We have followed Zemira and some of his Draper relatives until they reached Utah. Let’s return to Nauvoo in 1845, to where we left William Sr. and Lydia Lathrop Draper.
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“William and Lydia had by then passed the age of 70. The great body of the Saints had left Nauvoo, and only a remnant remained, composed of the poor, the weak, the aged and afflicted, who had been unable to get away. They were all anxious to depart, and were exerting all their energies to obtain means for that purpose.”—(Quote by Janael Hendricks) They remained in Nauvoo until August 1846, but by the time they reached the west side of the great Mississippi, Lydia, worn down by the relentless persecution, could bear no more. There she died. “She was buried on the bank of the Mississippi River, in a brown dress and a calico apron.”—(Quote by Estella Draper Magnus)
Their son Zemira Draper and his wife Amy Terry had stayed with them and cared for them. William remained in a camp near his beloved companion’s grave until the spring of 1847, when in a company with his son Zemira and wife, he moved on to the Missouri River Camp. That same year William went on to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and there he married Marie or Mary Louise Allard. In 1848, William was ordained a Patriarch of the Branches of the Church in the Pottawattamie Lands of Iowa, under the hands of Elder George A. Smith.— (Estella Draper Magnus)
In July 1852 he went to Utah where he rejoined some of his family in Draperville, Utah, thus adding to the Draper group already there. While living there he gave more than 250 Patriarchal Blessings before his death at the age of 80 in 1854. He blessed the lives of many people, and he is to be honored and loved for the great man that he was.
Eventually, it will be interesting to follow the lives of each of William Draper Sr. and Lydia’s children, and also those of George Palmer Jr. and Phebe. We know that some of them came to Utah.
William Draper's headstone.
Www.findagrave.com, photo John Warnke
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