beauty and loveliness of character, the wife
of Jonathan Edwards, was the daughter of the
Rev. James Pierpont, of New Haven. Her
mother, Mrs. Mary Hooker Pierpont, was
daughter of the Rev. SamueP and Mary (Wil-
lett) Hooker and grand-daughter of the Rev.
Thomas^ Hooker, of Hartford, and of Captain
Thomas Willett, sometime of Plymouth Col-
ony and later the first Mayor of New York City.
Addison Tut tie Drake for many years was
interested in the iron and foundry business
in Sturgis, Mich. He served as Quartermas-
ter of the Eleventh Michigan Volunteer In-
fantry during the Civil War, and at its close
was honorably discharged with the rank of
Captain. He was an earnest advocate of tem-
perance and an active member and trustee
of the Methodist Episcopal church. For about
eight years and till within a few months of his
death he held a position in the War Depart-
ment in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Drake is survived by his wife Catherine and five children, namely: Stella E. P., the subject of this sketch; Edward Edwards, man- ager for the Pacific coast territory of the Union MetaUic Cartridge Company of New York; Caroline E. Bailey, a widow, of San Francisco, who has two sons, Edwards and Leonard; Katherine M., wife of W. R. Herbert, of San Francisco, who has a son, Claude Drake, and a daughter, Stella Marguerite; and Jeanne Ogden, wife of Edwin M. Miller, of Salt Lake City, Utah, who has two daughters, Elizabeth and Golda.
Stella E. P. Drake was educated in the pubUc schools of Sturgis, Mich. At the age of twenty-three she removed to Kalamazoo, where she improved her opportunities for intel- lectual culture by joining study classes in his- tory, art, and literature, conducted by James and Lucinda H. Stone, teachers of rare gifts and attainments, also receiving private instruc- tion from Mrs. Stone, whom at one time she served as secretary. The intimacy thus fos- tered yielded to the eager student large returns in the way of liberal education. Socially she was a welcome and helpful presence, often assisting with her fine elocutionary powers at local public entertainments, acting for one year as secretary of the Ladies' Library Club, and also serving for some time as chairman of its Miscellaneous Committee. After a few years of married life it became necessary for her to support herself, an entirely new experience. This led her to resume her maiden name, by which she has ever since been known. In 1896 Mrs. Drake came East to join the army of self-supporting and self-respecting women. She was equipped for the battle with courage, a firm will, and both natural and accjuired ability. Numbering among her personal friends, besides Lucinda H. Stone, above mentioned (now de- ceased), such women as Frances Willard, Mary A. Livermore, the Rev. Anna Shaw, the Rev. Caroline Bartlett Crane, and Alice Ives Breed, she did not lack sagacious counsel and kindly intercession.
After working for some months for various publishing houses, she became connected with the Boston agency of the Mutual Life Insur- ance Company of New York, and in 1900 suc- ceeded Mrs. M. A, F. Potts as manager of its women's department, the first to be organized in connection with any life insurance company in Boston. Under her management this depart- ment has grown to be a factor in life insurance recognized by the different companies as well as by the insuring public at large. In training w^omen for the profession of life insurance, to do the work intelligently and conscientiously, and thus with a success gratifying to all concerned, Mrs. Drake has shown herself an adept. As shown from the unanimous testimony of her associates, she possesses in a marked degree tact, dignity of character, a keen sense of honor, and exceptional qualifications for direct- ing the work of others, being one of the few to whom authority means nothing more or less than the courteous and appreciative recognition of the rights and interests of those who act under her instructions.
Mrs. Drake is a member of the Church of the Disciples, and has been a worker along charitable lines. She belongs to the Massa- chusetts Woman Suffrage Association, and she retains her membership in the above men- tioned Ladies' Library Society and also in the Twentieth Century Club of Kalamazoo, of which she was one of the founders. Of the Aaron Biut Legion, founded by
