The New International Encyclopædia/Drake, Samuel Gardner

DRAKE, Samuel Gardner (1798-1875). An eminent American antiquarian. He was born in Pittsfield, Mass., was educated in the common schools, and from 1818 to 1825 taught in a district school. In 1828 he went to Boston, where he established an antiquarian book-store—the first of its kind in the United States—and devoted himself to the study of early Massachusetts history. He was one of the founders (1847) of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, was its president in 1858, and for many years was the editor of its quarterly Register. He published four valuable works on Indian history: Indian Biography (1812); Book of the Indians (1833); Old Indian Chronicle (1836); and Indian Captivities (1839); besides the History and Antiquities of Boston (1856); Annals of Witchcraft in the United States (1869); and History of the French and Indian War (1870). He also edited Church's Entertaining History of King Philip's War (1825); Mather's Indian War of 1675-76 (1862); Early History of New England (1864); and Hubbard's Indian Wars (1865).