History of George Henry Draper by Edith Draper Owen Wilcox

HISTORY OF GEORGE HENRY DRAPER
Written by Edith Draper Owen Wilcox

George Henry Draper was born in England 10 March 1862 to William Draper and Jane Bryant who had joined the LDS Church prior to his birth and when he was 3 years old emigrated to Utah in 1866. They left England on 29 Apr 1865 on the "Bell Wood" and arrived in New York 1 Jun 1865.

They stayed in New York one year. Left New York 25 June 1866, coming to Nebraska via the Hudson River to Qu~bec, then train to St. Joseph Missouri, then to Nebraska City by boat. They crossed the plains by Ox Team in the "Henry Chipman Ox Train." Enroute the Indians stole 90 head of their best cattle, but through the blessings of the Lord they arrived in Salt Lake City, Sep 1866.

George Henry Draper married Eliza Alice West, also born in England and she migrated to Utah and was raised in an LDS home by goodly parents. One of his daughters, Edith writes of their home life. For nineteen years we lived on the Miland Knight and Co. farm at Clearfield Utah. My father was manager of this 160 acre farm. It was planted in alfalfa. When I wi~ a girl, Father used to hire men for the field work and a woman to help with the house work. Mother and Father had 8 living children at the time. Our home was a two story red brick house with five bedrooms, a kitchen, pantry and front room. We had a long table in the kitchen that would seat about 15 people at one time. This table was filled six times a day with food to feed the twenty eight or more people who ate there.

One day my brother Thomas, who was four years old at ~ne time, built a fire in the buggy shed that was built under the hay in the barn. Of course it burned rapidly consuming eighty tons of hay,S pigs that were in the shed close by, an acre of squash, five large stacks of wheat that was ready to thrash, a binder shed, and ice house.

My brother Charles who lived in East Layton saw the flames, jumped on a horse and rode as fast as he could home. He climbed on the wheat stacks and pitched bundles of wheat as fast as he could to save them. A large crowd turned out to fight the fire and some threw water on Charles to keep him from burning up.

Many happy hours were spent playing the organ and singing. One Hawaiian who worked for us played a guitar and sang beautifully. It was also amusing to know that several successful love matches were made between the hired help while in Father and Mother's employ,

Music was a great part of their life in the evenings.

During his life he helped build meeting houses, school houses, canning factories, and was always interested in public affairs, holdin9 many positions of trust. He followed the occupations of farmer, rancher, bookkeeper, and did carpenter work. In fact he was handy at any trade.

They were devoted to each other, to their children, teaching them the principles of the gospel and living as examples themselves, faithful Latter-Day Saints.