Warkentin and Draper Family History

(Excerpt from "Drapers in America" published 1892)

"IN SPITE of long continued search and active enquiry in many directions, the mystery which surrounds Capt.Samuel Draper is far from being satisfactorily solved.

 Miss Adelaid H. Draper, of Boston, has devoted many weeks of hard work and extensive correspondence in the effort to try and clear up this branch of the Draper family. The author has also endeavored to do so, but has not met with any more success than his efficient assistant, Miss Draper. 

This is probably, in a large measure, due from, first, the utterly incomprehensible silence with which some of Capt. Draper's descendants, living in the State of New York, have seen fit to observe relative to the subject-presumably because they were trying to recover an alleged English estate, and thought probably that other Drapers might have designs upon it, although assured to the contrary, and this history would probably have aided them in their search had they been willing to assist with the facts. 

Secondly, Capt. Samuel Draper lead so exceedingly roving a life, and sailed to so many ports of the world, that he left few or no records of himself. 

The following information about Samuel Draper is largely conjectural. He is supposed to have been the wild son of a Church of England clergyman, one Thomas Draper, of Halifax, Yorkshire, England. The young man ran away to sea, and never there-after returned home. There is a vague tradition that he had a brother (uncle? James the Puritan?) in Roxbury, Mass.

In course of time Samuel Draper became a captain of a ship, which it is more than probable was on buccaneering intent. Whilst in some port of the kingdom of Spain he carried off a Spanish girl, and it is presumed made her his wife. She there-after always sailed with him.They had children, and it was the custom of the Captain to name his sons after the port in which they were born, or to which the ship was bound. We have, therefore, 3. Boston Draper, 4. Newburyport Draper, 5. New York Draper, and, an exception, 6. James Draper. Legend gives us the names of New York and Newburyport Draper, but we have only authenticated, through old documents which have been available to us, the names of Boston and James. 

Until a few years ago there existed some few relics of Capt. Samuel Draper, amongst which was a coat, probably an officer's uniform, as with it was a sword or sabre, and a military hat of the Continental style, but importance seems to have been attached only to the coat. It was given by Capt. Samuel to his son Boston, with directions to preserve carefully, as evidence, in case a fortune should be left to him or his posterity. The silver buttons on this coat bore a device, which was a ship, at the stern of which was a man's arm holding a cutlass. This device was probably one of the Captain's own devising. Another description of these buttons says they had a stag's head on them. Still a third account says that the inscription on these said buttons was REx. A. D." and also the letters ,C. K. S." and perhaps "R. I." Later, these buttons were taken from the coat and strung upon a string, and have presumably been lost. 

Some twenty years ago (1872) an English lawyer came to Boston and informed the descendants of Capt. Samuel Draper that, if they could prove the marriage of the Spanish woman to the sea captain, a large estate was theirs in England. This they were unable to do, and it is this same estate that the New York descendants are groping for. All the information that it has been possible to collect has been welded together in these pages of the sea captain's descendants, and it would have been much more complete if those most nearly connected could have seen fit to take a little trouble to aid Miss Adelaid Draper and the author."