. He was married to Flora Bissett at Momence, Illinois, in 1883, and has one son, Francis, about seven years of age (1895). John, a resident of Chicago, is the secretary and treasurer of the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroad Company, and was married on the 26th of January, 1893, to Dula Heisel Rae, the adopted daughter of Colonel Robert Rae, of Chicago. Amelia is the wife of T. P. Shonts, of Chicago, general manager of the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroad. They were married in 1881 and have two daughters, Marguerite and Mary Theodora, aged respectively ten and eight years. Jennie is the wife of Dr. J. L. Sawyers, an eminent physician and surgeon of Centerville. They were married in 1883, and have two daughters and one son: Mary and Hygiene, aged respectively ten and seven years, and Francis Lazelle, aged four months. Eva is the wife of Henry Goss, a boot and shoe merchant of Centerville. They have one son, Joseph Marion, nine years of age. Mary is the youngest child and makes her home with her father in Centerville, Iowa. Additional Comments: Extracted from: A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA ILLUSTRATED "A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants."'—MACAULAY. "Biography is by nature the must universally profitable, universally pleasant, of all things."—CARLYLE "History is only biography on a large scale"—LAMARTINE. CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1896 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ia/appanoose/bios/drake89gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/iafiles/ File size: 12.0 Kb