Sometimes I feel like I’ve researched an ancestor and discovered most all of the information that’s available about them. I’ve researched the records available to me, talked to people who may know more, written the stories, and figure I’m pretty much done. My paternal 2nd great grandfather, Ervin Alonzo “Poppy” DRAKE, is one such ancestor. I felt I knew all that was ever going to come out about him but then, he decided he wasn’t done with me yet. On a quiet day this week I decided to make another round of searches online. As I was looking through the information, I began noticing his variety of occupations over the years so we’ll start there.

If you want to catch up on previous stories about Poppy before you move on, you can see those here:

• Ervin Alonzo Drake, 1940
• The Pigs Won That Round, Part 1
• The Pig Won That Round, Part 2
• Poppy Makes a Comeback

Farmer Lon

(Just for reference, Poppy went by a number of names including Poppy, Lon, E.N., and Ervin. For the most part, I’ll call him Poppy.) In Poppy’s younger years, he farmed. I wish non-population schedules existed for Missouri for the years I can find Poppy but they don’t so I can only guess at what he farmed. Hogs might be a good guess, as you can see from previous blog posts I did about him (linked above). Poppy’s occupation was farmer in 1900 and notes indicate he’s also on a farm schedule for that year but again, no farm schedule for 1900 is available at this point. We’ll get back to farming in a bit, but for now let’s look at his next occupation.

Constable Drake

In August of 1908, Poppy became a nominee for constable of Prairie Township, McDonald County, Missouri. Just as a reference for where Prairie Township is, Southwest City is located in Prairie Township. The notice below appeared in The Pineville Democrat on 14 August 1908:

In October of 1908, he was identified as the Republican nominee. He was running against Democrat S. P. TUCKER. I’m not sure if Poppy was elected or appointed. I do know that about a year later, in late August or early September of 1909, Constable M. P. MILLER resigned. The County Court met and decided to appoint Poppy as MILLER’s replacement. Poppy was notified and he accepted the appointment. All this happened between 7 September 1909 and 9 September 1909. On 11 September 1909 Poppy was sworn in and assumed his duties. The notice of his swearing-in appeared in The Pineville Democrat on 17 September 1909:

To confuse matters more, the public minutes of McDonald County, Missouri (published in the 7 May 1909 edition of The Pineville Herald) state that in May of 1909 Poppy was paid for services as a constable in McDonald County, Missouri. That date was prior to his being appointed and sworn in. So perhaps he won in 1908 and was already serving, but then why would he need to be appointed later? I’ll have to do more research to figure this one out.

Whatever the case, Poppy was involved with a big arrest in October of 1909 and got a write-up in the paper for it. He also received part of a reward that was offered for the capture of the escaped inmate he helped arrest. This article appeared in The Pineville Democrat on 1 October 1909:

After this article, I haven’t found any further definitive information about Poppy’s time as a constable. I do know he was paid some money in April and May of 1912 by McDonald County (or, it appears he was paid money) that was classified as “Criminal Costs”. Since it appears the money was paid to him (and not by him) it would seem he was doing some kind of work for McDonald County. Possibly he was serving warrants and things like that.

A couple of notes about Poppy’s life prior to his becoming a constable. Poppy helped local law enforcement recover some stolen property in the area in November of 1906. This article was found on Newspapers.com and is from the 30 November 1906 edition of The Pineville Herald. The Jess BAKER mentioned in the article was Poppy’s brother-in-law, I believe.

In April of 1908, Poppy was a Grand Jury witness.

This notice appeared in the 3 April 1908 edition of The Pineville Democrat and was found on Newspapers.com. My guess is possibly he was a witness in regard to the theft that he helped with in the article above this one. I can’t say for sure, though.

These events may have sparked his interest in being a constable. There’s no way to know. In any case, it seems he was known to local law enforcement and the court system in a good way and perhaps that played a part in the County feeling comfortable enough to appoint him as Constable. Remember this when you get to the 1930s section of this story.

In between the big arrest in 1909 and the criminal court payments in 1912, the 1910 census happened. The 1910 census didn’t list farmer or constable as Poppy’s occupation. Instead, Poppy was into something new.

Poppy the Butcher

In 1910, while Poppy was transitioning from being a constable to doing other work, Poppy lived on the East side of Main Street in Southwest City, McDonald County, Missouri. Unfortunately, the census taker didn’t record Poppy’s house number so I’m not sure where in that area he lived exactly. For reference, that’s the same side of Main Street that the police station is on today. It’s also the same side of the road as Nichols Brothers store which is now Dave’s Supermarket. According to the census, Poppy owned and operated a butcher shop in Southwest City in 1910. I haven’t found a single ad or newspaper article talking about Poppy’s butcher business. Had it not been recorded on the 1910 census, I would have ever known about this venture of his. I did notice that the 1910 census references a farm schedule entry for Poppy so I’m assuming that, in addition to his butcher shop, he was also still farming.

Laborer

By the 1920 census Poppy seems to have been rid of the law enforcement role and the butcher shop. The census states his occupation as ‘Laborer’ and he seems to be working for someone else. I haven’t found any information stating who he worked for or what type of work he did. He wouldn’t have been working for the WPA yet since the WPA wouldn’t exist until 1935. So, for the decade of 1920, I only know that he was a laborer.

Farmer and Laborer

By 1930, Poppy had returned to farming. Again, the accompanying farm schedule no longer exists as far as I know. Poppy’s farming either didn’t last much longer, or he took on a job in addition to farming. In January of 1931 Poppy (and other close DRAKE relatives) received payment from Delaware County, Oklahoma, for “road work”. He received two more payments in the spring of 1931 for “hauling gravel” for Delaware County. Payments for road work and hauling gravel continued through at least Autumn of 1932. In 1935, President Franklin D. ROOSEVELT opened up the WPA projects and one legal notice in a newspaper confirms that Poppy worked for the WPA. You’ll see the legal notice below. I’ll be sending a letter of this week requesting Poppy’s WPA records. I’ll share that information if/when it comes.

From Good to Bad

In the spring of 1936, Poppy was working for WPA on the roads when circumstances took a turn for the worse for him. In the 19 March 1936 edition of The Grove Sun, this legal notice appeared:

I asked my dad if he know about this incident and he said he didn’t. Just a side note, County Judge Winfred Fulton HAMPTON, was a fairly new county judge in Delaware County in 1936. I’ve been unable to find any information at all about Henry ALPERS. I can’t say exactly what happened with the assault and battery charges, but about three weeks later another legal notice appeared. This time, Poppy wasn’t included but his son (and my great-grandfather), Mark DRAKE, was still being charged. This notice appeared in The Grove Sun on 9 April 1936:

This time, only Mark was being charged and he entered a guilty plea. I never knew my great-grandpa to be a violent or ill-tempered person so I was a little surprised to find assault and battery charges being brought against either my great-grandpa or my 2nd great-grandpa. Unfortunately, no further articles or notices appeared so it will take a little more research to see if I can bring you any more of the story. I hope to make a trip to the courthouse next week to see if I can find more information.

Back to Work

In the 1940 census, Poppy’s occupation is listed as farmer. However, in September of 1943, Poppy received another payment for road work done for Delaware County. In 1950 (the final census record available for Poppy at this time) he is listed as a farmer but also listed as receiving an “Old Age Pension”. I know he wasn’t receiving a military pension because in the 1930 census he told the census taker he was not a military veteran. In the fall of 1952, Poppy received his last recorded payment for road work done for Delaware County, Oklahoma. If there were other payments, I haven’t found them yet. Poppy was 77 years old in 1952.

I asked my dad about Poppy working on Delaware County roads and about him working for the WPA. He said Poppy worked on the road from the Maysville (Arkansas) junction into Southwest City (Missouri) where the west side of the road is in Oklahoma and the east side of the road is in Arkansas and then in Missouri as you get closer to Southwest City. Dad said Poppy walked to work every single day. It would have been about 5-7 miles one way through the woods from where Poppy lived to the road he was helping to build. Dad did mention that Poppy owned a Model A or a Model T pickup at some point which dad remembers riding in. However, driving either the pickup or a wagon with horses would have been a problem as far as where Poppy would leave his transportation while he was working all day. That’s why Poppy walked to work.

At this point, from about 1930 to his death in 1964, Poppy lived in various locations within Beaty Township in Delaware County, Oklahoma. Beaty Township is bounded on the east side by the road that Poppy was building. I believe in the 1930s and 1940s he was living closer to Southwest City, Missouri, and to the road he was working on. Here’s a map I posted in a previous blog post (linked above) that shows where Beaty Township is located within Delaware County, Oklahoma. Beaty Township has a blue circle around it. The map comes from OKGenWeb. A larger version of this map is available in the blog post linked above entitled “Ervin Alonzo Drake, 1940”.

In 1950, Poppy lived on Whitewater Road between Jay and Grove in Delaware County, Oklahoma. The census taker recorded detailed notes about the locations she visited. Regarding the general area around Poppy’s residence she wrote,

One mile north of White Water School House / Then retrace back to school and go east on what is known as White Water Road.

On Poppy’s specific entry, she wrote,

2 3/4 mile on right.

I’m hoping to get over to that area soon and see if I can figure out approximately where Poppy lived. I was excited to get some specific information about the various places he lived. I believe it was later in the 1960s when Poppy lived near Poynor Baptist Church where the cave and spring were. That location has been mentioned in previous posts I wrote about Poppy.

Final Notes

If I haven’t told you before, a physical description of Poppy is given on his World War I draft card. Poppy had a medium build, was of medium height, had gray hair, and dark brown eyes. I’ve posted pictures of Poppy in some of the links at the beginning of this post if you’re interested in seeing his picture.

For further research, I’m hoping to find some time to take my dad out for a drive and have him show me some of the places he remembers Poppy living. I have some other follow-up that I’d like to do regarding Poppy’s life. As I said, I’ll be taking trips to the courthouse in Delaware County, writing for Poppy’s WPA records, ordering his social security records, and traveling to the Whitewater area. I also will be researching various people that were connected to him that I don’t know much about. For instance, an adopted sister named Perlie A. CALVIN, a cousin named Samuel BAKER who lived with Poppy in 1900, and Raymond HUBBARD who lived with Poppy in 1930.

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little more about Poppy. If you have more stories about Poppy, put them in comments or email me. I’d love to hear them!

Until next time,

Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Resources:

• Oral interview with Roy Drake on 26 and 29 December 2024.
• Newspapers.com articles were accessed on 26 December 2024.
• Ancestry.com search was conducted on 26 December 2024.
• ODCR, accessed on 30 December 2024. No records found about the WPA assault and battery charge.
• 1936 Officers Roster, accessed on 30 December 2024.