The Drapers were one of the first families to settle in North America during the 17 th century; this genealogy and history spans from their earliest beginnings to the late 1800s. A lengthy and thoroughly researched genealogical enquiry, The Drapers represents years of painstaking research undertaken by Thomas Waln-Morgan Draper in the 1890s. The cataloguing of various branches of the family, as well as chronicling their lives and activities in various locales in Massachusetts and elsewhere, was no easy feat. We are taken through the ancestors sequentially, with those who were noteworthy - such as through leadership, commerce or wartime valor - given biographical paragraphs of their deeds. While much of the content lists names of family members and their offspring, generation after generation, the anecdotal style of telling adopted by Thomas Draper helps make this genealogy both interesting and a unique source. Much of the knowledge related here is from local records and memories which have otherwise been lost to time. Thus modern-day Drapers - or simply those interested in a qualitative familial history of New England - may glean insights otherwise unobtainable.