John Drew (trader)

John A. Drew was a prominent trader in the Mackinac area in the early 19th century.

Early in his career, Drew was an agent under Michael Dousman, trading with the local Ojibwe and Odaawaa. Later, together with Edward Biddle, Drew was part owner of Biddle & Drew. In the 1836 Treaty of Washington, with the Ottawa, etc. (7 Stat. 491), Drew was granted a tract of one section and three quarters, to his Indian family, at Cheboygan rapids, at the rate of four dollars. Later in his career, he served as a Michigan House of Representatives for the 1841 session. John Drew had a daughter Mary Elizabeth Drew (b 1806 d June 2, 1888) in Leech Lake with an Indian woman. Mary Elizabeth's husband, Joseph Lecuryer, worked for his father in law at Aiken and Drew. Joseph became the first lighthouse keeper in Michigan on Rock Island at the Potawatowam Light House. John Drew also had a daughter, Polly Drew (b December 13,1817 d Feb 11. 1897) with a woman who was his neighbor in Sault Sainte Marie Michigan, Marie Saugeuaqua. who had been married to John Babtiste Cadotte II a fur trader in Sault Sainte Marie Michigan.

John Drew married Margaret Lasley on May 27, 1822, in Mackinac area. Their children were:

• William T. Drew, born c. 1825.
• Matilda Drew, born c. 1829.
• George Drew.
• Oliver Drew.
• Harriet Drew.
• Julia Ann Drew.

External links

• Old and new Mackinac by James Alvin Van Fleet.
• History of Brown County, Wisconsin by Deborah Beaumont Martin.
• Early days in Detroit by Friend Palmer, Harry P. Hunt and Charles Mills June.
• 1836 Census of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians
• National Archives and Records Service, Washington DC July 191855-July 1857.