Welcome to the
'Drax, Dracas(s) & Drakes'
family history website
[Website set up in 17" widescreen; the layout will appear different on a normal screen]
These are mainly North Lincolnshire, and nearby West Yorkshire, surnames with descendants worldwide.
NB. These surnames are not usually related to the surname 'Drake'; see below.
[last updated: 31st October 2009 - all hyperlinks were last verified on 26th September 2009]
Pride in family is pride in ordinary people - who in our hearts and minds become extraordinary. - Anon
Introduction
I am currently conducting a worldwide one-name study of the surnames 'Drax', 'Dracas', 'Dracass' & 'Drakes' and similar phonetic spellings, but excluding 'Drake'. I have nearly 2,800 pages of trees and information, plus numerous files containing various source notes on which the trees are based. I would be very pleased to hear from anyone related to, or researching, these surnames.
I am extremely grateful to all the members of our extended family, worldwide, who have kindly shared their own research, family papers, official documents, family histories, and even the latest new additions to the family. I am always pleased to add such information to these records 'for posterity', even baby photos and birth weights. Please see 'Contact' page regarding privacy of such current data; for these reasons I have not acknowledged them all by name on this website, but have done so in my records.
In the 1881 Census there were only 96 'Drakes' households in the UK, representing 281 people of all ages. In the 2000 UK Census, there were 251 'Drakes' households in the UK, representing 396 people of voting age (plus children); there were also 17 'Drax', 7 'Dracas', and 23 'Dracass'. As a point of interest, the UK population during the 2001 UK Census was 58,789,194, so they are fairly scarce surnames.
The statue of Sir Francis Drake at Tavistock, Devon.
NB. Whilst there is no documentary evidence to connect the ancient 'Drake' familes with the ancient 'Drax / Dracas(s) / Drakes' families, worldwide, there are a some 'Drakes' in Cornwall & Devon, who are apparently not related to the other 'Drax / Dracas(s) / Drakes' lines and may be descended from 'Drake'; they might even be related to Sir Francis Drake.
Also, there are many instances of the addition or loss of the 's' in both surnames in error, especially in the 'Drax/Drakes/Drake' tree living in the Burton upon Stather & Winteringham areas of north Lincolnshire. I had been unable to link the 'Drakes' data that I had in this tree, as the 'missing' names were all 'Drake' and were interspersed right through the tree, flicking back and forth between the two spellings right through to the present day. My thanks are hereby acknowledged to Rupert Drake for kindly sharing his work on this particular tree and helped to bring it all together. I have since managed to link the giant Isle of Axholme 'Drakes' tree into this one, thus forming the biggest tree that I have to date. I suspect that all other 'Drax', Dracas(s)', and 'Drakes' trees (except Cornwall & Devon) will also link to this tree one day - maybe it will take DNA to link them where documentary evidence has failed. [see my Y-DNA Project]
DNA origin of my own 'Dracas' / 'Drakes' line
My direct-line male 'Drakes' ancestors were the descendants of the first modern humans who entered Europe during the Upper Paleolithic period, about 35,000-40,000 years ago, from the Caucasus Mountains [the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, covering modern Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the tip of southern Russia]. They were the Cro-Magnons ['Anatomically Modern Human' (AMH) or 'Early Modern Human' (EMH)] whose descendants 20,000 years ago were painting in the caves of southern France and northern Spain. I also have a match with modern Basque DNA in my overall DNA; their language is believed to be the last remnant of the Cro-Magnon language; so, this is probably from my direct-paternal-line. My Y-DNA is haplogroup R1b3*, which is one of the most common in modern Europe. [see My DNA & Y-DNA Project]
Documentary origin of these four surnames
Whilst undertaking family research, and especially if you cannot find someone, it is important to remember that dialect has a large part to play in the corruption of names. So, as people moved around the country the locals may have recorded their spoken name differently. The local parish records were usually written by the priest, who often came from another part of the country; he would record what he heard, as he thought it should be written to make that sound. Phonetic spellings play a very large part in such records. For similar reasons, there are also wide variations between Parish Registers and the Bishops Transcripts of them, indicating that one person read the registers whilst another, probably an outsider on behalf of the Bishop, wrote the name down in the new record.
The Bishops Transcripts are used for the IGI and, as such, are not necessarily the same as the Parish Registers. This is the case with the 1774 marriage of Daniel Dracas (Drakas), whose entry in the Tealby Parish Register is 'Draykas' and in the Bishops Transcripts for Tealby as 'Drakehas'. His 1738 baptism at South Kelsey is shown in the Bishops Transcripts, and thus the IGI, as 'Drakehurst'. According to GRO and the Tealby Parish Register, he died in 1822 at Market Rasen and was buried as 'Dracas'. His children all eventually became 'Drakes'. As I have spent over 35 years working on these surnames, I am in no doubt that these refer to the same individual. I have yet to find out why the 'Dracas' family left Stainton-le-Vale about 1674 and moved to South Kelsey; it may have been due to the lack of a tenancy in the village for the father to rent to support his young family, but is more likely to be due to land-clearance for sheep. However, since I cannot find an occupation for him, and since I am frequently reminded that many of the early Drax (Drakes) family were married priests; maybe he was a village Curate? As a result of a marriage, the family moved to Tealby in 1774, after 100 years in South Kelsey. It is an interesting fact that their 'Drakes' descendants eventually became the 'Lords of the Manor' at Stainton-le-Vale in the mid-1880s, about 200 years after they left the village.
Early 1900s street scenes showing the Post Office & the Bull Inn at South Kelsey, Lincolnshire
In the village of South Kelsey, Lincs., 7 miles northwest of Market Rasen, there are several surnames with strange spellings. During the 17th & 18th centuries, one of these was 'Drakehurst', which is only recorded in a few entries there. This surname is not found elsewhere in the UK during any period and must have evolved from, and then into, a different spelling. The 'Dracas' family arrived at South Kelsey from Stainton-le-Vale then vanished during the exact period that 'Drakehurst' appeared in the village. Lincolnshire Archives and several local researchers have confirmed that the South Kelsey Parish Registers are locally renowned for such wierd spellings during this period. Further analysis of parish records shows that it apparently evolved from 'Dracas' (Drakas), into 'Drakehurst', then 'Draykas' (Drakehas), then back to 'Dracas', and finally to 'Drakes'.
This particular 'Dracas' line were the last of this famly to leave Stainton-le-Vale; they moved to South Kelsey between 1668 and 1672. Their move to South Kelsey was not long after their marriage and the birth of their first child; maybe he moved to a farm tenancy, or for better employment, or because of land-clearance for sheep? It was only eight years after the Restoration of the Monarchy and the end of the Commonwealth in 1660, which had ruled since the Civil War. Was he was a Parliamentarian? Was he forced to move away due to recriminations by Royalists? Or, was he forced out because of his faith? Charles II had landed at Dover, Kent on 25.5.1660; the country slowly returned to ‘the old ways’, sequestered estates were eventually restored, and compensation was granted to those who lost as a result of supporting the Royalist side. There were a lot of Parliamentarians in the Lincolnshire Wolds; it would be interesting to find out if a ‘Royalist’ owned the manor of Stainton-le-Vale in 1660, and especially if he had been dispossessed under Cromwell. Others suffered because of their faith: “In 1678 Titus Oates alleged a Catholic plot to murder Charles and establish Catholicism. In the wake of the Popish Plot Catholics were excluded from Parliament, some were arrested, and some were killed. This was only one of a series of real or alleged Catholic plots against the king. Social conditions during the 17th century were abysmal. Laws were harsh, and religious non-conformists and Catholics faced heavy discrimination.” Later branches of this ‘Drakes’ line were either Non-Conformists (Methodists) or Roman Catholics. However, whilst there were to be no recriminations against the majority of Parliamentarian supporters by the king, it doesn't mean that individual landowners kept to that agreement. All this being considered, it should be noted that many changes in farming were going on about this time and it is possible that the family moved due to lack of employment, change of use (or sale) of land.
It is interesting that Stainton le Vale (Stainton le Hole, Stainton in ye Hole), South Kelsey, Tealby (Tevelby) and Middle Rasen Drax (Middle Rasen Drakes) are all in Walshcroft wapentake in Lindsey, Lincolnshire. It may be that the family connection with this area was linked to the ownership of Middle Rasen Drax by Drax Priory, Yorks., which is not far from the Drax family of Woodhall, Darfield, Yorks. The families with the surnames Drax, Dracas(s), Drakes are all easily linked by water via the river Ouse, river Trent, and the Humber Estuary.
'Drakes' appears to have begun as 'Drax', which was interchangeable with 'Drakes' in the 16th century Herald's Visitations of Yorkshire; there are several versions of the same family tree, most showing 'Drax' and at least one showing 'Drakes' for the same family. In other 16th century records, various names ending in 'x' can also be found ending in 'kes'. One such example is John Knox (1513-72), who was recorded on a contemporary woodcut as 'Knokes'. 'Middle Rasen Drax' is also recorded as 'Middle Rasen Drakes'. An interesting note about accents is that several modern French people have recently been heard to pronounce the name 'Mr. Drakes' as 'Monsieur Drakus' or 'Monsieur Drax'; I have also recently heard locals in the Mayenne area of France pronounce 'Drakes' as 'Drax'. These are further evidence of the names being interchanged due to accent, even today.
According to the phonetic spellings of the surnames Drax, Drakes, Dracass, & etc. that I have found in use prior to the standardization of English spellings, about the mid-18th century, it is apparent that 'Dra....' in these names was pronounced, 'Dray....'; it is also found spelt as 'Dray' and 'Drai....', which further proves the point. The second part of the surname '....x', '....kes', and '....cas' was apparently pronounced as, 'ks', and evolved into, '....kas', '....ckas', '....cass', '....cus', '....kehas', and even into '....kehurst' and '....kehouse'.
Having taken this on board, try pronouncing 'Drax' with 'Dray' at the beginning and you get 'Draykes' and 'Draycas'. A modern example being the 2001 Eurovision Song Contestant Lindsay Dracass, whose own website states that it is pronounced 'Draycass': lindsaydracass.co.uk.
Whilst on the subject of music, there are also two others in the music industry: musician Bernhard Drax: bernharddrax.com & the singer Anthony Drakes.
I believe that these four surnames are of the same origin, having evolved from 'Drax' into 'Dracass', 'Dracas', and 'Drakes', plus several other similar phonetic spelling variations, such as, Draykas, Drackes, Dracuss, Dracus, Drakehas, and Draks. There is even a miss-transcription on the LDS 1881 Census CD-Rom, where 'Dracas' is shown as 'Draias'.
The origin of 'Drax' as a surname may well have evolved from 'de Drax' (i.e. of Drax), of which there are several medieval instances. Drax village, which is near Selby, Yorkshire, is of Roman or pre-Roman origin, so whilst the surname may have come from the village, the village name did not come from the surname, at least not in the last 878 years!
The earliest person named 'Drax', whom I have in my records, was born in 1126 in Normandy [see the early part of his tree in 'Trees' page]; he came over to England with Henry II in 1154, having visited prior to that with Henry's mother Empress Matilda (Maud, Maude) during her attempts to gain the throne from King Stephen. Her father, Henry I, had named her as heiress and not her cousin Stephen; those in authority didn't fancy having a queen when they could choose a king, so they crowned Stephen in her place.
Drax village gave its name to Drax Priory, which was founded between 1130 and 1139 by William Paynel, as a House of Augustinians or Black Canons. Several of the persons surnamed 'de Drax' may have been former priests at Drax Priory, though it is more likely that they were of the Drax household or Drax manor. The Drax family of Darfield were landed-priests in the 16th century and were descended from this early line.
The Paynel family were the lords of Drax, and a female Pannell (Paynel?) married into the 'Drax' family; so, this may be the origin of the medieval surname 'Drax.' If so, the 'Drax' born in 1126, mentioned above, was known by a different surname when he arrived in England. The problem here is that I only have access to information about them in the 16th century Herald's trees, and two 14th century references to two brothers who fought alongside The Black Prince at Poitiers and The Battle of Navarette; the latter brother was knighted, but was later killed.
Prior to 1066, most Anglo-Saxon thegns didn't use surnames; when a place-name was added to a name, it merely meant that was where he came from. However, when the Normans used a place-name as a surname, it was a statement of ownership of that place; i.e. all the land plus the entire community and animals on it. Also, the Anglo-Saxons considered their land and possessions as belonging to their extended family, thus continually dividing their estates between heirs, but the Normans left everything to a single heir or heiress, often leaving younger sons almost penniless. For this reason, the younger male and most female 'Drax' (Drakes) descendants were not mentioned in trees and this has caused the difficulty in linking the several Lincolnshire trees to the nearby early West Yorkshire line.
After the Norman Conquest, and the end of Anglo-Saxon rule alongside the Viking 'Danelaw', England was at last to united under one King and he was the Norman descendant of Vikings. The word ‘Norman’ is a contraction of ‘north men’, and ‘Normandy’ is ‘the land of the Northmen’; the name comes from the Latin Normannorum – Northmen; Normannica - Northman.
I would really appreciate hearing from anyone with access to a list of those who came over with Henry II, or his mother Matilda. I am especially interested in anything about those that Henry II gave lands to 'in Kent' about 1154, and those who were Captains of Falaise in the 12th to 14th centuries. I would also appreciate details of the six or so knights who followed Henry Plantagenet of Normandy (Henry II) from the days of his youth until he became King of England.
The 'Drax' family appears to have spread into Lincolnshire and the Isle of Axholme via the rivers Humber and Trent. Prior to the building of reasonable roads throughout England, the rivers were the 'motorways' of communication and trade.
After 1066, it was common practice for Anglo-Normans to adopt a surname based on their estate in England, and then change it when gaining further estates upon marriage. In the mid-14th century, many people throughout England gave their surnames as the names of their native villages, or the village where they held land by inheritance or marriage. Even as late as the mid-17th century, some people still used two or more different surnames, one often by birth, the other(s) relating to land they held.
If the 'Drakes', 'Drax', 'Dracas' & 'Dracass' names originate from former residents of Drax village in Yorkshire, it seems very likely that one or more branches of these families are not related via male-line descent from one male, unless the surname was only used by the descendants of the Lord of Drax Manor.
The surname may have originated elsewhere, by males using it as a surname having already left the village of their birth, and thus not within the Drax village community; this could be one possible explanation of the lack of reference to the surname in the Drax village history.
Another possibility, as suggested above, is that the surname could be 'adopted' by the husband of a female 'Drax/Drakes/Dracas/Dracass' heiress, thus breaking the DNA 'Y chromosome' link but not the overall genetic one. My own Y-Chromosome Haplo-group is 'R1b’, with an exact match for the ‘Atlantic modal haplotype’. [see DNA page]
'Drakes', 'Drax', 'Dracas' and 'Dracass' are rare surnames and most lines (worldwide) can be traced back to North Lincolnshire, or in the nearby Yorkshire West Riding, in England. The total area concerned is only 50 miles wide by 20 miles high, and is immediately below the river Humber.
The main exceptions to this are those 'Drakes' that originate in Barbados, West Indies; these appear to have taken their surname from the Drax Hall Estate, a 17th century sugar plantation, which was started by a descendant of the early Drax line. It is interesting to note that there are no 'Drax' residents shown in the present Barbados phone book, but there are numerous 'Drakes'. One Barbadian 'Drakes' has played cricket for English teams. Click the hyperlinks below to see more about West Indian research:
The earliest 'Drakes' entries found for each Barbados parish are: 1689 St. Michael; 1750 St. Thomas; 1836 St. James; 1842 St. Andrew; 1849 St. George; 1858 St. Peter; 1859 St. Joseph; 1860 Christ Church; 1861 St. John; 1866 St. Philip; none in St. Lucy.
Just to show you what family records can be easily lost, I have included my maternal great great grandfather's biography under 'A sailor's life'; he was Albert Wish Davis, who sailed the world on sailing ships in the 1840s. (see 'Sailor's life' page)
Robert Drakes, or Drake, Rector of Thundersley, Essex, was martyred on 24.4.1556. He was burned at the stake in 1556, under the reign of 'Bloody Mary,' for not accepting the newly restored Roman Catholic faith. Her father Henry VIII had previously ended the dominance of the Roman Catholic faith and instituted the Protestant faith in the form of the 'Church of England'. (see 'Martyr' page)
Jeremy Thomas Bailey (1941-1965) was an Antarctic researcher. (see 'Jeremy's page')
Other lines of family history research:
Since 1970, my wife and I have been working on all our ancestral lines, including: Andrews, Anton, Bailey, Barmby, Bechem, Branscombe, Branton, Brook, Brooke, Brooks, Cade, Calladine, Compton, Connell, Cottier, Counter, Craggs, Crags, Crossley, Culliford, Dancer, Davis, Dixon, Drakes, Dracas, Drakehas, Drakehurst, Draykas, Dyer, Elder, Fuge, Hankens, Hankes, Hargrave (Hargraves, Hargreaves), Harvey, Hermitage, Huntly, Kearley, Knight, Matkin, Morrison, Moss, Musgrave, Nash, Newcombe, Noden, Northway, O'Regan, Place, Pollard, Poppleton, Priddis, Prideaux, Rhodes, Richardson, Ricketts, Shead, Siswick, Smithers, Spry, Styles, Talbot, Tatum, Turpin, Wildsmith, Wish, & Worthington.
I am currently working on the following one-name studies:
Crossley family of Yorkshire. I have begun to build two small trees for the families associated with Crossley Carpets and Crossley Cars, in an attempt to link them to two other trees, both of which are rumoured to be related; I have 528 pages of trees and notes.
Priddis & Prideaux families of Devon and Cornwall, which currently runs to 426 pages of trees and notes.
Siswick, Syswick, Sedgwick, Sedgsweeke, & etc. families of Yorkshire, which now runs to 291 pages of trees and notes.
Drax, Dracas(s), Drakes worldwide. This is my main one-name study and runs to 2,482 pages of trees and notes, plus numerous sources notes and files.
My own paternal-line runs from 1602 as: Dracas, Drakehurst, Draykas, Drakehas, Dracas, Drakes; it probably began as Drax, with a phonetic pronunciation of "Dray-ks", as in 'Drakes'. The exception to this phonetic spelling of Drakes (Drax) is 'Drakehurst', which is a typical example of the South Kelsey Parish Register miss-spellings for a period of about 100 years.
I have several large trees in the UK, covering 1126-2004, and numerous smaller ones, plus a large amount of 'unattached' data. I would appreciate any help that anyone can give me and I would be really pleased to receive any information about these families, no matter how small. This really is a giant jigsaw puzzle and the tiniest piece of information can often link much larger ones.
I would be very pleased to hear from anyone interested in any of these families, and I am willing to help where I can.
Chris Drakes
