William Franklin Draper (politician)

William Franklin Draper (April 9, 1842 – January 28, 1910) was an American businessman, industrialist, and soldier who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.

For persons of a similar name, see William Draper.
William Franklin Draper
U.S. Ambassador and Minister Plenipotentiary to Italy
In office
1897–1899
PresidentWilliam McKinley
Preceded byWayne MacVeagh
Succeeded byGeorge von Lengerke Meyer
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 11th district
In office
March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1897
Preceded byFrederick S. Coolidge
Succeeded byCharles F. Sprague
Personal details
BornApril 9, 1842
Lowell, Massachusetts
DiedJanuary 28, 1910 (aged 67)
Washington, D.C.
Resting placeHopedale Village Cemetery, Hopedale, Massachusetts
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Lydia Joy;[1]
Susan Preston[2] m. May 22, 1890.[3]
AwardsBrevet Colonel
Brevet Brigadier General.
Signature
Military service
AllegianceUnited States United States
Union
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Union Army
Years of serviceSeptember 5, 1861-October 12, 1864[4][5]
Rank
Unit
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Biography
See also: Draper Corporation

Draper was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on April 9, 1842, and was a descendant of early Massachusetts settler James Draper. Draper attended public, private, and high schools, he studied mechanical engineering and cotton manufacturing.

William F. Draper at the end of the American Civil War.

During the American Civil War Draper enlisted as a private in the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, on September 9, 1861. He was soon elected Second Lieutenant of his company and was promoted rapidly to lieutenant colonel. After his discharge Draper was awarded the brevet grades of colonel and brigadier general of Volunteers.

After the war he joined his family's textile machine manufacturing business at Hopedale, Massachusetts, and patented many improvements. He also served as delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1876. He went on to serve as colonel on the staff of Governor John Davis Long from 1880 to 1883.

Equestrian statue of Draper erected in 1912[12] in Milford, Massachusetts.

Draper was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1897). Draper served as chairman of the Committee on Patents (Fifty-fourth Congress), however he was not a candidate for renomination in 1896. He later served as president of the Draper Co. upon its incorporation in 1896. Later he was the Ambassador and Minister Plenipotentiary to Italy 1897–1899.

Draper was married twice: to Lydia Joy from 1862 until her death in 1884, and to Susan Preston, daughter of General William Preston of Kentucky, who survived him. His second marriage may be the only one in which a Union general married the daughter of a Confederate general. Their daughter Margaret Preston Draper married Italian aristocrat Prince Andrea Boncompagni-Ludovisi.[13]

He died in Washington, D.C., on January 28, 1910, he was interred in Village Cemetery, Hopedale, Massachusetts.

See also

References
  1. Draper, William Franklin (1909), Recollections of a Varied Career, Boston, Ma: Little, Brown, And Company, p. 78
  2. Draper, William Franklin (1909), Recollections of a Varied Career, Boston, Ma: Little, Brown, And Company, pp. 201–202
  3. Draper, William Franklin (1909), Recollections of a Varied Career, Boston, Ma: Little, Brown, And Company, p. 202
  4. Draper, William Franklin (1909), Recollections of a Varied Career, Boston, Ma: Little, Brown, And Company, p. 34
  5. Draper, William Franklin (1909), Recollections of a Varied Career, Boston, Ma: Little, Brown, And Company, p. 176
  6. Draper, William Franklin (1909), Recollections of a Varied Career, Boston, Ma: Little, Brown, And Company, p. 35
  7. Draper, William Franklin (1909), Recollections of a Varied Career, Boston, Ma: Little, Brown, And Company, p. 76
  8. Draper, William Franklin (1909), Recollections of a Varied Career, Boston, Ma: Little, Brown, And Company, p. 36
  9. Draper, William Franklin (1909), Recollections of a Varied Career, Boston, Ma: Little, Brown, And Company, p. 111
  10. Draper, William Franklin (1909), Recollections of a Varied Career, Boston, Ma: Little, Brown, And Company, p. 154
  11. Draper, William Franklin (1909), Recollections of a Varied Career, Boston, Ma: Little, Brown, And Company, p. 170
  12. Date on Statue
  13. "Princess Margaret Preston Draper (Boncompagni) to undergo medical treatment". The Baltimore Sun. 22 March 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 5 July 2021.

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