23. Bert Henry DRAPER
was born on Jul 2 1879 near Sidney Ontario. He died on Nov 15 1974 in Riverside,
California. He was a Great Great Grandson of
Boston Draper.7. Laura
Amanda Wood was born on 23 Jun 1882 in Cooperstown, New York.
She died on 9 Jan 1984 in Riverside, California. Laura married Bert
Draper on December 25, 1901 in Oconto, Nebraska.
Their life was not easy.
They lived at one time in a sod house and Bert took any kind of job to
survive. Bert's family was originally from Madison county, New York, moved to
Wisconsin, and then to Oconto, Nebraska. After Laura and Bert's marriage,
his family moved to Battleford, Saskatchewan but they stayed in Nebraska.
In February 1903, Laura and Bert had a son who later died from
complications at birth.
From one experience, Laura tells of how she and Bert hunted for skunks.
The trick was to remove them from their dens, hit them over the head
before they could douse their captors. For the skunk hides they got $3.00
a piece, a large amount of money in those days. The meat was cooked for
the chickens. It smelled like pork and the fat was used to make soap,
which floated like Ivory. Skunk oil was used to rub on the chest for chest
colds, hot of course, and it worked as good as Vicks.
In 1912, Laura's mother died, and Laura's brother who now lived in
California persuaded her father to move there also. In September 1913,
Laura and Bert also moved to Long Beach, following the majority of the
Wood clan.
On April 9, 1918, their only daughter, Gladys, was born at Long Beach.
She died in 1981.
In 1924, they moved to Riverside California. Bert died in 1974.
Laura' father, Henry Hilton Woods was a drummer in the civil war. On the occasion of Laura's 100th birthday, the Riverside, CA,
Arlington High School Drum Corp dressed in Civil War uniforms and a police
escort led a parade to church services at which she was honored. She rode
in a 1929 Ford touring car. (Laura's
drum)
