Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/251

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DRAPER
DRAYTON
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valuable antiquarian collections. In 1858-9 he was state superintendent of instruction, but in 1860 returned to his former office. On (j Jan., 1887, he declined a re-election, intending to devote himself to literature, and was appointed honorary secre- tary for life. The state university gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1871. Dr. Draj^er has pub- lished " Collections " of the State historical society, mostly gathered by himself (10 vols., 1853-'87") ; " Madison, the Capital of Wisconsin " (1857) ; " The Helping Hand," with W. A. Croffut (1869) ; and " King's Mountain and its Heroes " (Cincinnati, 1881). He has many works in preparation, two of which, " The Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde- pendence " and " Border Forays and Adventures," are nearly readv for publication.


DRAPER, Richard, journalist, b. in 1727: d. 6 June, 1774. He was early appointed printer to the governor and council of Massachusetts, and re- tained the office through his life, becoming the proprietor of the " Massachusetts Gazette and Bos- ton News Letter," which strongly supported the crown in its controversies with the colonies. Mr. Draper was esteemed the best compiler of news of his day. He was a man of feeble health and of great gentleness of manner. — His wife, Marg'aret, d. in England about 1800, continued, with the aid of John Howe, the publication of her husband's journal from his death to the evacuation of Boston in 1776, and her paper was the only one published there during the siege. She went with the British army to Halifax, and thence to England, where she spent the rest of her life, receiving a pension from the government. Trumbull, in his " McFingal," speaks of her as " Mother Draper."


DRAPER, Simeon, politician, b. in 1804 ; d. in Whitestone, L. I., 6 Nov., 1866. He was for many years a prominent merchant in New York, but was unfortunate in business, and became an auctioneer. He was an active whig, and was long the personal and political friend of William H. Seward, but soon after the formation of the republican party he opposed Gov. Seward's policy. He was several times a member of the Whig state central commit- tee, and in 1864 was chairman of that of the Union party. He was provost marshal for New York city in 1862, and in 1864 was appointed by President Lincoln collector of the port of New York, but re- signed in 1865. At the time of his death he was government cotton agent, having charge of all the cotton received at New York. For many years be- fore the war Mr. Draper was one of the board of governors in charge of the city charities, and after the law creating this board was repealed he was a commissioner of public charities and coi-reetions until his resignation of the office in 1864.


DRAPER, William Henry, Canadian jurist, b. near London, England, 11 'March, 1801; d. in Yorkville (then a suburb of Toronto), 3 Nov., 1877. His father was rector of St. Anthony's church, London, and when the son was a mere lad he ran away from home and went to sea. He was after- ward a cadet on an East Indiaman, but in his eighteenth year he gave up the sea and set out for Canada, where he arrived in 1820. After teaching for a time, he began the study of law, and in 1828 was called to the bar. In 1837 he was called to the legislative council, and accepted a seat in the ex- ecutive without office. In 1838 he became solici- tor-general of Upper Canada, and, on the resigna- tion of Mr. Hagerman, was appointed to succeed him as attorney-general. He was not in favor of many of the reforms introduced into the system of governing the British-American colonies subse- quent to the rebellion of 1837. In 1847 Mr. Draper withdrew from political life and became puisne judge of the court of queen's bench, and in Febru- ary, 1856, was made chief justice of the court of common pleas, and in 1863 chief justice of Upper Canada. He retained this office till 1869, when he became president of the court of errors and ap- peals. He was a brilliant man, and so eloquent and persuasive was his style of address that he was known among his associates as " Sweet William."


DRAPER, William Henry, physician, b. in Brattleborough, Vt., 14 Oct., 1830. He was gradu- ated at Columbia in 1851, and at the College of physicians and surgeons in 1855. After study in Paris and London, he settled in New York city as a general practitioner, and has acquired a large practice. In 1869 he became clinical professor of diseases of the eye and ear in the College of physi- cians and surgeons, which chair he held until 1880, when he was appointed professor of clinical medi- cine. He is attending physician of the New York and the Roosevelt hospitals, also consulting physi- cian of St. Luke's and of the Presbyterian hospitals. In 1886 Dr. Draper became president of the New York academy of medicine. He has contributed numerous professional papers to medical journals.


DRAYTON, William, jurist, b. in South Carolina in 1733 ; d. 18 May, 1790. After studying law four years in the Middle Temple, London, he returned to this country in 1754, and in 1768 was appointed chief justice of the province of East Florida. He was deprived of his office during the Revolution on account of suspected sympathy with the patriots of his native state, but was afterward reinstated, and spent some time in England with his family. After the close of the war he became judge of the admiralty court of South Carolina, was associate justice of the state from March till October, 1789, and in the latter month was appointed the first U. S. judge for the district of South Carolina. — His son, William, soldier, b. in St. Augustine, Fla., 30 Dec, 1776 ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 24 May, 1846, was the youngest of ten brothers ; his mother died soon after his birth, and he was brought up as the foster-brother of Robert James TurnbuU, the champion of nullification. He was educated in England, but returned to his home at his father's death and became an assistant to his brother, Jacob Drayton, then clerk of the court of general sessions in Charleston. He was admitted to the bar in 1797, and before 1812 had an extensive practice. He had become a lieutenant in the "ancient battalion of artillery " in 1801, and at the beginning of the war of 1812, though, as an earnest federalist, he had opposed it, he offered his services to the government, gave up his law-practice, and was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the 10th U. S. infantry. He became colonel of the 18th infantry on 25 July, 1812, and inspector-general on 1 Aug., 1814, and shortly before the close of the war was associated with Gen. Scott and Gen. Macomb in the preparation of a system of infantry tactics which was afterward adopted by the war department. On his resignation, 15 June, 1815, the government was about to tender him a brigadier-general's commission. He was recorder of Charleston in 1819-'24, and was then elected to congress as a Union democrat, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Joel R. Poinsett, who had been appointed U. S. minister to Mexico. He served from 1825 till 1833, and in 1830, though hostile to the tariff, unflinchingly opposed nullification. He was a warm friend of President Jackson, and was offered by him the portfolio of war after the resignation of Gen. Eaton, and also the English mission, both of which he declined. After the close of his