Sunday, November 21, 2010

David Draper, cordwainer of Enfield.

I have been looking for the baptism of my David Draper for many years now, all to no avail. I believe I have located the baptism of his sister Elizabeth, and possibly a sister Ann, but David himself continues to allude me.
According to census returns from 1841 , 1851 and 1861, David Draper was born in Enfield in c. 1787-88. His father was definitely named John Draper, and his mother I believe was Mary, although again I cannot find a definite marriage. I wonder if it is because John Draper's family were Quakers, and despite Quaker records being progressively released online, it is still the burial records rather than marriages or births that are accessible. John himself turned away from Quakerism at some stage...he most certainly was not a Quaker at the time of his death in 1816.
It has been family wills that have helped me enormously when trying to sort out the Draper family at David's generation. In particular, his uncle, Henry Draper, left a very detailed will at his death in 1837, which named numerous nephews and nieces.
I will deal with this will in fuller detail later, but very basically the people mentioned were:

"My mother Ann Draper"
"Nephews Henry and James Draper, sons of my brother David Draper, and nephew David Draper, son of my late brother John Draper"
"My niece Ann Garrett"
"My niece Sarah Jelly wife of Joseph Jelly of Enfield, baker"
" My nephews Joseph and Thomas Draper, children of my brother David."
"Mary, Charlotte and Ann, the three daughters of my late niece Elizabeth Wager".
"My cousin Martha Plume"
" My niece Priscilla Harris otherwise Priscilla Footman".

I will deal with what I know to be definite in this blog entry...that is that David Draper was born in c. 1787-88 at Enfield, and that he had at least one sibling, a sister named Elizabeth who was born c. 1785. His father was most definitely John Draper, who had lost his first wife by 1795, when he remarried a widow named Frances Banks.

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