Thomas Draper I and his English Descendents

Thomas Draper I and his English Descendants

-Delbert M. Draper, The Mormon Drapers pp.9-11

Thomas Draper I was born at Heptonstall, England, about 1554. His will was presented there for probate October 6, 1603, so he must have wed shortly before that. He married Grace Newhall (date of birth and marriage not known). She was buried at Heptonstall on June 21, 1600.

Heptonstall and its environs were visited and explored by Thomas Wain-Morgan Draper, author of The Drapers in America, about 1890. He described what he saw--and stated what he learned, as follows:

The native place of the Drapers and Stansfields is a village and Parochial Chapelry in Halifax Parish, West Riding, Yorkshire, England. The village stands on a bleak eminence, adjacent to River Hebden ... and eight miles west by north of Halifax, and has a post-office under Manchester ... The Chapelry includes also the hamlets of Erringden, Langfield, Stansfield, and Wadsworth. ... A decrease in population has been caused by depression in hand-loom weaving. ... Much of the land is moor and common. There are silk, cotton, and cotton-spinning manufactories. The living is a perpetual Curacy in the Diocese of Ripon. ... Patron, the Vicar of Halifax .... There are Chapels for Baptists and Wesleyans, a grammar school and several small charities.