One of the oldest unsolved mysteries in our Drake family history concerns Sarah A. Brown Drake, wife of Samuel C. Drake and mother of a large branch of Drake descendants living today.

Despite years of research by several family historians, including recent DNA analysis, we still do not know who Sarah’s parents were. Yet over the past few years, a number of intriguing clues have emerged.

What We Know About Sarah

Sarah was born in November 1821, according to the 1900 census. The same census reports that she was born in the Cherokee Nation, which at that time covered large portions of present-day Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

She married Samuel C. Drake on 22 April 1844 in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. Samuel was the son of Ephraim Drake, a Tennessee-born farmer who had recently moved his family into northeastern Alabama.

After their marriage, Samuel and Sarah settled first in Cherokee County and later in Randolph County, Alabama. Samuel died during the Civil War in 1862, and Sarah eventually returned to the Tallapoosa County area, where she remained for the rest of her life.

These facts are well documented. Everything before her 1844 marriage remains largely unknown.

Why Is Sarah So Difficult to Trace?

The surname Brown presents a major challenge. It was one of the most common surnames in the southeastern United States during the early nineteenth century.

The fact that Sarah reported being born in the Cherokee Nation creates another complication. During this period, Cherokee lands were being divided, surveyed, and gradually opened to white settlement. County boundaries changed frequently, and many records were lost, never created, or remain difficult to locate.

Adding to the mystery, there is currently no known document that identifies Sarah’s father or mother.

No probate record, land record, census entry, church record, or family Bible has yet surfaced that clearly connects her to a specific Brown family.

The Tallapoosa County Connection

Because Sarah married in Tallapoosa County, that locality became the starting point for my research.

I searched surviving marriage records for other Brown women who married in Tallapoosa County during the same period. The hope was that one of them might prove to be Sarah’s sister or close relative.

Several Brown families appeared in the records, including descendants of a man named James Brown, but none provided a convincing connection to Sarah.

The research did reveal several Brown families living in the area during the 1840s and 1850s, but so far none can be definitively linked to her.

A Curious Bond Record

One of the most interesting discoveries involves a Tallapoosa County bond record that appears to reference three Brown children:

• Sarah Ann Brown
• Mary C. Brown
• Felix Brown

The record also names several respected members of the Tallapoosa community who appear to have acted as guardians or overseers.

If this Sarah Ann Brown is our Sarah, it would be the first document placing her within a family group.

Unfortunately, the evidence is still circumstantial.

The ages fit. The location fits. The timing fits.

But no document has yet been found proving that the Sarah Ann Brown in the bond record is the same Sarah Brown who married Samuel Drake three years later.

Even so, this remains one of the most promising leads.

The William Bullington Question

Another mystery centers on William Bullington, who signed Sarah and Samuel’s marriage bond in 1844.

Marriage bonds were typically signed by someone who knew the couple or their family. Bullington’s presence suggests some relationship, but exactly what that relationship was remains unknown.

• Was he a neighbor?
• A family friend?
• A guardian?
• A relative through marriage?

Research into Bullington’s movements and associations may eventually reveal how Samuel Drake met Sarah Brown in the first place.

Following the DNA Trail

Traditional records have produced only limited results, so DNA has become an important part of this investigation.

My sister’s AncestryDNA test includes more than 100,000 matches. Over the past several years, I have been studying matches connected to descendants of Samuel and Sarah Drake.

Recent DNA tool updates have identified a significant cluster of matches connected to the family of:

William Bryant (1801–1859) and Elizabeth Buzbee (1803–1880) of Georgia.

This finding is intriguing because all descendants of Samuel and Sarah Drake share DNA with the descendants of the Bryant-Buzbee family. The larger Drake family descendants don’t match at all suggesting the connection is through Sarah’s family.

At first glance, the evidence appeared promising. Some online family trees even suggested that Sarah Brown was actually Sarah Bryant.

However, the documentary evidence does not support that conclusion.

A Sarah Bryant of the appropriate age appears in Georgia census records at the same time our Sarah Brown was already married to Samuel Drake and living in Alabama.

In other words, the available records suggest these were two different women.

Yet the DNA connection remains.

The Bryant-Buzbee family clearly appears connected to many descendants of Samuel and Sarah Drake. The challenge is determining exactly how.

At present, the DNA evidence points toward a relationship but does not identify Sarah’s parents.

Earlier Researchers Faced the Same Mystery

This is not a new problem.

Years ago, family historian Don Drake investigated the question extensively. He examined Cherokee records, consulted researchers familiar with Cherokee genealogy, and explored several Brown families connected with Cherokee history.

He even uncovered a family tradition claiming that Sarah and a twin sister may have been hidden with friends before other members of their family were removed westward during the Cherokee Removal period.

Unfortunately, no documentary evidence has yet been found to verify this story.

Like many family traditions, it remains an intriguing possibility rather than a proven fact.

Don’s works live on at Drake Family History.

What We Know Today

After several years of research, a few conclusions seem reasonable:

1. Sarah was almost certainly born within the historic Cherokee Nation around November 1821.
2. She was living in or near Tallapoosa County by 1844.
3. William Bullington likely knew either Sarah, her family, or both.
4. A possible guardianship record involving Sarah Ann Brown, Mary C. Brown, and Felix Brown deserves further investigation.
5. DNA evidence strongly suggests connections to families living in Georgia and Alabama during the early nineteenth century.
6. No record has yet been found that definitively identifies Sarah’s parents.

How You Can Help

Family history breakthroughs often come from unexpected places.

Perhaps you have heard a family story that was never written down.

Perhaps an old Bible, photograph, letter, or document has been preserved in a relative’s collection.

Perhaps your own DNA results connect to Brown, Bryant, Buzbee, Bullington, or related families from Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, or the Cherokee Nation.

If so, I would love to hear from you.

Two hundred years after Sarah Brown was born, her story remains unfinished. Every new clue brings us one step closer to discovering where she came from and who her family was.

The search continues.