John Drake, of the Mass Bay Colony

How are you related to John Drake, of the Mass Bay Colony?

Connect to the World Family Tree to find out

John Drake, of the Mass Bay Colony's Geni Profile

Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love

  • Build your family tree online
  • Share photos and videos
  • Smart Matching™ technology
  • Free!

John Drake, of the Mass Bay Colony

Birthdate:
Birthplace: Wiscomb, Southleigh, Devon, England
Death: after October 19, 1630
Probably England, or, Dorchester, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Immediate Family:

Son of William Drake, of Southleigh and Philippa Drake
Brother of Elizabeth Crandall; Acton Drake; Thomas Drake; William Drake; Joan Collins and 1 other

Managed by: Erica Howton
Last Updated:
view all

Immediate Family

About John Drake, of the Mass Bay Colony

Son of Philippa Dennys & William Drake of Southleigh. Emigrated on the Mary and John, 1630. No known children. Not the same as John Drake, of Windsor

Savage's: JOHN, Dorchester, or Boston, came in the fleet with Winthrop prob. as we find his req. 19 Oct. 1630 to be made freem. yet his adm. is not found, and he rem. from our col.,....

comment: "Most of the other men of whom that was the case died or returned to England."


From http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=linda50&i...

John Drake, in reference to the March 13, 1633, Bequest in the will of Francis Drake of Esher, Surrey to John Drake, my Cozen, William Drake's sonne, twenty pounds to be sent unto him into New England [Waters 580-81], a October 18, 1630 application for freemanship in New England, and a May 26, 1631 note of John Reading of the Inner Temple, London, to John Winthrop, writing about the will of Isaac Johnson: "You write you have sent it over, John Drake sayth he copied it to that purpose, bur note can be heard of". This John Drake was most certainly the son of William Drake of Wiscombe Park, Devonshire, a junior line of the prominent Drakes of Ashe of the same county. The letter of John Reading shows that a John Drake had recently been in New England, at or shortly after the death of Isaac Johnson, Esq. (September 1630); this John Drake, then would have been in New England at the time of requesting freemanship in October 1630, but gone by the time the first group of freemen were admitted in May 1631. Presumably he returned on the Lyon in March 1630/1. He may have returned to New England shortly thereafter, or Francis Drake may simply have lost track of his cousin at this time. In any case, he is not the John Drake who appears briefly in Taunton, Plymouth Colony, Late in the 1630's, moves to Windsor, Connecticut, and dies there in 1659. Douglas Richardson discovered that John Drake of Windsor derived from Hampton in Arden, Warwickshire [Frederick L. Weis, Ancestral Roots ?, 7th edition (Baltimore, 1992, p. 197]. History of Ancient Windsor, Vol. II,, The Drake Family, p. 177 - 189.


From http://newsarch.rootsweb.com/th/read/DRAKE/2006-08/1155344642

"I descend from John Drake, Windsor, CT through his daughter Elizabeth. For many years learned researchers generally agreed that John Drake of Windsor, CT probably came to the colonies from England in 1630 on the Mary & John and was the son of William Drake of Wiscomb, Southleigh parish, co. Devon, who was unquestionably a member of the royally-descended Drake family of Ashe, Musbury parish, co. Devon. The pedigree of that royally-descended family has been heavily documented.
"Recently, however, this “traditional” lineage has been disputed by two very prominent American genealogists, Robert Charles Anderson, of Salt Lake City, UT (and editor of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register), and Douglas Richardson, of Tucson, AZ. I believe that their rejection of the “ traditional” ancestry of John Drake of Windsor, appears to be correct. The evidence supporting the “traditional” ancestry linking John Drake of Windsor to the Drakes of Ashe is well known and can be briefly stated as follows:
(1) His granduncle, Richard Drake, mentions John, son of William Drake, in a 1603 will as being under twelve years of age; (2) The 1619 will of his father, William Drake, mentions his son John; (3) An Oct. 1630 Massachusetts Bay Colony record mentions John Drake as applying to be free; (4) John Reading, of London, refers to John Drake as being in New England in a May 26, 1631 letter to John Winthrop; (5) Francis Drake (John Drake’s first cousin once removed) mentions John Drake, son of William, in his will of 1634 as being in New England; (6) records of Tauton, Plymouth, show a John Drake owning land around 1638 or 1639; (7) Windsor, CT records show John Drake owning land in 1640; (8) most of the passengers on the Mary & John had settled in Windsor, CT by 1635/36; and (9) three children of John Drake of Windsor married children of adult passengers on the Mary & John. See Frank B. Gay’s The Descendants of John Drake of Windsor, Connecticut, The Tuttle Co. 1933, pp. xiii-1, Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, Boston, 1995, Vol. 1, p. 581, and Burton Spear, Search for the Passengers of the Mary & John 1630, Toledo, OH, 1985, Vol. 1, p. 17.
"In my admittedly limited and amateurish search, I have found no scholar who seriously questions the notion that John Drake of Wiscomb, Southleigh parish, co. Devon [an undisputed member of the royally-descended Drake family of Ashe] emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony on the Mary & John in 1630. Nor has my search found any scholar who disputes the proposition that the John Drake who (a) applied to be free in Oct. 1630 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and (b) was referred to in John Reading’s May 26, 1631 letter was the same John Drake of Wiscomb, Southleigh parish, co. Devon. Indeed, Anderson himself declares this conclusion to be “sound and acceptable.” “Some Doubts About the Parentage of John Drake of Windsor, Connecticut,” The American Genealogist, 63:193-206, 193 (Oct. 1988). In addition, all scholars appear to agree that the John Drake who owned land in Tauton, Plymouth, is the same John Drake who appears in Windsor, CT, in 1640.
"The agreement stops there, however. Anderson and Richardson, at least, hotly contest the “traditional” conclusion that the John Drake of Tauton, Plymouth/Windsor, CT is the same John Drake who applied to be free in Oct. 1630 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They assert that there were two John Drakes in New England in the 1630s and that John Drake of Windsor was not the John Drake of Wiscomb and, therefore, was not a member of the Drake family of Ashe.

view all

John Drake, of the Mass Bay Colony's Timeline

1585
1585
Wiscomb, Southleigh, Devon, England
1630
October 19, 1630
Age 45
Probably England, or, Dorchester, Suffolk County, Massachusetts