• Alice Sidney (Drake) Simonton. (20 Feb 1854-05 Nov 1919). Obituary from November 13, 1919 Western Star. Obituary Image
• Bert Drake, unnamed 1928 newspaper (probably The Western Star)
• Horace Drake. - The Western Star 8 August 1851 Western Star
• Dr. Isaac Lincoln Drake. Obituary from the 5 March 1891 Lebanon Gazette
• Dr. I. L. Drake. Memorial Resolutions from the 4 Jun 1891 Lebanon Gazette
  Col. Lewis Drake obituary, Western Star (Lebanon, Ohio), Friday, March 23, 1849
• Dr. Lewis Drake. Obituary from the 1 August 1851 Western Star
• Mary Ann (Lawler) Drake - The Western Star 9 Nov 1882
• Miss Mary Louise Drake, The Middletown (Ohio) Journal, Tuesday October 19, 1948
• Paul W. Drake Jr., The Western Star, Lebanon, Ohio, December __, 1984
• Peter Drake, Western Star (Lebanon, Ohio), Thursday, November 2, 1871
• Thomas C. Drake Obituary from the 10 January 1851 Western Star

Bert Drake (1872-1928)

SUDDEN DEATH OF BERT DRAKE IS SHOCK TO VILLAGE
Prominent Lebanon Man Was Victim of Heart Attack Saturday
HOLD LAST RITES
At Late Residence Tuesday Afternoon - Many Pay Final Tribute

Funeral services for Bert Drake who died during the night Friday, April 27, and was found in his bed Saturday morning by members of his family, were held Tuesday afternoon at the residence at 2 o'clock. The Rev. Frederick Kirker, minister of the First Presbyterian church of which Mr. Drake has been a member for many years, conducted the services.
Interment was made in Lebanon cemetery. Pallbears were C. F. Lewis, Wilds Gilchrist, J. A. Kilpatrick, Frank Anderson and C. C. Eulass.
Had Been Ill
Mr. Drake some weeks ago had suffered from an attack of the grip and altho he had recovered sufficiently to resume his work, he did not regain his strength. On Friday after an examination his physician advised him to confine himself to his home and remain in bed until his strength recuperated. He had planned to do this and had made arrangements for business at his establishment to continue in his absence. He retired as usual Friday evening. Death overcame him apparently without struggle for he was found dead from heart failure on Saturday morning by members of his family.
Mr. Drake was 55 years old, having been born October 18, 1872. He was the son of Frank and Melissa Drake, whose home was northeast of Lebanon about two miles. He attended the public schools at Genntown and then came to the National Normal University having graduated with the class of 1893.
He entered the coal and grain business, establishing a connection with the firm of Lewis Bros. For about 25 years he was with that firm which during that time became the firm known as Lewis & Drake, a partnership of C. E. Lewis and Mr. Drake. In 1926 Mr. Drake bought out the firm and formed a corporation known as Lewis & Drake, Inc.
Mr. Drake was a man of wide fraternal connections. He was a member of the various Masonic Bodies, the Blue Lodge, the Chapter and Commandery and had served in the various chairs of each of these organizations. He was also a member and past officer of the Eastern Star.
Was To Be Next President.
On Thursday of last week he was elected president of the Lebanon Rotary club, having been elevated from the office of vice president. He would have taken charge of his duties on July 1, the opening of the fiscal year of the club.
In 1925 Mr. Drake was president of the Lebanon Parent-Teachers Association and since the inception of that organization here he had been one of its most active and interested members. In the various civic organizations of the community he had a part and served with distinction because of his active interest in community welfare and progress.
In 1899 Mr. Drake and Miss Velma Booth were married. Six children were born to them, two of whom died in infancy. Surviving are Mrs. Drake, one daughter, Sarah Catherine, a teacher in Xenia high school, and three sons, Howard, a student at Ohio State University; Francis and Robert, both in high school.

Source:  The Western Star, Lebanon, Ohio, Thursday, May 3, 1928, page 1

Horace Drake

DIED—On Tuesday evening, of Cholera, Horace Drake, an interesting son of the late Dr. Drake, aged about nine years.

Source: The Western Star, dated 8 August 1851 (obtained from the Ohio Historical Society, microfilm roll # 19249)

Isaac Lincoln Drake

shock- to the community. Dr. Drake has long been one of the conspicuous citizens of this town. He was born at Genntown, in this county, in 1823. Be would have been sixty-eight years old next June. His father was Lewis Drake, a prosperous farmer who settled near Lebanon In the early part of this century. It is said that be was a descendant of Sir Francis Drake, one of the great admirals of England, and his wife, Dr. Drake's mother, was a Lincoln, and said to be a distant relation of the martyred president. Dr. Drake rose to eminence In the medical profession. He was a graduate of the old Lebanon seminary, and of the Miami medical college, Cincinnati. In addition to his education In these institutions, he attended a course of lectures in a leading medical school at Philadelphia. he commenced the practice of his profession at Ft. Ancient, in this county, more than forty years ago. He soon afterward removed to Lebanon, where now, for more than it third of a century, he has been a conspicuous member of his profession. He was a good practitioner, With a fine practice, but it was as a talker and lecturer on medical subjects that his great ability appeared at its best. For thirty years he has been one of the first of the leading spirits of the Lebanon medical society, of which he was for a long time president. He was considered by his professional brethren to be a most accomplished physician. He was a member of the Baptist church from his youth. He has been one of the pillars of the Baptist congregation here since 1837. He had been a deacon of the Fast Baptist church at Lebanon for more than thirty years. He was a constant and earnest worker in the church, and in all Christian and moral movements outside of the church. He has long been a radical and uncompromising enemy of the traffic in intoxicating liquors. All that any good citizen could ever say against his position on the temperance question was that it was not a practical one. But nobody ever denied that the doctor was thoroughly honest in his views, and that he was entitled to the utmost credit for the courage with which he maintained them. He was a man who would adhere to what he thought to be right in a matter of this kind though all others should oppose him. No one can pretend to measure the great loss which his family now suffers. No one outside of his church can know what, a support his death removes from religious effort; but our citizens all know that the community by this mournful event lost a man who was honest, clear-headed, moral, upright in all his dealings, and who in an eminent degree had the courage of his convictions.

Source: Lebanon Gazette Thursday 5 March 1891 [copy obtained from obituary collection at the Warren County Genealogical Society]

Dr. Isaac Lincoln Drake

Resolutions of the Lebanon Medical Society.

Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to remove from his earthly sphere our worthy professional associate, Dr. I. L. Drake, of Lebanon, Ohio, one of the oldest, ablest; most devoted and useful members of this society, we, his surviving brothers, deeply conscious of the loss we have sustained, wish formally to record our high appreciation of his character, his work and his worth.
Be it therefore

Resolved, That we hereby express our sincere grief for the sadly sudden death of our friend, an elegant, cultivated gentleman, active, earnest, patient in his search after truth, constant, courageous and firm in maintaining the truth as he saw it, an honest Christian man. In obedience to the Almighty power that rules the destinies of men, that build up or cast down, that can give or take away, we bow in humble submission about the bier of our departed fellow member and professional brother.

Resolved, That we most heartily tender to Dr. Drake's bereaved family and relatives this expression of our profound sympathy, and the acknowledgment that in his death we lose a true and cherished friend and co-laborer; and be it further

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the family of the deceased, and that they be furnished to the papers of Lebanon, the Cincinnati Lancet and Clinic and to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Source: Lebanon Gazette 4 June 4 1891[copy obtained from obituary collection at the Warren County Genealogical Society]

Col. Lewis Drake (1766-1849)

DIED - - On Tuesday evening last, quietly in his chair, at his residence in Genn Town, Col. LEWIS DRAKE. He was born near Elizabethtown in the State of New Jersey on the 19th of June, 1766, and emigrated to Pennsylvania with his parents in the year 1877 and settled on the waters of Big Whitely in Green county: he then moved to Ohio with his family and settled in Warren county in the year 1802, where he has resided up to the time of his decease. In the year 1796 he united with the Regular Baptist Church at Big Whitely, under the pastoral of Elder John Corbly, Sen. He was appointed deacon of the Church in Feb, 1829. Col Drake was distinguished for his moral and religious integrity, and in all the relations of life performed his part so as to win the esteem and confidence of his neighbors and friends. He has at last been gathered to his fathers in a ripe old age, and fully prepared for a Heavenly inheritance.

Source: Col. Lewis Drake obituary, Western Star (Lebanon, Ohio), Friday, March 23, 1849

Dr. Lewis Drake (1807-1851)

DIED—On Wednesday last, after a brief illness of Sporadic Cholera, Dr. Lewis Drake, in the 44th year of his age. Dr. Drake was born and raised in this vicinity, and was a son of the late Col. Drake. We have been intimately acquainted with the deceased for more than sixteen years, and we can say, without affectation, that we never knew a more amiable, modest, unobtrusive, and excellent man. As a citizen he was public spirited and liberal and in all public matters was guided by conscientious motives and principles; as a physician he was highly esteemed and always enjoyed an extensive practice. The poor, who ever commanded his services gratuitously, will long hold him in grateful remembrance. As a neighbor he practically fulfilled the relations of that character; as a son he was dutiful and affectionate, and as a husband and father he was distinguished, above most men, for his affection and kindness. But the crowning beauty of his life was his Christian character. His daily life was a practical exemplification of a true Christian, and we do not doubt that he died as he lived, in peace with God and man. May Heaven bless his disconsolate widow and fatherless children!

Source: Dr. Lewis Drake obituary, Western Star (Lebanon, Ohio), Friday, 1 August 1851 (obtained from the Ohio Historical Society, microfilm roll # 19249)

Miss Mary Louise Drake

LEBANON - Miss Mary Drake, 79, life-long resident of Lebanon, died at her home on Warren St. yesterday after an extended illness.
Miss Drake was active in the East Baptist Church.
Last rites will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Oswald Funeral Home.  Burial will be in Lebanon Cemetery.
Surviving are several nieces and nephews.

Source: The Middletown (Ohio) Journal, Tuesday October 19, 1948

by
Vivian Combs Moon
30 August 2008

Mary Ann (Lawler) Drake

Died.
DRAKE – Mary Ann Drake, wife of Peter Drake, formerly of Sharon and Lebanon, Ohio, at her late residence in Dayton, Ohio, Sunday morning, November 5th. Funeral at Lebanon, Ohio, Tuesday, November 7th, at 11 o’clock. Mr. Peter Drake was in the undertaking business here last year. The remains were brought to Lebanon for interment in the cemetery. Brief services were held at the C. P. Church on Tuesday morning conducted by the Rev. J. P. Sprowls. Mrs. Drake’s maiden name was Lawler, and was related to those of that name in this vicinity. The deceased was in her 52d year. Having been born in 1831

Source: The Western Star 28 Sep 1882 [copy obtained from obituary collection at the Warren County Genealogical Society]

Paul W. Drake Jr.

Former Morrow resident, Paul W. Drake, Jr., age 29, was killed December 1 in an automobile accident near Houston, Texas where he had been residing recently.
Funeral services were held Wednesday morning at the Vale Funeral Home, Morrow. Burial was in the Morrow Cemetery.
He is survived by his wife, Billie Jean; a son, Paul B.; a daughter, Mistina Drake of Lebanon; his father, Paul Drake, Sr. of Morrow; a half-brother, Ray VanHoosier of Lebanon; and three sisters, Mrs. Kim Briner of Lebanon, Debbie Combs and Becky Drake both of Morrow.

Source: The Western Star, December __, 1984
from Amy Cole
"I typed in obituary exactly as printed. Dates and burial info don't match. I found headstone along with his parents headstone in Deerfield Cemetery, South Lebanon, OH"

by
Amy Cole
13 September 2008

Peter Drake (1791-1871)

It becomes our sad duty to chronicle the death of Peter Drake, one of the oldest pioneers of Warren County, which took place on the old homestead, three miles south-east of this place, on Saturday, October 7, 1871, in the eighty-first year of his age.
Almost a century has passed since the deceased first landed in company with his parents, upon what is not the soil of Warren County. He was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and emigrated with his parents to this county in 1796, living, for a short time in the settlement of Deerfield, near where the village by that name now stands. Peter, at that time, was a boy of six years old. But few settlements had yet been established in Southwestern Ohio, save one at Columbia, near Cincinnati, one at White’s Station, on Mill Creek and one at Deerfield. Soon after, three log cabins were erected upon the ground now occupied by the beautiful residence and pleasant street of Lebanon, the architects being selected from the Deerfield and White’s Station settlements, and the only implements used being the indispensable woodman’s ax. The richness of the soil in the Turtlecreek valley soon brought numerous settlers, and other rude dwellings were erected, and the forests disappeared beneath the ax wielded by the rugged pioneer. The first school-house was erected near the residence of the late Lauren Smith, Esq., on Main street. At that time, Peter Drake’s parents lived on the land now owned by Aaron Stephens. In this oldentime school-house, Mr. Drake learned his first lessons in the rudiments of the English language.
The hardy, adventurous settlers soon cleared away the forests and planted their crops; but an ever watchful eye was necessary to protect their growing crops from the ravages of Indians and the wild beasts of the surrounding forests. Stock was only protected at night by being placed in very high pens, and a watch and a large fire kept constantly burning. In after years, a mill was erected on the Miami, known as White’ Mill. The site is now occupied by a mill owned by Isaac Stubbs. This was for many years the only mill in the county. From or near this mill flat-boats were loaded with grain and floated by the action of the current, to New Orleans, the deceased having frequently shipped grain and provisions to the New Orleans market in this manner, and, after, disposing of his produce, he walked back to his home in this county. The last boat load thus

shipped, he returned on a steamboat, the first one that ever navigated the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
The deceased, while quite a boy, attended church on the occasion of the first sermon ever preached in Warren County. The discourse was delivered by Elder Clark, in a log church somewhere between Lebanon and the Miami River. Mr. Drake often, during his life, spoke of this occasion, and of the text, which was as follows: “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is He that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness; prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.”’” (Mathew iii, I, 4,)
During the war of 1812, he volunteered under General Harrison, serving in the company commanded by Captain Shaw. He sustained injuries while in the service from which he never recovered. He was a brave soldier, and often distinguished himself while in the regular army, and in the oft-recurring Indian wars of that period.
Many other incidents connected with the pioneer life of the deceased would be interesting to the reader – hand-to-hand conflicts with Indians and wild beasts, adventures while going to and returning from market at Cincinnati on horseback. There is, perhaps, no man now living in the county that has experienced as many struggles and triumphs of the early pioneer life of Warren County, as did the deceased Peter Drake. He stood by the cradle of civilization and domestic prosperity of this county in its earliest infancy, and had aided and witnessed its growth, until it is now one of the wealthiest counties in the State, and settled by the most advanced in civillization and Christian enlightenments. Within his recollection, rude forests have been supplanted by the hand of industry, and now are rich, productive grain fields; the finest domestic animals have taken the place of wild beast, and enlightened Christian people that of the savage red man.
The deceased died in the Christian faith, with a Christian’s hope, having for many years been a member of the Baptist Church. His days has been many. The tender bud had shot forth and withered and still he lived. Friend after friend had passed, yet, at last, the summons came, and of none can it be more truthfully said, that he so lived that when his summons came
“To join
The innumerable caravans that move
To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His Chamber in the silent halls of death,
And like one that draws the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.”

E. W.

Source: The Western Star, Lebanon, Ohio, Thursday, November 2, 1871 [copy obtained from obituary collection at the Warren County Genealogical Society]

Mr. Thomas C. Drake.

The death of this young gentleman is thus announced in the Rodney (Miss.) Gazette, of Dec. 14.

Mr. Editor:—In looking over your last paper, I was surprised to find no notice of the death of our esteemed friend, and late fellow-citizen, Thomas C. Drake. A lamentable duty has thus been omitted, not through any neglect or carelessness, nor from the want of proper respect, but doubtless from the belief that among the many who have wept over his untimely loss, some one would pay a tribute to the memory of the deceased.

It was not expected that his relatives, pained as they are by this sad dispensation of Providence, would bestow a thought on the subject, connected with associations so purely selfish. To praise the dead can alone comfort the living, by kindling in the bosoms of the afflicted emotions of pride. The loss in this instance was too great to allow any such thoughts to usurp the place of holier grief; for to those who feel deeply; who have deeply suffered by the rude hand of death, the customary eulogistic notices of the dead are unheeded; yet friendship may be permitted, in the hour of grief, to offer sympathy to the living, and to embalm with the incense of affection, the memory of virtues which should never perish; though the tomb itself may crumble into dust and the earth mingle with his cherished remains.

But a few years have passed since Mr. Drake came among us, radiant with the smiles of youth and health; buoyant in hope—firm, ardent and generous in the pursuit of an honorable independence. As a clerk, he entered his brother’s store in Rodney; and we all remember the industry, politeness and probity which characterized his deportment and won the respect of his acquaintances. The energy manifested in his station as clerk, soon won the confidence of friends by whose aid we find him are long, established as one of a respectable mercantile house in St. Joseph, La. It was about this period, 1849, Mr. Drake was attacked with hemorrhage of the lungs; since which time he has lingered with occasional intervals of apparent good health, until some two months ago, when his disease manifested itself in a more fearful form. How fruitless the objects of life, and vain the hopes of man!! To all appearances, not less than three short months since, life to Mr. Drake presented a most enchanting prospect. His disease now slumbered, and health again seemed to sparkle in his eye, and impart its wonted ambition to his cheerful nature. An engagement with an interesting young lady, of Lebanon, O., long deferred on account of ill health, he now consummates. With his bride he leaves his native State to resume his business in the South. Greeted with hope, flowers seemed to spring up in his pathway, and all the future became redolent with bliss; but Death had long marked him for his own; and the cup of joy brimming full was suddenly dashed from his anxious lips, and the silver cord was loosened.

While descending the river, in October last, he was attacked with pulmonary diarrhea, from which he gradually sunk, and on the 24th of November breathed his last at the residence of his brother in Rodney.

Mr. Drake was born in Ohio, on the 21st February, 1826; died November 24th, 1850, aged 24 years, and 8 months.

Thus we see how vain, delusive, aye, treacherous are all the objects of life. God in his infinite wisdom has deemed it best to crush the glowing hopes of our young friend, and to sever the ties which have linked him to his sorrowing relatives—while the solemn truth should be impressed on all, that

“He builds too low, who buildeth beneath the stars.”

FRIEND.

Source: The Western Star, dated 10 January 1851 (obtained from the Ohio Historical Society, microfilm roll # 19249)