DRAPER. DRAPER. 185 of 1S65 Dr. Dowse married Caroline Davis. Dr. I>owse served as chaplain in the Christian Commission in the war of the rebellion, with the army of the Cumber- land. He was a member of the state Senate for 1869 and '70, and has for ten consecutive years served as chaplain of that honorable body. Dr. Dowse is eminently a man answer- ing Goldsmith's description of a country clergyman. He is certainly one of the survivors of that old school of clergy to whom James Russell Lowell refers as liv- ing lessons of piety, industry, frugality, and temperance, and who, with the magis- trates, were a recognized aristocracy. DRAPER, James Sumner, eldest son of Deacon James and Elizabeth (Sumner) Draper, was born in Wayland (then East Sudbury), Middlesex county, August 18, 181 1, where he has since resided. His early educational training was re- ceived in the public schools, supplemented by a short attendance in academies in Marlborough and Concord. His chief occupation has been farming, with the accompanying employment of land sur- veying ; but his tastes have led him to read quite extensively in the fields of science, literature, theology and religion. His individuality is clearly marked, and he may be safely classed in the list of re- formers. At seventeen he was the only absolute teetotaler among his companions. When theological questions became sharply defined, he was found in the ranks of liberal Unitarians. In 1833 he espoused the cause of anti- slavery, and continued in his adherence thereto until the emancipation. About the same time he became a staunch supporter of female suffrage, and is still firm in the ranks. From 1835 to '50 his energies were especially devoted to the moral and religi- ous culture of the young, through temper- ance organizations and the Sunday-school, and to their general education in the com- mon schools. During the war period he was a zealous Unionist, although he had previously been opposed, on principle, to the use of armed force in the settlement of disputed ques- tions. Two of his sons were among those who volunteered in 1862 for three years' service. At the close of the war he ob- tained material for a sketch of each Wayland soldier's army life, as a memorial of their services to the country, making a quarto volume of 452 pp., published by the town. He has aimed in his political duties to be patriotic rather than partisan, from his first electoral vote for Henry Clay in 1832 to his last for Harrison in 1S88. In 1846 he joined the Free Soil party, and ten years later became a member of the Republican organization. He has held a justice's commission since 1857. Largely through his efforts came the establishment, in 1S48, of the Wayland public library (the first in the State). For twenty years he officiated as librarian, and greatly developed its usefulness. In local improvements he has taken a conspicuous part, as the shade trees bordering some of the streets of his native town will long bear witness. The inception of the Massachusetts Central Railroad was the result of a letter from his pen to a gentleman in Barre, in 1867, and the persistency of his efforts was seen in procuring its charter and securing stock subscriptions. He gave to this enterprise, as director, twelve years of the best working period of his life, during ten of which he was clerk of the board. For nearly thirty-nine years he has made careful and extensive investigations into the merits of Spiritualism, and has satis- fied himself of the truth of its most im- portant claims, with an increased confi- dence of its being a power destined to take high rank in the evolution of human destiny. He attributes whatever success in life he has attained to the excellent influences of his paternal home. Mr. Draper was married in his native town, August iS, 1S34, to Emeline A., daughter of Nathaniel and Miliscent (Rice) Reeves. Their children are : James Aus- tin, Charles Herbert, Frank Winthrop, Ella Elizabeth and Wallace Sherwin Draper. DRAPER, William Franklin, son of George and Hannah B. (Thwing) Draper, was born in Lowell, Middlesex county, April 9, 1842. He received his early education in the common schools of his native city, sup- plementing their advantages with a year or two of academic training. At the age of sixteen he went to work in a cotton mill, making a study of the processes of the manufacture of cotton goods. At nineteen years of age he enlisted as a private in company B, 25th regiment Mas- sachusetts volunteers, a company recruited in Milford. He was promoted through the various grades to that of 1st lieutenant and when the 36th regiment was formed in Worcester, he was commissioned captain of company F,
