Windham

DRAPER, Joseph

Men of Vermont: Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters & Sons of 
Vermont. Ullery. Brattleboro: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894, p 111-112

Joseph DRAPER, late of Brattleboro [Windham County, Vermont], was born 16 
February 1834 in Warwick [Franklin County], Massachusetts. He was of New 
England ancestry, both his parents being natives of Massachusetts. His early 
education was obtained in the common schools and in the academies at 
Brattleboro, and Deerfield [Franklin County], Massachusetts. After that he 
entered upon the study of medicine; attended lectures at one of the medical 
schools in New York and also at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, 
where he graduated in 1858. After a considerable period in general practice 
he became an assistant of Dr. ROCKWELL in the Vermont Asylum for the Insane 
at Brattleboro, where he remained until January 1865. He left this position 
for that of an assistant surgeon in the United States General Hospital at 
Brattleboro, in which he remained a few months, and May 1865 became an 
assistant in the State asylum at Worcester [Worcester County], Massachusetts. 
He was also acting superintendent of that institution for one year. In 1870 
he became an assistant to Dr. BUTTOLPH in the state asylum at Trenton [Mercer 
County], New Jersey, where he remained until February 1873, when he was 
appointed superintendent of the Vermont Asylum, where he remained until his 
death. Dr. DRAPER was in closest touch and sympathy with everything that 
concerned psychiatry and psychology, and was very jealous of the reputation 
of our hospitals and asylums. His sympathies were quick and large and went 
out to all who came in his way needing them, so that during his long 
residence in Vermont his name became a household word and familiar to a large 
portion of people, by whom he was held in the highest esteem. Dr. DRAPER was 
a diligent student and yearly prepared papers which he read before medical 
societies. He is also the author of a history of the Vermont Asylum, 
covering its first fifty years. At the time of his death he was president of 
the New England Psychological Society. He had been president of the Vermont 
Medical Society. He [Dr. Joseph DRAPER] was united in marriage to [Miss?] 
Mary J. PUTNAM, who survives him.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly