West Farms 383 



Joseph Rodman Drake was born in the city of New York, 

 August 7, 1 795. He studied medicine and became a physician. 

 He married Sarah Eckford, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, 

 which marriage placed him in easy circumstances. The 

 young couple made a journey to Europe; but soon afterward, 

 Drake's health began to fail; and, after spending the winter 

 of 18 19 in New Orleans in the vain hope of benefit, he returned 

 to New York, where he died of consumption in 1820, at the age 

 of twenty-five, leaving one child, a daughter. He was of 

 Westchester County extraction, the names of Rodman and 

 Drake being those of settlers prominent in Colonial days. His 

 favorite residence was at Hunt's Point, where he occupied the 

 "Grange," a rambling and picturesque old structure, whose 

 oldest portion dates from 1688 (perhaps from 1669), when 

 Thomas Hunt received one hundred acres from his father 

 Thomas, who had married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress 

 of Edward Jessup. The Bronx River constitutes the eastern 

 boundary of the point, and it was along its banks that Drake 

 used to stroll and find inspiration for his poetic genius. 



That he did possess the true fire of poetic genius, his few 

 poems undoubtedly show. Even as a boy, he wrote poetry. 

 The most famous of his poems, other than The American Flag, 

 is The Culprit Fay. It is stated that this poem was written 

 within three days to refute an assertion made by his friends, 

 James Fenimore Cooper and Fitz-Greene Halleck, that the 

 rivers of America furnished no such romantic associations as 

 those of Scotland, and that no story dealing with fairies could 

 be entertaining without introducing a human being to arouse 

 the interest of the reader. The poem is dainty and exquisite, 

 and shows Drake's appreciation of the small beauties of nature, 

 which, in these days, we pride ourselves in discovering under 

 the high-sounding title of "Nature Study," just as if no one 



