Bristow and Queena Draper

Bristow and Queena Draper

The article below is from The Sentinel, May 30, 1909.  There is no indication on the page on which this was printed what town or city it came from.  My guess is that it’s from Keene, New Hampshire. There is also a paper called the Sentinel in Fichburg, but it seems that a Massachusetts newspaper would just refer to Eben Draper as the governor, not Governor Eben S. Draper, of Massachusetts, as this article does in the third paragraph.

The Baby That Won the Governor’s Heart
Why Bristow Draper & His Ex-Chorus Girl Wife     
Are Again in Favor

It was Baby that did it; there can be no doubt of that.

 Of course when Baby came to the humble home of Mr. and Mrs. Bristow Draper, not far from the big cotton mill in Burlington, Vermont, where father worked, it knew nothing of the romance in the case.

 Baby did not know that its young and hugely delighted “dad” was the son of Governor Eben S. Draper, of Massachusetts, and for that reason not only the inheritor of patrician blood and a powerful name, but the rightful heir to a great fortune.

 It did not know that the proud and tender mother had once shone, as “Queenie” Sanford, in chorus-girl ranks for love of whom young Draper had fled the parental palace, turned his back upon wealth and, because of the bitter anger of a displeased father had been cast off to fight his way alone; that when he came home at night to smile in Baby’s upturned face he came from exacting toil in those big, ugly cotton mills nearby, where he, son of a millionaire and Governor, could earn only the pitiful wage of $1.50 a day.

 Baby knew none of these things, and Governor Draper knew nothing of Baby – except the mere fact that she existed.  But for weeks and months tiny, unseen hands, it seems, were tugging at the stern gubernatorial heartstrings.

 Then, the other day, there came a stronger tug than usual, and in a few hours the dignified Governor of Massachusetts was on a train flying northward into Vermont.  There was a touching meeting in the little home of Bristow Draper; there was Baby’s introduction to grandfather, the Governor and – well, it’s the old story of “all’s well that ends well.”  The past was forgiven and forgotten; Baby and Baby’s father and mother have come into their own again.  Baby did it all.

*********************

 When, in March, 1907, young Bristow Draper, son of the then lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, fled from a marriage that had been arranged for him and ran away and married “Queenie” Sanford, a chorus girl, his millionaire father disowned him, and young Draper, true to the mettle of his race, went to work.  Since then he has been working as a mill hand, ten hours a day.

 By showing in this way the good stuff that was in him, by working cheerfully to support his wife, the young scion of an aristocratic and wealthy house proved that his love for the girl of his choice was of the right sort, too.

 Although he had cast his son off in bitter wrath and refused to communicate with him, Governor Draper thought often of the young man, often inquired secretly about him, and felt in his heart a growing sense of admiration for the plucky and faithful youngster.  Of course, the baby girl was the last thing to make the scales of love go down.

 Mrs. Draper, too, longed with the fondness of a mother’s heart for a sight of her son, and it was with joy that she learned the Governor’s determination to visit the young couple in their Burlington home.  Of course, she must go along to see that blessed, wonderful granddaughter.

 GOING TO GET A MANSION

They went to the son’s home – a little four-room house, a modest little place with a parlor and kitchen, the kitchen serving as dining room, and two bedrooms.  The four of them leaned over the cradle containing the baby, lying there with its chubby face in smiles, its black eyes dancing gleefully.  And they waited in suspense until it laughed and said, quite simply,

 “Goo!”

And everybody laughed and cried.  They were so happy.  They were glad to be together.  The baby was such a darling.  Grandpapa and grandmamma rained kisses on its rosebud mouth.  They took the hands of the parents and blessed them.

 And it was all made up.

As a result of the reconciliation young Bristow became his father’s heir, the little daughter an heiress and the couple, it is said, will move from their four-room house into a mansion to be fitted up by the rich Governor.

 Then the little baby will have a nurse, there will be a playroom with all sorts of toys, and everything, as it happens in the fairy tales, will be happy ever after.

 But it was a hard road Bristow Draper traveled with his wife before the fairy daughter came.

 It will be remembered, possibly, that young Bristow, who had just left Harvard, was engaged to marry Miss Alice Marjorie Ray, of Boston, [She was one of the Franklin Ray family, I believe.] one of the leaders in society and heiress to millions when he eloped with Miss Sanford.

 All Boston society was agog with preparations for the Draper-Ray wedding.  It was to be a fashionable affair; all the elite were to turn out in the fashionable Draper Memorial Church, at Hopedale.  The bride-to-be was preparing her trousseau.  The friends were selecting wedding gifts.  The father of the groom-to-be was being congratulated by his friends and was telling them how proud he was of the match.

 A dispatch came to Boston from New York to the effect that Bristow Draper, son of Lieutenant governor Draper, had been married to “Queenie” Sanford, a member of Sam Bernard’s “Rich Mr. Hoggenheimer” company, at the parish house of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Imagine the consternation in swell Boston society!  But, above all, picture the return of young Bristow to his father’s house to obtain forgiveness with the hope of having his bride received! The father upbraided him.  Already having stopped his allowance, he announced his intention of disowning the young man.  Declaring the son to be ungrateful, dishonorable, he told him in strident tones to – go!

 Bristow went.

 With his bride he took a trip to Canada and went on to Seattle.  When they returned East, young Bristow’s money was gone.  He made no appeal to his father, but promptly took a job in the cotton mills at Burlington as a spinner.  He went to work in overalls and jeans, carrying his lunch basket in his hand.  He worked ten hours a day and returned to his home at night weary and dirty.  It was hard work, but he became one of the best spinners in the mill.

 And he was happy!

 His home was small, it is true, but it was neat.  His wife, the former chorus girl, developed into the most wonderful of housekeepers.  Neighbors noted the fondness of the couple, for when he left at 6 o’clock each morning he kissed her, and when he returned at half-past six in the evening he took her in his arms.

 Young Draper fell in love with the pretty chorus girl seven years before he married her.  That was while he was studying at Harvard. Bristow was then 18 and had plenty of money.  He met “Queenie” while she was playing in Boston in “The Belle of New York.”  He was seen with the girl nearly all the time.

 There were dinner parties, after them suppers, long automobile excursions.  When Miss Sanford went to New York with the company Bristow followed.  He went to New York so often and neglected his studies so much that he was expelled from college.

 Then he went to Europe and joined his parents.  He was sent to school for a year at Exeter, afterward returning to Harvard.  Leaving Harvard, he entered his father’s boiler works at Hopedale. [This is the only mention I’ve ever seem about a “boiler works” in Hopedale.  The writer may have been referring to the Hopedale Furnace Company, but from what I’ve read, that seems to have been the part of the Draper businesses that operated the foundry; I doubt that there was a “boiler works” in Hopedale. DM]

 He determined to begin at the bottom and work up, and went to work in overalls in the machine shop.  His intention was, by preparing himself thoroughly, to be equipped finally to take charge of the works.  While with the men he was treated as an ordinary employee; he received $1.50 a day.  His father was delighted, so, of course, he had spending money on the side.

 It seemed that he had forgotten his infatuation for the pretty chorus girl, for it was soon announced that Miss Ray was to become his bride.  Soon after the announcement of the engagement, Miss Sanford’s company went to Boston.

 One night Bristow went to see the show.  One of the characters – Tom Brown, a jaunty messenger boy – attracted his attention.  Through the disguise he recognized “Queenie” Sanford.  That night he went back of the scenes.  When the company returned to New York he began making frequent trips to that city.  People began to whisper.  “Only a whim,” they said.

 Then came news of the marriage.

 “Why did he do it?” society asked.  On the one hand was Miss Ray, beautiful, educated, wealthy; on the other, a chorus girl, daughter of a clerk, born on the East Side of New York, who had gone on the stage at 16, had played in “The School Girl,” “The Catch of the Season” and other productions of similar character.

 But society forgot that there is such a thing as real love, which Bristow Draper has proved he felt for the girl, Miss Ray was beautiful; but the chorus girl, to him, was more so.  She had a face of the color of peach bloom, red lips, eyes of Oriental blackness, a laugh that rang like silver, She was cheerful and blithe, And she loved Bristow Draper.

LEARNED TO KEEP HOUSE

She was content to give up the footlights – in fact, she never cared for them.  She wanted to become a wife.  And while Bristow worked as a spinner she learned to cook.  She studied the cookbooks of the Delphic oracles of that art and she made progress.  She got up early every morning to get her husband’s breakfast.  She anticipated his likes.  She learned what was distasteful to him.  She made the dainties he enjoyed.  What a pleasure it was to pack that lunch basket!

 Then how she waited for him in the evening, a pleasing, if modest dinner all prepared.  And how they talked and planned, kissing one another in between times.

In Boston, Governor Draper and his wife lived, sending no letters and receiving none.  But it is likely that every once in a while he would whisper to himself, “Plucky boy!”  To his friends he appeared unrelenting.

Then the baby came and tiny hands began to tug at the Governor’s heartstrings.  That process of relenting took a little time, but it was inevitable that the final, irresistible tug would come.  And when it came, grandpa and grandma hastily packed a grip and started off to see that wonderful baby.  

And there you have it; that’s how The Sentinel told the saga of Queenie and Bristow back in 1909.  The story, along with pictures, covered most of a page, but room remained for articles titled A Woman’s New Fad of Photographing on Tiles, England’s Quaint Kissing Customs, and Advance of the Flying Machine.

 Bristow and Queenie eventually lived at 105 Adin Street; the house closest to the intersection of Adin Street and Route 16. However, the street listings show them at several other houses on Adin Street before they ended up there. Now, to complete the  tale, here’s the section of Five Generations of Loom Builders, published in 1950, about Bristow.

FOURTH GENERATION

B. H. Bristow Draper, fourth generation, son of the late Gov. Eben S. Draper, became treasurer and executive manager of the corporation on the death of his uncle [George A. Draper who died in February, 1923] and was made president in 1929.  He died June 4, 1944, having been in full control of the business until shortly before his death.

 Bristow Draper entered the employ of the corporation with a thorough training in the fundamentals of the business.  After leaving Harvard College, he worked for a time in the Draper shops, and then acquired a broad textile mill experience by starting as a mill hand and working up to overseer.  He joined the Draper selling force and became in turn assistant agent, treasurer, and president.

 He was a man of great executive ability worthy of his long line of forebears, and with a pleasing personality that endeared him to his fellow-workers from those who sat with him at the directors’ table to the humblest worker in the shops.

 He devoted himself to the modernization of the business, equipping the shops throughout with the most up-to-date precision machines for building better and more efficient looms.  This went along with the development of a loom for weaving rayon fabrics and the series of high-speed looms, both of which belong to his generation.  He also started the corporation on an expansion of its facilities for supplying some of its needed raw materials.

  Five Generations at this point devotes several paragraphs to rayon looms, self-threading shuttles and bobbin changers, but I’ll skip ahead a bit here to Bristow’s later years.

WARTIME ACTIVITIES

To Bristow Draper also must be credited the big expansion of the works at Hopedale to meet the wartime needs of the government for internal grinders, 75 mm pack howitzers and magnetos, and the splendid record made in their production.  He enlarged the Hopedale plant for this special purpose by the erection of a four-story modern steel and concrete machine shop.  The research department was largely devoted to special government war services.  The building of looms was practically suspended except for wartime needs, and services to the mills were reduced to an emergency basis.

And that’s it for the story of Bristow and Queenie. I was wondering where they lived before they built the mansion at 105 Adin Street. I checked the Milford-Hopedale directories. The first one available after they came to Hopedale was for 1911-12. It gives their address as 21 Adin Street. The next directory I could find was for 1918. That lists them as living at 45 Adin Street. It couldn’t have been long after that when they moved to 105 Adin, but the next directory that gives street numbers for Adin Street was 1924. That gave 105 Adin as the address and also said same address for the previous year. The books for 1920 through 1923 give street numbers for the homes on most streets, but not for Adin Street. Bristow  died in 1944 and Queena in 1949.

 On another matter, note that in Five Generations Drapers is never referred to as “the mill.” Draper people usually called it the shop, sometimes the plant or the works, but never the mill.  Mill was only used, as in the last sentence in the paragraph above, when referring to other places; the places that used the looms, not places that built them.  

 Since you’ve come this far, you might as well go on a little longer and read  what Five Generations had to say about the fifth generation, Bristow, Jr.

  B. H. Bristow Draper, Jr., representative of the fifth Draper generation in the business, entered the employ of the company in 1929 after a course of study at Harvard.  He entered the purchasing department, and served in turn as purchasing agent and assistant treasurer.  He is now [1950] treasurer of the corporation.

   Tombs at Hopedale Village Cemetery               Draper Menu                      HOME