250 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



The will of Samuel Drake, Sen., bears date May 30th, i676. a Sam- 

 uel Drake is presumed to be a grand-son of John Drake of the Council 

 of Plymouth, one of the original company established by King James I, 

 in 1606, for settling New England. John his son came to Boston in 

 1630, and finally settled in Windsor, Conn., from whence his son Sam- 

 uel removed to Fairfield. The will of Samuel Drake, Sen., of Fairfield, 

 bears date 12th of December, 1691, by which it appears that his moth- 

 er's name was Anne, and his wife's Ruth, and that he had a sister Re- 

 becka Rogers, then living at Eastchester. "To his cousin Joseph, son 

 to his brother Joseph of Eastchester, he bequeaths all his lands situate 

 in Fairfield." & 



The Drake family are of great antiquity and" descend from the old 

 house of Drake of Ashe, Devonshire, England, a branch of which gave 

 birth to the illustrious Sir Francis Drake. The name is supposed to be 

 derived from the heraldrick Wivern. the arms of the family, which is 

 another name for the fabled dragon of antiquity, Draco or Drago being 

 a Roman name, as late as Sir Francis Drake — writers called him the 

 Dragon " c — of this family was Joseph Rodman Drake, the poet ; the 

 late Charles Drake, d M.D., of New York, E. G. Drake, Esq., of Scars- 

 dale, and Thomas Drake of New Rochelle, who is a lineal representative 

 of Samuel Drake, one of the first settlers of Eastchester in 1664. 



Opposite the late Mr. Drake's residence is situated the property of 

 the late Elisha Shute whose ancestor was Thomas Shute another of the 

 early patentees of this town in 1665 f Richard Shute, the son of Thomas 

 was for many years recorder of Eastchester. Elisha Shute was the father 

 of the late Richard Shute whose sons are still living in the town. 



The representatives of James Eustis, another of the ten proprietors in 

 1664, are also numerous in East and Westchester. 



On the west side of the town at West Mount Vernon on Hunt's 

 Bridge, on the Bronx, is located the New York and Harlem Railroad 

 Depot. About two miles and a half north of this place is situated Bronx 

 Mill, the property of the late James P. Swain, Esq., formerly known as 

 Underhill Mill. 



The Bronx River here affords a fine water power to an extensive 

 grist mill and screw manufactory. The building is a large and hand- 

 some structure of stone, four stories high, and measures forty feet by 

 eighty. The machinery is of the best kind, and the water is sufficient to 



a Surrogate's Office, N. Y., vol. iii, 47. 

 b Prob. Kec. Fairfield Co., Conn., 1GS9 to 1701. 



c Gen. and Bros account of Drake family by Samuel G. Drake, Boston, 1845. 

 d Corporation Doc. xxxvi., 375, Repofl lor 1833. 



e The Inventory of the late Shoot or Shute dec'ed, of Fairfield, Conn., Oct. 3, 1671, Probate 

 Rec, p. 123. 



