Died accidently as he was driving a cart, loaded with corn from his home to his son's house . It was being pulled by two oxen and his mare. As he passed John Griffin's house something frightened the oxen and they began to run away. He tried to stop them by grabbing the mare. He was thrown down on his face and was run over by one of the cart wheels. A leg was broken and his body was so bruised they thought he was dead. He was carried to his daughter's house and only lived a short time.

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The exact date of John Drake's arrival in New England is not known, but he was listed among those to become freemen, according to the "Boston Record Commissioners' Report," 10/19/1630. His name does not appear on later lists in Boston and details of his life for the next few years have not been found. He was one of the 46 purchasers of Taunton, Mass in 1637, and was in Windsor early in 1639. John Drake received a grant of 14 acres, a home lot with meadow adjoining the plantation at Windsor, CT, 1/26/1640. He was a member of the jury in the Particular Court, in June, 1643, and for 8 sessions afterward. The inventory of his estate was taken 9/14/1659 and amounted to L324-13-00. John Drake married, probably in England, Elizabeth Rogers, who died at the home of her son Jacob, 10/7/1681. It is said that she was one hundred years old at the time of her death.

Listed on a list of original proprietors of Taunton that dates to 1638 or 1639. He is found in 1641 in Windsor, receiving an average size grant of 16 acres.

He may have arrived on one of the ships that left Weymouth, England in Apr 1637, as several of those families ended up in Taunton.

Recorded in the 1640 Town Records at Windsor in the list of "First Settlers of Windsor, five years after their removal from Dorchester." (NEHGR 5:365) [The list includes people who arrived after 1635, such as those who came with Huit in 1639]

Came over on the Mary and John in 1630 with his wife and five children. He settled first in Dorchester and in 1637 bought land in Taunton. In 1639 he came to Windsor. On October 17, he complained against John Bennett for saying he had "enticed and drawn away" the affections of his daughter. There were four complaints against Bennett at the court session. Bennett was often in trouble and Drake may not have wanted him to associate with a daughter. This was either Elizabeth (age 21) or Mary (age 20), who married respectively, William Gaylord Jr., or John John Gaylord, both from "Mary & John" families, the following year.

There are pedigrees floating around linking him to the Drakes in Ashe, Devon (the family of the navigator Francis Drake). However, that family was of considerable prominence and wealth, which is not reflected in the social standing of this John . In addition, the wills of the family don't mention him, with the exception of that of Francis in 1634 (the source of the speculation in the first place). He is also not likely the John Drake who came with Winthrop's Fleet to Boston in 1630. That John is listed as one to be made a freeman in Oct 1630, but did not actually take the oath. Most of the other men of whom that was the case died or returned to England. Furthermore, there is no other record of John Drake until 1638. It would have been virtually impossible for a man with a family to avoid any mention for 8 years. (See articles in The American Genealogist for a more in depth explanation.)

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. perhaps as a purch. of Taunton 1639 [Baylies, I. 286], and not lon g after to Windsor, and there, by a cartwheel running over him, was k. 17 Aug. 1659, leav. s. Jacob and Job, bef. ment. and John, beside one, if not more, d. His wid. d. 7 Oct. 1681, but we may hesitate at the old ch. rec. story of her hundredth yr. yet agree to the main truth of her being call. "old wid. D."

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Genealogists have labored over the genealogy the Drake family for many years and various compiled records insist that the patriarch of the Connecticut family was the John Drake who was a passenger on the John and Mary during its 1630 voyage from Plymouth, England to Massachusetts Bay. Robert Charles Anderson, F.A.S.G. in his NEHGS Register article in Volume 147, April 1993, does not include this John Drake in his synthetic passenger list. (A synthetic list is one developed from specified contemporary records when actual lists do not exist.) His research determined that another John Drake, who subsequently returned to England, has been confused with the John Drake I (?-17 Aug 1659) who settled in Windsor, CT and appears in town records in 1640. In his book, The Great Migration Begins, Anderson writes that John Drake derived from Hampton in Arden, Warwickshire, England. The son of John Drake I, John Drake II, is granted land at Massacoe (Simsbury) in 1667. There has also been some confusion as to him being the true recipient of this grant. The grandson of John Drake II, John Drake III, recorded the birth of a child in Simsbury in 1674 while no record appears to place John Drake II as a resident of Simsbury except the registration of his children's births in Windsor Town Records which puts "Simsbury" after his name. To determine the correct John Drake it is necessary to look at the land records and bear in mind that men had to be 21 years of age to own land. In 1667, John Drake III born 14 Sept 1649, would have been 18 years of age and unable to contract for land ownership. This legal requirement would place John Drake II as the Drake who received the land in Simsbury.While it has been proved to our satisfaction that John Drake I was not of the John and Mary party, his actual origin in America is not easily proved. An interesting clue exists in his probate file and refers to trips his son, Job, made to "Pascataway" on his behalf. At the time of this probate in 1659, it appears that this refers to the New Hampshire area of Piscataqua where several Drake families resided. No obvious links were uncovered in New Hampshire State or Town records by our researchers. To confuse matters more, Drakes also founded the township of New Piscataqua or Piscataway, NJ in 1666.