Julia Ann Drake was born about 1814 somewhere in New York State. She is one of those signers for whom evidence is skimpy and difficult to analyze. In 1850, she lived, perhaps as a boarder or perhaps as a daughter, with Phebe King, another signer of the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments.

A Julia Ann Drake--perhaps the same person, perhaps not--was admitted to the Seneca Falls Presbyterian Church on profession of faith on January 16, 1839, and dismissed to the Auburn Presbyterian Church on February 10, 1841. (In 1844, a Julia Ann Grimsha returned to the Seneca Falls Presbyterians from Auburn. Perhaps this Julia Ann Drake had married while in Auburn, so that she is not the signer of the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments after all.) Another Julia Ann Drake, living in Romulus in 1852, married John B Smith, also of Romulus, on July 18, 1852. Again, this may or may not the signer. Finally, several other Julia Ann Drakes appear in Drake genealogies.

Until further information comes to light, we cannot know for certain which of these Julia Ann Drakes, if any of them, is the real signer of the Declaration of Sentiments.

Sources:

• Files of Betty Auten.
• 1850 Census.
• SF Presbyterian Church Records.

-Judith Wellman, Historian
  Historical New York