AARON DRAPER was born 1 February 1751 in Dedham, Massachusetts, son of Timothy and Hannah Draper. He was bound out to the cabinet makers trade in Vermont. The Draper record calls him a self-made man entirely, and that he fought all through the Revolutionary War, although he never enlisted and was in a number of engagements. The family had in their possession for a long time, an old powder horn with a wax end wound around the neck, near the stopper, where a bullet struck it, taking out the stopper of the horn, which had belonged to and was carried by Aaron Draper.
During the War of 1812 when the British forces attempted to capture Sackett's Harbor, NY, he, Aaron, hearing the guns booming at Fort Tomkins, mounted his sorrel mare and started for the scene of action, some 14 miles distant. Within four miles of there he met General Allen, bareheaded, swinging his sword over his head and saying that Sackett's Harbor had been taken. He told Aaron to hurry back and notify Adams to get the people out. Aaron's reply was: "Let us get a shot at the Britishers first!". Gen. Allen rode on himself to Adams, and Aaron Draper rode to the harbor, and was in time to see the British take to their boats and start for their ships, as badly frightened, perhaps, as Gen. Allen. Aaron fired a few shots after the boats and then went home again.
An anecdote is told about him as follows: He, with 15 others, fitted out a schooner, and arming it as best they could, went privateering. During the Revolution, they fell in with a British brig, a man-of-war, which attacked them, and they had quite a fight. The two vessels closed, the schooner throwing grappling irons aboard the brig; then, when the schooner was in a sinking condition, her men boarded the enemy and captured her, casting their vessel adrift, which shortly sank out of sight.
Aaron Draper moved from Vermont about 1814 and settled in Ellisburgh, Jefferson Co., buying and clearing up a farm near Adams. He was a strict temperance man, never using tobacco, and was a member of the Baptist Church. He is buried in the country cemetery, near Adams, NY.
The above information from "The Drapers in America" by Thomas Waln-Morgan Draper, published in 1892.
The book provides two wives for Aaron: 1st) Miss Metcalf and 2) Miss Heath
The following children are also mentioned:
1. BETSEY b Brattleboro, VT; married 1)__ She had a daughter who married Josiah Standish. When her husband died she married 2)James Templeton. Child: Sarah married Marshall Clark and the Clark children were: Lovina who married Alonzo Scott and Eliza who married Mr. Graves and Aaron.
2. SAMUEL HEATH, second child and eldest son of Aaron and ___Heath. He married Harriet Smith who was born in Bristol RI on 8 Aug. 1804 and died 6 Jan. 1883. See this family on this site.
3. AARON who died young at about 20 years.
The following information about Aaron is from a number of sources and presented here.
AARON DRAPER was a private in the War of 1812 under Capt. John Hoover from 11 Oct. 1814 to 8 Nov. 1814. (roll on JCNYGW)
Aaron is in the 1820 Federal Census at Ellisburg with one male between 10-16; 1 male 16-26; 1 male 45 and over; two females 16-20; 1 female 45 and over. Two members were involved in agriculture and one was in manufacturing.
MARTHA DRAPER died 5 May 1829 in Jefferson County at age 65, wife of Aaron, and is buried in the Giddingsville Cemetery. (Cem. record)
When Aaron was in Vermont, he and Martha became the parents of:
SALLY b 2 July 1790 at Wardsboro, VT (VIR of Wardsboro)
PATTY b 12 April 1796 at Wardsboro, VT
The federal census of 1790 in Wardsboro, VT shows Aaron Draper with 2 males 16 and over and 4 females. The 1800 census of Wardsboro, VT shows 1 white male 26-45; 2 females under 10; 3 females 16-26 and 1 female over 45.
While living in Brattleboro, VT, two more children were added:
BETSEY who married on 11 Dec. 1808 at Wardsboro to LEMUEL BRALEY; he born 1 April 1785 at Wardsboro, son of Lemuel and Keziah (Jones) Braley
SAMUEL H. b Brattleboro, VT 15 March 1802 (descendant record)
After Martha Draper died, Aaron traveled to Glover, VT and there married on 28 Nov. 1831 to MRS. HANNAH STEEN (VIR) but the marriage did not last long as we learn from the Jeff. Co. NY estate papers. On 7 September 1832, Aaron petitioned to open probate and stated that his wife had died on or about the 7th day of December last in Hopkinton, St. Lawrence County, and had died very suddenly on her way from Vermont to Ellisburgh; and she had died without making a will. (Box D4-6, case 41-95 No. D-93) While looking at the Glover, VT vital records, I found Aaron Draper Metcalf b 17 Feb. 1822, son of Jonathan and Mary Metcalf, whose family was recorded with the Town Clerk on 25 September 1829. There would seem to be a relationship between the two families.
In a land indenture made 26 Sept. 1839, between Aaron Draper of Ellisburgh, and GEORGE PENNY of Lorraine, for the sum of $450, paid by Penny, land in the town of Lorraine, part of Lot 12. Recorded Jan. 17, 1843. I found no burial record or death date for Aaron but assume it was after the 1839 date above, when he sold property. Martha, and their son, Samuel H. are both buried in the Giddingsville Cemetery with some family members and Aaron may also be buried there in an unmarked grave.
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