THOMAS AND LYDIA ROGERS DRAPER
It now appears reasonably certain that Thomas Draper, ancestor of the first Mormon Drapers, was born December 19, 1739, at Newton, Massachusetts. He was not far from there in 1769 when a child was born to him and Lydia Rogers, his wife, in the Hudson'River Valley in New York state.
A complete and accurate list of names and birthrates of all the children of Thomas and Lydia was made by their son, David Clark Draper, sometime before he died in Kirtland in 1841, but for some reason he failed to record the birthplace of any of them. Nevertheless, it has been very helpful in clearing up disputed facts in the family concerning the order in which the children were born as well as the dates when they were born. (A photostat of the list made by David appears in The Mormon Drapers, p. 19.)
