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224. JACOB DRAKE6 (Jacob5, Jacob4, Job3, Job2, John1), born in Windsor, Conn., Mar. 23, 1732/3; married in Wintonbury Parish, April 12, 1764, Rhoda Drake. They moved to Columbia County, N.Y., and in 1790, Jacob Drake was the head of a family of nine persons in Hillsdale.
Rhoda Drake died about 1775. Jacob Drake, while in New York State, was a minister of the "New Lights" denomination, but later became an Elder in the Baptist Church.
He traveled along the Hudson River making accessions to his church which soon numbered between five and six hundred. He settled in Exeter, Pa., about 1792, and organized the first Baptist Church in Northern Pennsylvania, west of the Susquehanna River. He was in failing health after the year 1800, and finally became blind. He died Nov. 4, 1806, the "Dimock Diary" says in Dallas.
Children of Jacob and Rhoda (Drake) Drake, the first two born in Windsor:
ADONIS, b. May 12, 1765; probably m. Benjamin Newberry.
JACOB, b. Jan. 20, 1768; probably d. young.
JACOB, b. Jan., 1773, in Columbia Co., N.Y.; m. 1797, Nancy Keeler of Susquehanna, Pa. She d. Oct. 25, 1857, in her 83d yr. Jacob Drake followed the work of his father as a Baptist minister, and was ordained in 1803. He moved to Ohio about 1807, and was instrumental in organizing several churches in Franklin and Delaware Counties.
It was said at the time of his death that he had baptized in more of the different streams in Ohio, than any man then living. In 1814, he built the Court House in Delaware, O., and in 1819, in company with Rev. Mr. Hughes, Presbyterian, he
commenced the publication of the Delaware Gazette, the first newspaper in Delaware Co. In 1922, Mr. Elmer Widgton, whose father was a nephew of Rev. Jacob Drake, and whom he remembered well as "Uncle Drake," was able to recall several stories about him. He said that Uncle Drake built the house where he lived on Washington St., corner of Liberty, Delaware, O., and that "Aunt Nancy" carried the bricks in her apron....
Jacob Drake died in Delaware, 0., Oct. 5, 1854, aged 82 yrs. He and his wife Nancy were buried in the Old Cemetery on the College Campus, but were removed later to Oak Grove Cemetery. Jacob Drake's will was signed July 4, 1854, and witnessed by Frank Hays, Allen Darrow, and Sarah Darrow.
