I have dealt with my five-greats grandfather, David Draper, and his sister Elizabeth Draper Wager, so the time has finally come to share what I have discovered about their father, John Draper.
John was baptised on March 19, 1761, at All Saints, Edmonton, the son of Henry Draper and his wife Anne. His baptism entry from the All Saints parish register can be seen above.
Only one baptism can be located for a sibling of John's- that of brother Henry in 1758- but from wills and burial records we know that John had at least two more brothers ( David born c. 1763 and Thomas born c. 1771), and a sister named Priscilla.
I believe that the missing baptisms may be due to the family converting to Quakerism. Both Henry and Ann were buried in the Quaker burial ground at Winchmore Hill near Enfield, as were their children Thomas and Priscilla in 1774, and Henry's brothers David and Joseph.
Quakers did not practice baptism as part of their religious beliefs, although they kept excellent records of the births of children born into their congregations. Unfortunately, I have not had access to these birth records- hopefully it will not be long before online publication of these records is realised and the missing Draper children are found.
I think that Henry's and Ann's two eldest children being baptised in the local Enfield parish church indicates that they were still Anglican at this stage. John was baptised at All Saints in 1761, yet his brother David who was born about two years later is nowhere to be found.
I think that this pinpoints the conversion to the Quaker faith for my Draper family as being in the early 1760s. There was one Draper burial at Winchmore Hill in 1739- a ten year old child named Abraham Draper died of a fever. His age suggests that he may have been an elder brother of Henry Draper, who was born c. 1734.
There are no other Draper records related to Winchmore Hill until 1762, when amazingly there are a flurry of burials recorded:
Martha Draper of Enfield aged about 50 years. Died 7 February 1762, buried 10 February 1762. Neighbours report of a Fever.
Lidia Draper of Enfield aged about 50. Died 4 April 1762, buried 7 April 1762 . Neighbours report of a Dropsy.
Joseph Draper of Tottenham High Cross aged about 27 years. Died 6 April 1762, buried 9 April 1762 .Neighbours report of a consumption.
Jane Draper of Tottenham High Cross aged about 58 years. Died 26 April 1762 , buried 30 April 1762 . Neighbours report of a consumption.
John Draper of Enfield aged about 64. Died 12 September 1762 , buried 14 September 1762. Neighbours report of a Fever.
Henry Draper, father of John Draper, had various siblings that we have recognised from wills, but his birth or baptism has not been definitely located so we don't even know the name of his parents. Henry was born c. 1734, and the only baptism from the Ancestry com.au index of London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 is the following:
Henry Draper married Jane Bowden, December 2, 1727, St. John the Baptist, Hillingdon. Their son Henry was baptised at the same church on June 20, 1735. I also found baptisms at the church for John baptised December 28, 1728; Thomas baptised May 8, 1730 and Sarah baptised March 24, 1731.
I think that Henry Draper, father of my John Draper, married Ann Eggleton at St. Andrews, Holborn, on January 30, 1757. On the same page was a marriage for a James Draper to Catherine Roberts, with Henry and Ann Draper as witnesses. (There are no children baptised at Holborn with parents James and Catherine Draper, but at St. Andrews, Enfield, in 1780, sisters named Catherine and Martha Draper, who were aged 13 and 11 years respectively, were baptised, and their parents noted as James and Catherine Draper.)
There is similarly no record of children being born at Holborn to Henry and Ann Draper, but there are children born to a couple of this name beginning in 1758 at Edmonton, which is an area in the east of the London Borough of Enfield. This first child born in 1758 was Henry Draper, who was definitely the brother of my John Draper.
For now, though, I will stick with the known facts..that John Draper, father of David and Elizabeth, was baptised on February 19, 1761, at All Saints, Edmonton, and was the son of Henry and Ann Draper.
His elder brother, Henry Draper, was baptised in June 1758. Two children, Thomas and Priscilla Draper, were buried at Winchmore Hill Burial Ground on June 26, 1774, having both died the previous day of small pox, aged about five years. It was noted in the burial register for Winchmore Hill that they were the son and daughter of Henry Draper of Enfield.
Henry Draper the Younger(brother of my John) wrote a will in 1835 in which he made mention of various nieces and nephews, as well as "my brother David Draper" and "my late brother John Draper deceased".
When looking for the name of John Draper's first wife, we have to assume that the marriage took place in the early 1780s, when John was aged 19 or 20. His daughter Elizabeth was born in 1785, and there is a record of a child Anne Draper being born in Enfield in 1783 to John and Mary Draper so the marriage would have occurred in the year or two prior to this.
There is one standout record when one searches within the forementioned parameters:
At Whitechapel St. Mary, Tower Hamlets, 1782:
John Draper, bachelor, of this parish, and Mary Hopgood, spinster, of the parish of Endfield (sic: Enfield) in the County of Middlesex, were married in this church by license on July 16, 1782, by me, Edwin Robson, Curate. Witnesses: John Esam, Sarah Taylor. (John Esam was the clerk of the parish)
This marriage date fits in beautifully with the baptism of Anne Draper, daughter of John and Mary Draper of Enfield, on May 19, 1783....some ten months after said marriage occurred.
Elizabeth Draper, their second daughter, was baptised on the 23 Apr 1785, also at St. Andrews, Enfield. Two or three years then passed before the arrival of their son, David Draper, in c. 1787-88.
John Draper's wife Mary died some time between David's birth in c. 1787-88 and 1795, when he was married for the second time. There are only two burials for a Mary Draper in the Borough of Enfield for this eight year period- one at St. Andrews, Enfield, in 1791, and one at All Saints, Edmonton, in 1795. No ages were given for either Mary Draper, but the former would have to be the favourite contender for the wife of John Draper. When he wrote his will in 1811, John Draper stated that he was "of the parish of Enfield", and then specified "I desire my body to be decently interred in the church yard of this parish as near to my former wife as possible". Whilst Edmonton was in the Borough of Enfield, it was St Andrews that was the parish church.
Because I can't find any marriage for Anne Draper who was born in 1783, I believe that she was the Anne Draper who was buried at St. Andrews, Enfield, on 21 Apr 1787, no age given. There was also no mention of her in John Draper's 1811 will in which his only named children were David and Elizabeth.
This means that when Mary Draper passed away in 1791, she left a six year old daughter, Elizabeth, and a 3 or 4 year old son, David. It was four years before John remarried, giving his children a stepmother. On November 10, 1795, at St Andrews, Enfield, widower John Draper married widow Frances Banks. Frances had been born c. 1750 (using her age at death as a guide), and so was aged about 45 when she married John, making her at least ten years older than her second husband.
John earned his living as a wheelwright at Enfield for many years. There are indications that he got himself into financial troubles, and in later years accepted the position of an officer with the Court of Requests, Enfield. He also took to drinking, and it was the combination of these two things that led to his downfall on the night of August 8, 1816.
It is the method by which John Draper met his end that makes him one of my most exciting and interesting ancestors, for he was murdered, found down the well at the Bald Faced Stag Inn at Enfield!
Once I had discovered this staggering fact, it was easy to piece together the events surrounding the murder, as many newspapers of the time covered the subsequent enquiry and trial. Very recently I have also been delighted to discover that John Draper's murder featured in an intriguing-sounding book called "Middlesex Murders" by Linda Strattman. I have ordered this book from the U.K and am expecting it in the mail any day now, which will certainly curtail my blogging as I become immersed in its pages.
Before I launch into the saga of John Draper's death, complete with newspaper reports and transcripts of the Old Baily trial, I will pause here to add some parish records concerning John and his family.
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