Sofia Drake

During the absence of her husband, Drake was given the responsibility of the family affairs, children and household and the estate Salshult.

She is described as a respected, forceful and effective business person, who did not only managed the estate successfully, but also expanded it.

In 1726, Sofia Drake, as a family matriarch, gave refuge to her niece Ulrika Eleonora Stålhammar, who asked for her help after she was exposed as a woman while serving in the Army.

Drake arranged for Stålhammar to be sent to her son's widowed mother-in-law in Värmland, to adjust to wearing women's clothes and then apply for leniency.

[2] Her eldest son and heir Otto Fredrik Stålhammar settled with his family at Salshult in 1732, by which time she would have renounced the management of the estate to him.