One of my 2nd great grandmothers was Rose Bell Lake, daughter of George P. and Rosetta (Rupert) Lake. Rose married David E. Moore in Allen Co., IN on 4 January 1891.
The following biographical sketch is from History of the Upper Maumee Valley (1889):
"George P. Lake, of a pioneer family, was born in Vermont, November 24, 1834, son of Nathan and Jerusha (Sheldon) Lake, both natives of Virginia. They moved to Vermont when aged eighteen or twenty years and there married and remained until 1835, when they left Vermont in search of health, the husband being consumptive. He came with his family of eight children by boat to Maumee City, and then took wagons and struck the Black Swamp where it required three days to travel seven miles. They settled in LaGrange county, but after eighteen months removed to Allen county and settled where Fort Wayne now stands. During the first years there he cultivated forty acres of corn within the present city limits. In the spring of 1838 he removed with his family to where Cuba now stands, built his wigwam covered with bark and moved with his family upon his entry of 120 acres made in 1837. There the father died in 1853. George P. remained on the old homestead until he was twenty-nine years of age, when he bought eighty acres in Springfield township. He remained on this farm fifteen years when he sold, and bought ninety-four acres and settled upon it. When his father first settled in this township, there were no roads of any kind, and they had to make their way through an almost trackless forest to get to and from neighbors or to Fort Wayne, where they were compelled to go for the necessaries of life. The forest trees grew fewer before the sturdy blows of their axes, and they were soon repaid for their hard work and energy with fields of growing grain. In 1857 he was married to Rosetta Rupert, born in 1841, and they had three children: Charles C., Rosa, and Ora. In 1875 he married Jane Dragoo, born in 1843, by whom he had one child, Nelson, born November 18, 1876. He and wife are members of the United Brethren church. He has a handsome farm of eighty-four acres. In 1865 he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Fifty-Sixth regiment, under Capt. Sitvers, and served until the close of the war, being discharged at Wilmington, Del."
From the same source, p. 392, is the biographical sketch of George's brother, Curtis C. Lake:
"Curtis C. Lake, of Milan township, was born in 1820, in Chittenden county, VT., one of a family of eight children of Nathan and Jerusha Lake, natives of Connecticut. The father, who was a farmer and lumberman by occupation, when a young man moved to Vermont and located at Shelburn, where he remained until 1835, when he and his family emigrated west, and took possession of the land which C. C. Lake now occupies. He was one of the earliest settlers, and cut a road through the forest for about six miles to reach the tract of land on which he settled. When he first arrived in Allen county he rented a farm near Fort Wayne, where he could raise something to live on until he got a start in the woods. The family stored their grain at Rudisill's mill on the St. Joseph, and would get a grist as they needed it. Then they went to work to clear away the forest, and the parents lived until they and the children succeeded in creating a comfortable home. On the way here they had lost all the goods and clothing they possessed, which increased their hardships.. The parents died on the homestead, the father in 1857, the mother in May, 1866. Mr. Lake helped to build, and was one of the students at the pioneer log school-house, and his children were educated in the same house. The lady who taught the second term of school became his wife. He has a relic of old "Johnny Appleseed" in the shape of an apple tree that measures ninety-three inches in circumference, grown from the seed sown by that famous character, on the banks of the Maumee river. It was set out about 1837, and is still a thrifty tree. His first residence was burned down, but he has now a fine home which has since been built upon one of the finest locations in the township. In 1850 he was wedded to Mary E., daughter of John and Asenath Chelles. She was born in 1833, in Rutland county, VT. Her father was born in 1789, at Kingston, NH. He moved to Vermont in 1830, and thirty-five years later moved to DeKalb county, near Spencerville. He remained there until 1864, when he made his home with his daughter, until his death in 1865. The mother was born in 1798, in Chester, NH, and is still living at the age of ninety-one years and is well and active with hearing and sight but little impaired. Mr. and Mrs. Lake have had five children: John N., Alma A., Chauncey H., Hattie A., and Benjamin who died August 6, 1887. In politics Mr. Lake cast his first presidential vote for W. H. Harrison, and the last for Benjamin Harrison. He is one of the venerable and venerated old settlers."
Useful links:
Selected Burials--Allen and DeKalb Cos., IN. A number of LAKES listed.
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