Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1891-09-02

an unequalled historical collection of orig
lnal diaries, maps, notes and manuscripts,
| filing about 25O manuscript volumes, and
covering the whole sweep of the Anglo
| American settlement and border warfare
of the West from the first fight in the
Virginia Valley in 1912, to the death of
| Tecumseh at the Thames, in 1873.
In his search for information DR..
on foot. Once his feet became SO sore that
| he was obliged to crawl for miles on his
| hands and knees to a settlement. Scores of
| times his life was IN danger by swollen
streams, in snagged steamers and from
| falling trees, but he never faltered in his
effort to clear up some obscure point in the
| life of one OF his heroes. One of the most
remarkable things i'll connection with DR..
| Diapers active life is that he has written
| few books. Nearly all his works are still
In manuscript form.
DR.. Draper'S greatest labor, aside from
his historical research and writing, was
performed while secretary of the WiScOn-
sin Historical Society, a position to which
he was appointed i'll 1854, after serving a
| year on the executive committee. He held
the position thirty-five years. He devoted
a great pOrtlOs of his time to the work OF
the society, aiding largely in gathering the
| 10000 volumes and documents III the state
| library, and editing its pamphlet issues
and its volumes OF historical col
lectIons. 1t has, owing principally,
collections made by any historical society;
| a vast mass of original material, written
mostly by border warriors, pioneers and
vOyageurs-men competent to discuss the
topic on which they wrote. Dr.. Diapers
name appears signed to every annual re-
port from first to last for thirty-five years;
he raised money, and found rare and curl
Gus documents. In the fall of 1857 Mr..
Draper was chosen state superintendent of
public instruction, an Office which he held
school library system. Forty years ago
Granville College conferred on Mr. Ora
per the honorary degree of master of arts;
and in 1871 the University of Wisconsin
that of LII. D. He was either an hOnOra-
ry or corresponding member of every his
torical society in the United States.
DR.. Draper has published several i'm
portant historical works, but they are few
in number compared with his eXtraordi-
nary rich mine of history and biography.
Besides the eight volumes Of collections of
the State Historical Society, several
pamphlets and two elaborate school re-
ports, he produced ''The Helping Hand;
An American Home Book for Town and
Country (1S69), ''King's Mountain and
It's Heroes (1SS0); 'Mecklenburg Declare
ton" and one or two other works. DR..
Diapers vast collection of manuscript will
not be lost, however. misunderstood that
he has bequeathed all the results of his
! years Of labor to the State Historical So
ciety.
DR.. Draper came from good old Puritan
| stock. His father was Luke Draper, OF
| the fifth generation from James Draper,
who settled at Roxbury, Mass, about 1886,
| while his mother was Harriet Hoisington,
| from an equally old New England family.
Lyman c. Draper was born at the mouth
| of Eighteen Mile Creek, on the shore of
| Lake Erie, in the town Of Hamburg, Erie
| County, n. T., on September IA, 1876
The Drapers OF colonial days were loyal
sons of freedom-loving pioneers, and Mr..
| Draper's paternal grandfather Jonathan
! Draper, served in the revolutionary war III
| the main army under Washington. His
| ancestors on his mothers side were equal
ly loyal, his mother father being killed ia
| the defense of Buffalo against the British
on December 30, 1878: His own father
was gallant soldier, fighting through the
war against the right Of search, and being
twice taken prisoner by the British on the
Niagara frontier
MI. Draper spent his boyhood at Spring
field, Penn, and LOckpOrt, n. T., where
| his parents successfully resided. lie
worked year or two on his fathers farm,
attending the neighboring school at other
times, and doing the shoe repairing for the
family. He earned pocket money by pick
| ing blackberrieS and selling them at cents
| a Quart, and one summer carried brick
hod at 1917 cents day. He subsequently
| engaged for a time in clerking in store.
| In 1888 he spent some time at Mobile, Ala,
returning north by way of New Orleans
and the Mississippi River, Immediately aft
erward entering Granville College, ONO,
where be took years course. His par
ents having removed from Lockport to
Toledo, O., he visited them there and took
part with the Buckeyes in sklrmish
with the Wolverines in what is known as
''the Battle Of Mud Creek" n he suburbs
of Toledo, one OF the incIdents OF the
Ohio-Michigan boundary war. In the au-
tumn Of 1886 Mr.. Draper entered the Hud-
son River Seminary, in Columbia County,
N. z, and after year took up his resi-
dence at Alexander, Genesee County, N.
Y. In 1910 Mr.. Draper went to Pontotoe,
Miss, where he edited paper for short
time. after year leaving the printing of
| fee for farm. In 1912 he went to Buffalo,
living in town in Mississippi, at Baltimore
and near Philadelphia. In 1852 he came
to Madison, having married the widow OF
his friend and patron, Mr.. Remsen. Here
he resided to the time of his death.
In personal appearance DR.. Draper
would have attracted attention anywhere
He was SMALL wiry man, with hair anc
beard of silver whiteness. His eye pre-
served the brightness of youth up TO the
| 4, orr hot