John Reuben Drake (November 28, 1782 in Pleasant Valley,

Dutchess County, New York Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later or ...

– March 21, 1857 in Owego,

Tioga County, New York Tioga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 48,455. Its county seat is Owego. Its name derives from an American Indian word meaning "at the forks", describing a meeting place. Tioga Cou ...

) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from New York.

Life

He was the son of Rev. Reuben Drake (a Baptist minister from a line of wealthy landowners) and Phoebe Sherwood. Drake completed preparatory studies and engaged in mercantile and agricultural pursuits, such as projecting the New York & Erie Railroad. He married Jerusha Roberts, with whom he had a daughter, Delphine Drake. He was Supervisor of the Town of Owego in 1813 and First Judge of the Broome County Court from 1815 to 1823. In 1823, he was one of three commissioners overseeing construction of the historic Tioga County Courthouse. Drake was a member of the Free Masons' lodge of Owego. Drake was elected as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

to the

15th United States Congress The 15th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in the Old Brick Capitol in Washingto ...

, holding office from March 4, 1817, to March 3, 1819. There he served on the Committee on Expenditures on the Public Buildings. He was First Judge of the Tioga County Court from 1833 to 1838, a member of the New York State Assembly in 1834, and President of the Village of Owego from 1841 to 1845. He was interred in Evergreen Cemetery.

References

Judge Drake
at the Schenectady Digital History Archive
Journal of the House (on-line transcribed version)''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 70, 216, 271, 358 and 365; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) {{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, John Reuben 1782 births 1857 deaths People from Pleasant Valley, New York People from Owego, New York New York (state) state court judges People from Broome County, New York Members of the New York State Assembly Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American judges