|DESCENDANTS OF MAJOR BARNABAS PALMER|
Immigrant Ancestor of Rochester, New Hampshire (1725-1816).
An English Quaker immigrating by force or free will from Dublin, Ireland, Barnabas Palmer was a prominent statesman, delegate and patriot to the American cause - the History of Rochester, New Hampshire states he was the fourth signer upon the engagement to support the American cause in 1776.
Barnabas PALMER married Elizabeth ROBINSON, daughter of Christopher ROBINSON and Elizabeth HILTON, reportedly at Louisbourg, Cape Breton Island while on military duty under Sir William Pepperell. They returned to live and prosper in New Hampshire, producing thirteen children. Their lives and their descendants lives, in great part were researched and documented by T. F. Palmer of California  in a typed manuscript "History & Genealogy of the Palmer Family."
Major Palmer's sons and daughters populated the Dover/Milton/Rochester area of New Hampshire and some of those migrated up the Kennebec River into the Athens/Bingham/Brighton area of the Maine woods. Further generations found Palmers even more wide-spread, as their numbers populated Augusta, Dover, Bangor, Kennebunk and Patten in Maine; others ventured westward to Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas and Washington state.
(1) Mary Palmer, 1748-1810, married Josiah MAIN. He served as town clerk of Rochester, NH for 30 years, 1771-1802.
(2) Margaret Palmer, 1749-1839, married Colonel David COPP of Wakefield, NH who was a distinguished officer during the Revolutionary War and an intimate friend of General George Washington. David COPP, 1738-1817, served in the early wars, commanded a company in the defense of Piscataqua Harbor and Winter Hill, 1775. He was appointed major, 1775, and lieutenant colonel, 1780; was elected to the Legislature, 1782, where he served 8 years on many important committees. He was born in Rochester, died in Wakefield, N.H. [DAR vol.58 p.109]
(3) Jonathan Palmer, 1752-1843, married 1st Mary Elizabeth CARR, 2nd Frances ROBERTS. [History of Dover, NH says Mary ROBERTS, dau of Francis & Mary (CARR) ROBERTS].He was a Colonel in the Colonial Army during the Revolution, mustering into Capt. Samuel Nay's company of the NH Continental Soldiers as a private.
(4) Samuel Palmer, 1755-1816, married 1st Miss BAKER, 2nd Anna GARLAND. He was a sailor during the Revolution; a ship's captain and mechanical genius who invented a diving bell with which he recovered treasure from sunken ships.
(5) William Palmer, 1757-1815, married 1st Susannah TWOMBLY, 2nd Deborah HAM. He enlisted as a private at 19 in Capt. F.M.Bell's Company, May 22, 1777. Promoted to Corporal and Sergeant in 1779. His father, Barnabas Palmer, lived with William after Elizabeth Robinson's death in 1804 until 1816, on Plummer's Ridge in Milton, NH. William served as Justice of the Peace, Town Representative and Selectman, "a well-informed and enterprising citizen."
(6) Elizabeth Palmer, 1759- -, married John Barnabas MERRICK(MYRICK). No further information is documented.
(7) Barnabas Palmer, 1761-1765.
(8) John Palmer, 1763-1848, married 1st Dorothy PERKINS, 2nd Betsy ELLIS. Private John Palmer mustered with Capt. Joshua Woodman in Col. Reynold's Regiment of the NH Militia in 1781.
(9) Barnabas Palmer, Jr. 1765-1822, married Mary PLACE. He was a noted officer of the Revolution who moved to Athens, in the Province of Maine in 1793-1794.
(10) Benjamin Palmer, 1766-1806, married Martha HARTFORD. He was the first inn-keeper at Athens, Maine; later residence in South Berwick and Augusta, Maine.
(11) Joseph Palmer, 1769-1827, married Mercy HANSON. Resided at Wakefield, NH.
(12) Mercy Palmer, 1770-1770.
(13) Dudley Palmer, 1775-1855, married 1st Abigail PICKERING, 2nd Hannah Mudgett FOLSOM, 3rd Mary JEWELL. His son, James Palmer, said of his father, Dudley, "was a gentle man of Rochester, NH. He wore a ruffled shirt hanging from his bosom and never did any work to speak of."
|Barnabas Palmer and Allied Families of Maine & NH|
Updated September 11, 2006