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It is a genealogical maxim that if the index individual cannot be traced, then one should trace the associates. People tended to migrate with friends and relatives. In this case, one important clue is that the Abbeville County area had a lot of Irish immigrants due to a special provision made in 1761 for granting lands to immigrating Protestants.7 Because of this preponderance of Irish settlers, some researchers have considered the possibility that the Abbeville Drakes were from Ireland. It is true that many of the associates of the Abbeville Drakes were Irish immigrants. However, many of these seem to have reached Abbeville via Pennsylvania and then Virginia.8 Furthermore, the earliest Drake in Abbeville records, Thomas Drake, is found on the 1790 census living in the next household to Captain John Calhoun. Captain John Calhoun was a son of Patrick Calhoun who came to Abbeville District from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.9 "The Calhoun family of Augusta County, Virginia, was in many ways typical of the more prosperous families that joined the great migration through the Shenandoah Valley into the backcountry of the Carolinas. Born in 1727, Patrick Calhoun immigrated with his parents from their home in County Donegal, Ireland, to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, during the 1730's. From there the family moved to Virginia, where Patrick's father accumulated more than three thousand acres of rich bottomland in Augusta County. Although Patrick and his brothers appear to have prospered, they decided, in 1756, to move with their recently widowed mother to the inland region of South Carolina. Years later, John C. Calhoun, Patrick's son, wrote that his family had left Virginia after Braddock's defeat10, but fear of Indian attack was probably not their only reason for leaving." 11 Therefore, even though there were a great many people of Irish origin in Abbeville, it appears that a many of these Irish pioneers were "Scotch-Irish" and came to Abbeville County from western Virginia. Once they arrived there, they encouraged the migration or importation of their relatives from Ireland.12 The pages of Abbeville history are filled with the same names as the history books for the western frontier of Virginia and Kentucky, with the names Drake, Boone, Crockett, Breckenridge, Seawright, Richey, and Calhoun figuring prominently.13 These were a deeply religious people who were not afraid of a fight. The same courage that they showed on the frontier was carried through the French and Indian wars, the Revolutionary War and right into the War Between the States. I quote at length from Gleanings of Virginia History: During the period of the French and Indian War the Scotch-Irish of Augusta, which then comprised an immense territory to the west and southwest, stood as a bulwark against Indian incursions east of the Blue Ridge, and so valuable were the services rendered by these people that colonial laws asserting the supremacy of the Episcopal, or Established Church, were not enforced against these Dissenting Presbyterians. It would be impossible, within the limits of this brief sketch, to give the names of all officers worthy of mention who entered the service from Augusta County; but Andrew Lewis, who commanded at Point Pleasant, was a Brigadier-General of the Virginia Continental Line, and was chiefly instrumental in driving Lord Dunmore, the last of the Virginia colonial governors, from her borders. Three of his brothers were officers of rank during the Revolution, and Robert and Alexander Breckenridge were captains of the line in the same struggle. When the Revolution ended, these brave and enterprising men began the march of civilization westward, and the first settlers of Kentucky were almost entirely from the upper portions of the Virginia Valley.14 The Prestons, Breckenridges, Logans, Allens, Trimbles, Andersons, McDowells, and many others sought their fortunes in the new lands west of the Allegheny Mountains, and from these pioneer settlers has descended a race of people unsurpassed by any in the world for chivalry, courage, eloquence, and statesmanship. They have been found in every station of life, filling well the place which destiny has assigned to them, and the highest tribute which could be paid to the Scotch-Irish pioneers of Augusta County would be the roster of distinguished men who trace their ancestry to the Valley of Virginia."15 After realizing the strong connection between Abbeville and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, a search was made for a logical connection between the Abbeville Drakes and Drakes in western Virginia. Such a connection was not apparent at first and only emerged after a detailed analysis of published pedigrees and considerable work among the records there pertaining to Drake. The conclusions must be considered tentative, however, and much more work needs to be done to clarify the Drakes in the difficult area of western Virginia.
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