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Below is a family biography included in Portrait and Biographical Record of Berrien and Cass Counties, Michigan published by Biographical Publishing Company in 1893.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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JOHN DRAPER, one of the wealthy farmers of Porter Township, Cass County, was born at Syracuse, N. Y., July 17, 1836. His father, whose name was also John, was born in Bennington, Vt., in 1799. The paternal grandfather, of whom we know little save that he was born in Vermont and was of English extraction, went to New York and died there. The senior John Draper became a large salt manufacturer on the banks of the Erie Canal in Salina, N. Y. He married Almira Parish, who was born in Syracuse, N. Y. Of her family we know but little more than the mere fact that it was a large and somewhat prominent old New York family. In 1837 John Draper, Sr., came to Michigan from the State of New York. At that time his family consisted of his wife and two children. Of these, John, Jr., was the youngest and only one year old. His father had made a small fortune in the salt manufacturing business and came here with rather more money than the average pioneer. He purchased a large tract of land in the northeast corner of Porter Township, Cass County, and later sold his first purchase and bought the land where our subject lives. He here accumulated valuable property and at his death left a fortune of $40,000. A man of excellent business attainments, in all his dealings he displayed shrewd sagacity and the highest principles of honor. He contributed liberally to the support of religious enterprises, but never united with any church.

Of the brothers and sisters of our subject, Harriett was the eldest; she married Levi Rifenberg and died in 1869. William was a soldier in the late war, serving for three years in the Kalamazoo Battery, and died soon after the close of the war. Sarah married Samuel Shivels, a retired farmer residing in Constantine, Mich., and they have three children. The mother of our subject died three years after the family came to Michigan, and the father married again, choosing as his wife Esther Ann Babcock. Of this marriage three daughters were born, all of whom are now deceased.

In a manner similar to other farmer boys, the subject of this biographical sketch passed his youthful days, receiving the limited education of the district schools and aiding his father in clearing four hundred acres of land. In the spring of 1861 he married Miss Wealthy O’Dell. In August of the following year, when the country was in peril, he enlisted as a member of Company D, Nineteenth Michigan Infantry, and was sent with his regiment into Kentucky and Tennessee. With about one hundred other Union soldiers, he was taken prisoner by the rebel Gen. Forest and thrown into Libby Prison, where for months he suffered the tortures of that hell of the Southern Confederacy. For three weeks he was delirious and when he was finally paroled it was not thought that he could live, but fortunately he recovered and again took his place in the ranks. He was in the Atlanta campaign and fought in the battles of Resaca, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta and all the engagements from Atlanta to the sea. During his entire service, covering a period of three years, he was never off duty except while in prison. He participated in the Grand Review at Washington, and thus closed a military career of which he and his friends may well be proud.

During the absence of Mr. Draper in the army his wife died, in 1863. On the 8th of November 1867, he married Mrs. Christina Vanner, and they have become the parents of one child, Hattie Belle, an accomplished young lady, who is at home with her parents. In 1877 Mr. Draper went to Kansas and became extensively interested in the stock business and engaged as a stock-trader throughout Kansas, Texas and Indian Territory. In 1883 he sold out his interests there, having at the time a half-interest in seventeen hundred head of cattle worth $16,000. On his return to Michigan he came into possession of the old home place, where he has since lived. Here he has been largely engaged in the stock business and at the present time has one horse for which he paid $1,000, a full-blooded English Shire. Formerly he owned nearly six hundred acres of land, but has disposed of some of his property through trade. His farm is conceded to be one of the finest in Porter Township and is embellished with improvements of the most modern kind. For several years he has done very little manual work himself, as he is suffering from the effects of his army service; however, he gives his personal attention to the management of his estate. A radical Republican in politics, he has never aspired to office and has never accepted any. Socially, he is identified with the Masonic fraternity and the Grand Army of the Republic.

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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in the Portrait and Biographical Record of Berrien and Cass Counties, Michigan published in 1893. 

View additional Cass County, Michigan family biographies here: Cass County, Michigan Biographies

View a map of 1911 Cass County, Michigan here: Cass County Michigan Map

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