William Draper Jr. (1807 - 1886)

Born 24 Apr 1807 in Richmond, Lennox, Ontario, Canada

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Staker) Draper — married 11 Jun 1827 in St. George Anglican Church, Kingston, Frontenac, Ontario, Canada

Husband of Martha (Raymer) Draper — married 28 Jan 1846 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, United States

Husband of Mary Ann (Manhardt) Draper — married 27 Apr 1848 in Winter Quarters, Douglas, Nebraska, United States

Husband of Marial (Thompson) Draper — married 6 May 1848 (to before May 1849) in Florence, Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska, United States

Husband of Ruth Hannah (Newton) Draper — married 17 Apr 1853 in Salt Lake, Utah, United States

Husband of Fanny (Newton) Draper — married 18 Dec 1853 in Salt Lake, Utah, United States

Husband of Mary (Howarth) Draper — married 18 Dec 1853 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States

Descendants

Died 28 May 1886 at age 79 in Freedom, Sanpete, Utah Territory, United States

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William was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

William became a member of the LDS Church between 1830 - 1848.

Biography

William was born in 1807. He was the son of William Draper and Lydia Lathrop. He was baptized 25 April 1811 in Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts.

In June 1832 for the first time, William heard the Gospel preached by Elder Miller and others in company with him. In January 1833, he heard Brigham Young preach the same Gospel, in the township of Longborough, Upper Canada. He became a member of the LDS church. In June the same year, he was ordained a Priest under the hands of Brigham Young. On the 11th of September, 1834. William along with his wife and three children left Canada, and traveled to Kirtland, Ohio, which was reached the 24th of the same month. ^[1]

William was directed to travel to Morgan County, Illinois. He started out April 15th, 1838, with his wife and five children. That was all the company he had to travel with for the first hundred and twenty miles. Upon arriving he found his position already taken, so he headed for the Far West settlement. He fell ill near Huntsville, Randolph County, Missouri. He recovered and, along with other saints, was instructed to head for Caldwell county, and warned there might be trouble. At this time people were opposed to any more saints gathering in Far West, even making it unsafe to travel the main roads. ^[1]

William settled near Far West at Log Creek Branch. He bought a log house and blacksmith shop and seven acres of good land. He set to work at shoe making and made his family comfortable again. It was here he was called to take the Presidency of this Branch, but hostilities increased daily in the adjoining counties and finally by the middle of October hostilities ran so high they received another message from the Prophet requesting everyone to go to Far West City. Many tore down their log houses and moved to the city. William moved his family to the city and into an old log cabin with 3 other families.^[1] But the hostilities grew worse. The Missouri state militia took several Latter-day Saint men captive and held them in the militia’s camp on the Crooked River. A company of Latter-Day Saint militia came to rescue them, and a fierce battle was fought on October 25, 1838. This battle led to Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issue of the infamous “extermination order” on October 27, 1838, declaring, “The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary, for the public peace.” ^[2] On the 17th of March, 1839 William and his family left Missouri and headed west, with no destination. They settled in the Mississippi bottom land of Illinois. Everything went well until sometime in 1842 when hostilities arose again for the Mormons. In 1843 they were ordered to leave for Hancock county.

Joseph Smith, the founder and leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother Hyrum Smith were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, on June 27, 1844. ^[3]The violence escalated. William describes it here, "one day there came an armed force of about sixty men. They set fire to my hay and grain that was in the stack and then set fire to the house...while my wife and some of the generous crowd that had volunteered to help her were carrying out some of the things, the rest of the crowd divided the straw out of a bed into four corners of the room and set fire to it. My wife tried to put it out but some of ruffians took her by the shoulders and put her out doors. She was not in a condition to be handled roughly with safety. The house burned down with the rest of its contents. I was obliged to flee to save my life. I remained out until there came on a very heavy thunderstorm. I then ventured out to see what had become of my family. I found them all alive and personal injury done but my house and my hay, and considerable fencing was burned to the ground. Which threw my field open to the cattle, where I had about a thousand bushels of corn mostly in shock, but all exposed to ravages of hogs, sheep and cattle which were roaming around at large in abundance. My [wife] begged me to leave as the mob was hunting me the last she saw of them. So I was obliged to take shelter in a large shock of corn as it was raining very hard. I lay there until it began to leak through on me...then went back to help my wife gather up the little fragments left. By this time daylight appeared and while we were busy preparing to leave, lo, and behold, we saw the armed men; they were in pursuit of me again, so I was obliged to flee and I made my escape but it was upon my hands and knees through the brush. I succeeded in reaching another neighborhood. There I got a young man to go and let my folks know where I was and help them pack up their things and bring them to me, which he did. I took them to Pike county...On the first day of May we crossed the Mississippi River and took the trail to follow those that had started before for the mountains." ^[1]

William settled his family it what was to become Council Point, Iowa on the Missouri River. But in 1849 they were again called upon to move farther west to Salt Lake City in the Utah Territory. It took 4 1/2 months of travel across the plains. In November 1850, William moved his family to the new community of South Willow Creek, now Draper. The settlement increased so it became necessary to have the place organized into a Branch of the Church. William was called to preside and serve them as a Bishop, until the close of 1857 and in the Spring of 1858 he was obliged to leave a good home again and go south in the general move. He went as far south as Spanish Fork about 42 miles. ^[1] He did well until 1862, then the grasshoppers and crickets destroyed the crops. In 1863 was also another failure and grain of all kinds raised to an enormous price. Wheat to $5.00 per bushel, wood was hard to get being a long way off and his oldest boys had all married and left William with a large family of little children with only their mothers to help. Putting all these disadvantages together he found he couldn't stand that way of living much longer, so he sold out moved to Moroni, San Pete County.

William, passed away in 1886 in San Pete county, Utah and is buried in the Freedom Cemetery, Freedom, Sanpete, Utah, United States. ^[4]

Note

There is a HUGE treasure trove of information on FamilySearch for William Draper Jr^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} A Biographical Sketch of the Life and Travels and Birth and Parentage of William Draper. http://boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/WDraper.html
2. ↑ Crooked River Battle Site. https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/71-crooked-river-battleground?lang=eng#1
3. ↑ Wikipedia contributors. (2019, June 9). Death of Joseph Smith. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:59, June 30, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org /w/index.php?title=Death_of_Joseph_Smith&oldid=901089416
4. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12620851/william-draper: accessed 28 May 2023), memorial page for William Draper Jr. (24 Apr 1807–28 May 1886), Find a Grave Memorial ID 12620851, citing Freedom Cemetery, Freedom, Sanpete County, Utah, USA; Maintained by ccdesan (contributor 46983244).
5. ↑ FamilySearch - William Draper Jr

See also:

• Life of William Draper Jr.
• Early LDS
• William Draper Jr., bio of William Draper Jr. (Compiled by Delbert M. Draper)