Simeon Draper

Draper was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts on January 19, 1806, the eighth son and 12th child of Captain Simeon Draper (1765–1848), and his first wife, Mary "Polly" Bemis, the daughter of Col. Benjamin Bemis.{{sfn|The Drapers In America|page=62}} He was a merchant's clerk in Boston, Massachusetts before coming to New York City where he settled as a merchant.{{sfn|The Drapers In America|page=70}} His business interests later expanded to include real estate investment,{{sfn|Presidential Payola|pages=19-20}} development,{{sfn|At Lincoln's Side|page=188}} and auctions,{{sfn|Reports of Committees of the House of Representatives|page=14}} as well as insurance{{sfn|Laws of the State of New York (1860)|page=628}} and investment banking.{{sfn|Investment Banking in England 1856-1881|page=47}}

Draper was a friend of Daniel Webster, William H. Seward, Thurlow Weed, and a member of the Whig Party.{{sfn|The Drapers In America|page=70}} He began his political career in the 1840s when he was appointed a member of the Board of Ten Governors, then in charge of New York City charities.{{sfn|The Drapers In America|page=70}} When the law creating the board was repealed, Draper served as Commissioner of Public Charities and Correction.{{sfn|The Drapers In America|page=62}} In the 1850s, Draper was Superintendent of Canal Repairs on the Cayuga and Seneca Canal.{{sfn|Testimony: Cayuga and Seneca Canal|page=5}} He served as a member of the Whig state central committee several times in the 1840s and 1850s, and became a Republican when the party was founded in 1854.{{sfn|The Drapers In America|page=70}} In 1856, he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor, but John A. King was selected and went on to win the general election.{{sfn|A Political History of the State of New York|page=235}} He was one of the original Police Commissioners of the New York Metropolitan Police District when the board was established on April 16, 1857, and was chosen to serve as the board's president.{{sfn|Civil List and Forms of Government of the Colony and State of New York|page=492}} Draper resigned before the end of his term after complaining that his fellow commissioners were making police department appointments based on political considerations and without consulting him.{{sfn|Civil List and Forms of Government of the Colony and State of New York|page=492}}{{sfn|The New York Police: Colonial Times to 1901|page=111}}

From 1860 to 1862, Draper was the chairman of the state Republican party.{{sfn|The Drapers In America|page=70}} From September 1862 to April 1863, Draper served during the American Civil War as Provost Marshal General of the United States Department of War.{{sfn|Provost Marshal General's Bureau}} In this civilian position, Draper oversaw special provost marshals at the local level who were responsible for arresting deserters, enrolling draftees, and enlisting volunteers.{{sfn|Provost Marshal General's Bureau}} Draper resigned after passage of a new law reorganizing the Provost Marshal's office and appointing deputies by Congressional district.{{sfn|Provost Marshal General's Bureau}}

Draper was also an agent of the federal government with wartime responsibility for receiving cotton captured in the Confederate states, storing it, and then selling it on the government's behalf.{{sfn|Report on the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States|pages=443-444}} According to allegations in a post-war Congressional investigation, Draper, who had been bankrupted by business reverses during the Panic of 1857, did not provide accurate reports on the types and amounts of cotton he sold, enabling him to divert some of the proceeds to his personal use.{{sfn|Report on the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States|pages=443-444}} As a result, he was supposedly able to pay off his debts and leave a sizable estate at his death.{{sfn|Report on the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States|pages=443-444}}

From September 1864 to August 1865, Draper was Collector of the Port of New York from September 1864 to August 1865.{{sfn|The Drapers In America|page=70}} In a story recounted by David Davis, Draper obtained the collector's post after paying $20,000 (about $320,000 in 2018) to Mary Todd Lincoln so that she would persuade her husband to appoint him to this lucrative post.{{sfn|Presidential Payola|pages=19-20}} Draper and Mrs. Lincoln both denied Davis's claim, and nothing was ever proved against them.{{sfn|Presidential Payola|pages=19-20}}

Draper died in Whitestone, Queens County, New York on November 6, 1866.{{sfn|The Drapers In America|page=62}} He was interred in the Draper family vault at Trinity Church Cemetery in Manhattan.{{sfn|"Funeral of Simeon Draper"|page=1}}

Simeon Draper was a descendant of early Massachusetts settler James Draper.{{sfn|The Drapers In America|pages=51–54, 62, 112–113}}

On October 30, 1834, he married Frances S. Haggerty Draper, daughter of John Haggerty, with whom he had five children: Marie (b. 1835); Fanny (b. 1837); John Haggerty (1839-1890); Julian (b. 1841, died as an infant); and Henry (1843-1898).{{sfn|The Drapers In America|page=70}}

William B. Draper was his brother.{{sfn|The Drapers In America|pages=62, 70}} Notable descendants include great-grandsons William Draper Lewis and Francis Draper Lewis.{{sfn|The Drapers In America|pages=67–68, 154–155, 186–191}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Alexander |first=DeAlva Stanley |date=1906 |title=A Political History of the State of New York |volume=II |url= https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22591/22591-h/political2.html |location=New York, NY |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |ref={{sfnRef|A Political History of the State of New York}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Burlingame |first=Michael |date=2000 |title=At Lincoln's Side: John Hay's Civil War Correspondence and Selected Writings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8LO-nC--myAC&pg=PA188 |location=Carbondale, IL |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |isbn=978-0-8093-2711-9 |ref={{sfnRef|At Lincoln's Side}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Cottrell |first=Phillip |date=2012 |orig-year=1985 |title=Investment Banking in England 1856-1881 |volume=I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_o2ds7SWcisC&pg=PA47 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Routledge |ref={{sfnRef|Investment Banking in England 1856-1881}}|isbn=9781136301476 }}
• {{cite book |last=Craughwell |first=Thomas J. |date=2011 |title=Presidential Payola: The True Stories of Monetary Scandals in the Oval Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0LCoPEmKzkC&pg=PA19 |location=Beverly, MA |publisher=Fair Winds Press |isbn=978-1-5923-3451-3 |ref={{sfnRef|Presidential Payola}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Draper |first=Thomas W. |date=1892 |title=The Drapers In America |url=https://archive.org/stream/drapersinamerica00drap#page/62/mode/2up/ |location=New York, NY |publisher=John Polhemus Printing Company |ref={{sfnRef|The Drapers In America}}}}
• {{cite book |last=New York State Legislature |date=1860 |title=Laws of the State of New York Passed at the Eighty-Third Session of the Legislature |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YHNZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA628 |location=Albany, NY |publisher=W. C. Little |ref={{sfnRef|Laws of the State of New York (1860)}}}}
• {{cite book |last=New York State Senate |date=1850 |title=Testimony: Cayuga and Seneca Canal. Documents of the Senate of the State of New York, Seventy-Third Session |volume=II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cy264_5Dls4C&pg=RA10-PA5 |location=Albany, NY |publisher=Weed, Parsons & Co. |ref={{sfnRef|Testimony: Cayuga and Seneca Canal}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Richardson |first=James F. |date=1970 |title=The New York Police: Colonial Times to 1901 |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkpolicecol0000rich |url-access=registration |location=New York, NY |publisher=Oxford University Press |ref={{sfnRef|The New York Police: Colonial Times to 1901}}}}
• {{cite book |last=U.S. House of Representatives |date=1858 |title=Wilkins' or Willett's Point Investigation: Reports of Committees of the House of Representatives Made During The First Session of the Thirty-Fifth Congress |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2hHAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA4-PA14 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=James B. Steedman |ref={{sfnRef|Reports of Committees of the House of Representatives}}}}
• {{cite book |last=U.S. Senate |date=1872 |title=Report on the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MKcFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA444 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=US Government Printing Office |ref={{sfnRef|Report on the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States}}}}
• {{cite book |last1=Weed |first1=Thurlow |last2=Parsons |first2=John D. |date=1865 |title=Civil List and Forms of Government of the Colony and State of New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZzlAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA492 |location=Albany, NY |publisher=Weed, Parsons and Company |ref={{sfnRef|Civil List and Forms of Government of the Colony and State of New York}}}}

• {{cite news |date=November 12, 1866 |title=Funeral of Simeon Draper |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-age-nov-12-1866-p-1/ |work=Philadelphia Age |location=Philadelphia, PA |url-access=subscription |via=NewspaperArchive.com |ref={{sfnRef|"Funeral of Simeon Draper"}}}}

• {{cite web |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10461614 |title=Administrative History Note |website=War Department. Provost Marshal General's Bureau. 3/3/1863-8/28/1866: Organization Authority Record |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |location=College Park, MD |access-date=January 2, 2022 |ref={{sfnRef|Provost Marshal General's Bureau}}}}

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{{s-bef|before=James Kelly}}

{{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the New York Republican State Committee|years=1860–1862}}

{{s-aft|after=Henry R. Low}}

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{{succession box | before = Hiram Barney | title = Collector of the Port of New York | years = 1864–1865 | after = Preston King}}

{{s-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Draper, Simeon}}

Category:19th-century American merchants

Category:People from West Springfield, Massachusetts

Category:1804 births

Category:1866 deaths

Category:Collectors of the Port of New York

Category:New York (state) Whigs

Category:New York (state) Republicans

Category:Burials at Trinity Church Cemetery

Category:People from Brookfield, Massachusetts