EARLY DAYS IN GREENBUSH

Wm. Palmer was born in Cayuga county, New York, June 25, 1820. He was a son of Lemuel and Martha (Babcock) Palmer, the fifth in descent from Walter Palmer who was born in Nottinghamshire England, in 1585, and emigrated to America in 1627. Wm. Palmer was married August 20, 1840, to Mary Ellinger. She was born in Ohio, June 20, 1823, and was a daughter of Joseph and Nancy (Bowman) Ellinger, and sister of Ann Karns, Catherine Ury, Barbara Baldwin, Elizabeth Gladish, and Samuel L. Ellinger.

After marriage Mr. Palmer made several moves, living in Indiana. Will county, Illinois, near Joliet, and Green county, Wisconsin, near Broadhead, from which place his brother-in-law Samuel L. Ellinger helped him move to Warren county, Illinois, between the years of 1845 and 1847. In 1856, he moved to Chickasaw county, Iowa, near the small town of Jacksonville. His health failing, be moved to Bourbon county, Kansas, arriving there August 21, 1865. He then bought a claim on the neutral lands of a man named Cavanaugh, located near the Missouri line, ten miles south of Fort Scott, where his wife's s sister, Catherine Ury, and family then resided. He lived here up to the time of his death, which occurred July 12. 1870. His wife died November 13, 1872. They are buried side by side in a little country cemetery in Vernon county, Missouri.

To William Palmer and wife were born the following-named children:

Wm. Palmer was a shoemaker by trade. When he was married he had a kit of tools, about twenty-dollarsŐ worth of leather, and twenty dollars in money to begin with, and when not otherwise employed he worked at his trade. He was in the store with S.J. Buzan for a while; he also kept a small grocery store in connection with his shoe-shop when he resided in Greenbush. He bought a farm in Iowa and sold half of it to a brother. Here he farmed, working at his trade in the winter until he moved to Kansas. He lost half of his claim in Kansas; he thought this was caused by false swearing. He was at one time engaged in the mercantile business at Appleton, Kansas, with a man by the name of Stevens. This man wanted to keep whisky, which did not suit Mr. Palmer. So they divided up and Palmer sold his goods to William Emrick, son of Jacob Emrick who kept hotel at one time in Greenbush. Mr. Palmer was a good-templar. In religion he was a Methodist.