Photo of Elbert Albert “Eb” Drake family.
Left to Right Top Row – Margaret Edmonia Drake Jamison, Harvey Folds Drake, Sarah Theresa Drake, Ernest Blaine Drake, Annie Belle Drake.
Left to Right Bottom Row – Robert Alexander Drake, Albert Welsh Drake (child), Elbert Albert “Eb” Drake, Eugenia Margaret “Jennie” Foulds Drake, Perry Monroe Drake, Littleton Quay Drake (child), Hezekiah Elezar Drake
Harvey Folds Drake was born 12-June-1882 in Crab Creek Township in Henderson County, North Carolina. He was the son of Elbert Albert “Eb” Drake and Eugenia Margaret M. “Jennie” Foulds Drake. He married Sina Belle Osteen on 19-November 1905. Their 5 sons were Clyde Horace Drake and Claude Morris Drake Sr. (twins born in 1907), Harry Wescott Drake born 1908, Harvey Folds Drake Jr. born 1911 and George Donald Drake born 1913.
Harvey and Sina Drake lived in the Valley Hill area of Henderson County after their marriage on what is now Lakeside Drive beside his brother Ernest Blaine Drake. Ernest Blaine Drake operated a small grocery store nearby on Willow Road while their other brother H. E. (Skin) Drake operated a grocery store on Main Street in Hendersonville. Harvey F. Drake was also a merchant. There is mention of H. F. Drake in the June 17, 1909 issue of the French Broad Hustler stating that he was working in the M. M. Shepherd store located on Main Street. This store was later owned and operated by his brother H. E. Drake.
By 1913 H. F. Drake was operating his own grocery store as evidenced by this advertisement in the November 10, 1913 French Broad Hustler. The 1915 Hendersonville City Directory shows H. F. Drake operating a store at 427 Crab Creek Road. This is actually now Kanuga Road beside the Railroad Tracks near the intersection of Willow Road and Kanuga Road.
Harvey Drake’s health was not good and a note found in the January 15, 1914 French Broad Hustler states that he has gone to New Smyrna, Florida to recuperate during the winter to recover from an illness. He purchased and sold several properties during his life which was not too uncommon for a business minded individual. His life was cut short on April 28, 1917 at the age of 34 when he succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis leaving his wife to raise 5 young sons. He was buried at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Valley Hill on April 29, 1917. Four sons were sent after his death to the Odd Fellows Orphanage in Goldsboro, North Carolina. One son with polio was sent to live with a Doctor in Asheville. His widow Sina Drake married his cousin Woodson Anderson Drake (a widower) three years later on September 12, 1920. All sons finally returned home and later lived in homes near the home of Woodson and Sina Drake in what was referred to as Davis Station (now Laurel Park) in Henderson County.
(source – Troy Drake)
