John Drake Senior was the grandfather of Hannah Drake, who married John Higley. He arrived in Windsor probably around 1639. John's first wife was Lettice Shakspeare, and his second wife was Elizabeth Rogers. Lettice was the mother of John Drake, Junior, our ancestor, but Elizabeth was John's wife when they immigrated to Windsor in 1639. There is also a record of a christening for Elizabeth Drake, daughter of John and Elizabeth Drake.

John and Lettice married on June 25, 1616, in Hampton-on-Arden, Warwickshire, England. According to Ancestry and FamilySearch, Lettice (referred to as Lettic in some old records) was born June 4, 1583, in Ingon, Warwickshire, England, the daughter of Henry and Margaret Shakespeare. John and Lettice had four children, all baptized in Hampton in Arden, Warwickshire, England. Lettice died in Hampton-in-Arden on November 10, 1623, at forty.

John married Elizabeth Rogers in 1624, and they had two children, both girls. Elizabeth's birth is widely reported as 1581, probably based on her death in 1681, and she was said to be one hundred when she died. John Drake and Elizabeth Rogers had two children, both girls.

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John Drake II is believed to have been born in Hampton in Arden, Warwickshire, England, and baptized on August 25, 1616. John's father, John Drake, trained him as a woodworker, and he and his two brothers were members of the "Drake Woodworking Quartet," who were master woodworkers of the Calligraphic Group. In Windsor, they constructed buildings and designed and built beautiful furniture. Some furniture items still exist and are, today, treasured antiques.

On November 30, 1648, John Drake II married Hannah Moore, the oldest daughter of John Moore. They purchased the homestead next door to Sergeant Benedict Alford, our immigrant Alford ancestor, and years later, their son Job married Benedict and Jane's daughter, Elizabeth. John and Hannah had eleven children and spent the rest of their lives together.

In the mid-1660s, John Drake II purchased a runaway English boy as an indentured servant. John trained and educated him, and the boy thrived and proved himself to his new master. His name was John Higley, and he married Hannah Drake, the daughter of John and Hannah Moore Drake. Their story is told in Booklet Twenty-Two.

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