JOHN STEVEN DREW


About 1890

Children

Laura Turner Drew
Anon John Drew
Osceola Drew

BORN

January 25, 1874
October 2, 1875
October 5, 1878

DIED

December 23, 1961
February 11, 1935
March 12, 1890

Born: June 2, 1846 - Barwick, Georgia
Died: December 28, 1918 - Tampa, Florida

Married: Catherine Strickland - November 11, 1872, Brooks Co., GA

Father: William Drew
Mother: Mary "Polly" Cason

John Steven Drew was born in what was then Lowndes County. Georgia (becameBrooks County). When the Civil War broke out in 1862 he was too young to be a regular soldier, but he was anxious to go anyway. He was allowed to join the reserves and serve as a water boy. He joined up in Savannah in May of 1864. He was with the 1st Georgia Reserves, Company B, Jackson's Brigade, McLaw's Division. He was captured near Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1965 and was exchanged for a Yankee prisoner the next day. He was discharged in Greensboro, North Carolina, and like his brother and many others, the only way to get home was to walk. He was on the road over a month, eating berries and what other food he could forage. About a hundred miles from home he met his brother, Tom (Thomas Jefferson Drew), also walking, and they arrived in Barwick together. They were so dirty their mother would not let them in the house before a thorough scrubbing in the back yard. Then, she treated them to the first good meal they had had in months - fried chicken. Years later, in 1908, John was approved for a pension of $100 per year for his war service.

In addition to their three natural born children, John and Catherine raised another child as their own - Susan McGraw. Susan was the daughter of Catherine's sister Lamender who died in childbirth.

Susan McGraw b. 6 Oct 1883 d.13 Jun 1974

John moved his family from Barwick, Georgia to Dade City, Florida in 1890 travelling on foot beside a horse and wagon.The wagon carried all their possessions. They camped along the way on the three week trip, sleeping beneath the wagon. After building a house and planting a crop, he made a trip back to Barwick to gather the remainder of their belongings. They settled on land northeast of Dade City. They never talked much about the tragic death of little Osceola. She caught pneumonia on the trip south and died not long after they arrived in Dade City. It was a source of inner turmoil for John for the rest of his life.

After building a house for the family and planting a crop, John went back to Barwick to gather the rest of the family's belongings. He never left Florida again. After his family was raised, he moved to Tampa to live with his son, Anon, at 2813 9th Street. It was there that he died on 28 December 1918. He is buried in the Dade City Cemetery in Pasco County, Florida.

Sources: Interview with Ruby Mae (Drew) Barrow, his niece, in 1987.
Application for Pension, 10-1-1907, #11688, Pens.#7318.
Death Certificate.
Gravemarker in Dade City, FL Cemetery.
Brooks Co, GA Census records.

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