Santa
Clara County
Biographies
EDWIN
W. DRAPER
EDWIN W. DRAPER. For twenty-six years Edwin W. Draper has
operated a threshing outfit in Santa Clara, San Benito and Monterey counties, and in this respect has undoubtedly outdistanced
any other similarly employed in this part of California. He owns and occupies a ranch of five acres in
the vicinity of San Jose, which has been his home ever since he first began to
operate his threshing machine in 1879.
He has two acres in orchard, and the balance is under general farming,
his house, and general improvements being modern and up-to-date.
Mr. Draper feels justifiably proud of
his ancestry, which has included soldiers in practically all of the great wars
of the country, and has always been noted for its devotion to duty, and its ready
assumption of any responsibility which it has been called upon to
shoulder. He was born on a farm in Erie county, N.Y., January 22, 1837, and although his
parents, Alfred and Eliza (Doney) Draper, were natives of the same county, his
paternal grandfather was born in Rhode Island, from which state he enlisted in
the war of 1812. From the same state his
paternal great-grandfather, Gideon, set forth on a long service under the
banner of Washington in the Revolutionary war.
His maternal grandfather, Harry Doney, a farmer also by occupation, and
of French descent, donned the habilaments of war in
the struggle of 1812. Alfred Draper was
a successful farmer in Erie county, and about 1843
moved to Jackson county, Mich., but eventually returned and died in Erie county
at the age of seventy-five. His wife
died in Jackson, Mich., after rearing a family of seven sons and one daughter,
of whom Edwin is the oldest. The others
are: Mary, deceased; Wilbur F., a
resident of Newman; Harry, of Paso Robles; George, of Chicago, Ill.; Frederick,
of Jackson, Mich.; Alfred, of Newman; and Clarence, a wholesale merchant of
Toledo, Ohio. A lad of six when the
family moved overland from New York to Michigan, Edwin W. Draper was reared
on the Michigan farm, and attended the early subscription schools. At a comparatively early age he began to
realize his limitations and to look about him for an improvement of
conditions. Little out of the ordinary had
happened in his life when he came to California in 1858, but after locating in
Contra Costa county his prospects brightened, for the
farm near Ramon was fertile and productive, yielding readily to his
industry. In 1866 he bought a farm of
one hundred and sixty acres near Livermore, and in 1879 located on his present
place in San Jose, his land extending between Park and San Carlos streets. To aid him in his work he has his youngest
son, Wilbur F., while his oldest son, Edwin, is a rancher in Monterey county, and his daughter, Edith, is engaged in
teaching. Mr. Draper is a Republican
in politics, but has never accepted or desired office of any kind. He is a straightforward, industrious and
thoroughly reliable man, popular with his neighbors, and retaining the
friendship and good will of the hundreds of people with whom he has been
associated during his busy life.
[Inserted by D.
Toole.]
Draper Article
Findagrave Memorial: [Death certificate included]
Eliza
O Dorney Draper [note different spelling of Doney]
Birth:
Dec. 28, 1814
New
York, USA
Death:
Sep. 19, 1899
Jackson,
Jackson County, Michigan, USA
Daughter of Harry Dorney.
Family
links:
Spouse: Alfred Draper (1810 - 1886)
Children:
Mary L Draper Beebe (1838 - 1880)*
Fred P Draper (1848 - 1913)*
*Calculated
relationship
Inscription:
Wife of Alfred Draper
Burial:
Draper Cemetery, Rives Junction, Jackson County, Michigan, USA
Created
by: Deb Hayes-Wolfe
Record
added: Dec 26, 2006
Find
A Grave Memorial# 17165213
1919
Oct 27, Evening News, P8, San Jose, California
Draper
– In San Jose, Cal, Oct. 26, 1919, Wilbur F. Draper, husband of Carrie Draper,
father of Mrs. Blanche Wallace and Alfred Draper of San Jose and Harry Draper
of Paso Robles, aged 79 years and 10
months.
1900
Apr 14, Evening News, P3, San Jose, California
Mr.
and Mrs. E. W. Draper celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary at
their residence on Park avenue, Saturday evening,
April 7th. The rooms were decorated with
beautiful flowers in artistic and appropriate designs, the prevailing color
being white. The evening was pleasantly
passed in listening to vocal and instrumental music, charades and an original
poem written for the occasion by Miss Mae Bowman was read by Miss Draper. The host and hostess were ably assisted in
receiving their friends by their niece, Miss Beck, and their daughter, Miss
Edith Draper. At midnight the guests
were ushered into the dining-room where a table was bountifully spread with
delicacies of the season. Mr. and Mrs.
Draper were the recipients of many beautiful and costly presents, some of the
gifts coming from distant states. A
unique feature of the evening was the presentation by Mrs. Draper to her
husband of a cane made from the limb of a manzanita
tree, which was cut by him on their wedding tour. The guests of the evening were: Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Portal, Mr. and
Mrs. Stout, Mr. and Mrs. Beck, Mr. and Mrs. Clarke, Mr. and Mrs. Berret, Mrs. I. E. Beck of Centerville, Mrs. Crofoot, Mrs. C. B.
Acker of Livermore, Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Draper, Miss Blanch Portal, Mrs. J. C.
Beck of Oakland, Ef-[sic] Mrs. J. C. Beck
of Oakland, Miss Effie Crofoot, Miss Carrie Beck of
Sacramento, Edwin Draper, Miss Leona Clarke, Miss Edith Draper and Master
Wilbur Draper.
1920
Aug 29, San Jose Mercury News, P34, San Jose, California
Returned
to San Jose
The
many friends in San Jose of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Draper and son will be glad to hear
that they have come back to San Jose to live after three years’ residence in
Newman. They have purchased the McKnight
place on Hicks avenue, in the Willows, consisting of about five acres in prunes
and cots. They have also taken over the
McKnight rabbitry well known for its prize winning
pedigreed Flemish giant rabbits.
Transcribed by Donna Toole.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 1322. The Chapman Publishing
Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Donna Toole.