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work that had not been mentioned before, but I wanted you all to know, and we want the public to know, that this society has done good work for the people of Minnesota. This work must be continued, and it deserves the good will of the public and of the State.

Previous to the address by Colonel Clough, a song, composed by Von Suppe, entitled "My Native Land," was sung by Mr. J. Warren Turner, of Minneapolis, with piano accompaniment by Mr. Charles G. Titcomb.

After that address the audience rose and sang

My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing;

Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain-side

Let freedom ring.

AMERICA.

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble, free,

Thy name I love;

I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.

Our fathers' God, to Thee,

Author of liberty,

To Thee I sing;

Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light,

Protect us by Thy might.

Great God, our King.

The Anniversary Celebration was then concluded with a

benediction by Bishop Whipple.

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OBITUARIES.

ELIAS FRANKLIN DRAKE.

Elias Franklin Drake was born in the village of Urbana, Champaign county, Ohio, on December 21st, 1813, and died in the seventy-ninth year of his life, on February 14th, 1892, at Hotel Del Coronado, San Diego, California. His death was the close of a long life of unusual activity and success.

About the close of the last century, Ithamar Drake, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, removed from Pennsylvania to Warren county, Ohio, with his wife and four children, Henry, Abraham, Isaac and Mary. This was during the pioneer period of Ohio, and Ithamar Drake, like the great number of pioneers, engaged in farming, having purchased a tract of land which was heavily timbered. He was successful and became a prosperous and contented farmer. His children were reared on the farm. The family were members of the regular Baptist church, and in intelligence, morals, and religious life, were much in advance of the general average of pioneers in southern Ohio at that day. Subsequently and at the early settlement of Indiana, Ithamar Drake, with his son Isaac and his daughter Mary, who married Harvey Pope, removed to Shelby county, Indiana.

The son, Dr. Henry Drake, remained in Ohio, married Hannah Spining, and was the father of Elias F. Drake. Henry Drake had a thirst for knowledge, and although educational opportunities were limited, he acquired a good English education and studied Latin, Greek, and music. His father having furnished him with the necessary money, he studied medicine and was just beginning to practice his profession, when he died, leaving his widow with four young children and with little means of support.

Hannah Spining, the mother of Mr. Drake, was the daughter of Mathias Spining, who was a native of New Jersey and

was an active and ardent patriot in the Revolution. He fought in the American ranks, suffered from the outrages committed by the British troops in New Jersey, and became so imbued with hostility to the English that he could never forgive them nor forget the wrongs done. He married Hannah Haines, a daughter of one of the leading families of New Jersey. After the close of the Revolution, he with his wife settled in Warren county, Ohio, upon a tract of land which was granted to him by the government for his services in the war.* Here he raised a large family in prosperity. He was a conscientious Christian, originally a Presbyterian, but subsequently a member of the Christian Church.

The four children of Dr. Henry Draké were Ithamar, born in 1811, Elias, born in 1813, Maria, born in 1815, and Henry, born in 1818. Upon the death of the father, about 1820, his widow and children were given a home upon Mathias Spining's farm in a small house built by Elias Spining, a brother of Mrs. Drake, and for whom the subject of this sketch was named. Hannah Drake was a woman of strong character, who bravely undertook the task of educating her children and giving them such advantages as were within her power. There were in those days no free schools, and none of any sort except in winter. Mrs. Drake boarded the schoolmaster to pay for the tuition of her children.

At the early age of seven began the life work of Elias F. Drake. During the spring and summer he worked on the farm, and attended school in the winter. There was little or no leisure time during winter or summer. Farm products were raised and sold for sustenance, and the mother spun wool and flax for clothing. While a boy, for some months Mr. Drake was employed in a printing office at Lebanon, the county seat of Warren county. After a few months' trial, the printing business not agreeing with his health, he returned to the farm. Shortly after, in 1828, at the age of fifteen years, he became a

*An obituary notice, written by Judge Francis Dunlevy and published in 1830 in the Lebanon Star, gives a full account of the Revolutionary services of Mathias Spining. Upon examination of the land records it appears that on December 7th, 1779, John C. Symmes conveyed to Mathias Spining 200 acres near Lebanon, the deed reciting that the consideration was “$200 in certificates of debts of the United States." This land is the tract referred to above as being granted by the government. It would seem probable that these certificates were received for services in the Revolution. Mr. Drake in his lifetime stated that his grandfather Spining had received his land through the government for services in the Revolution.

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