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34. NEHEMIAH PALMER (bp. 1637–1718) (Walter)  

Nehemiah Palmer was born in England. He was baptized on 23 November 1637 in Charlestown, Massachusetts. He died on 17 February 1717/8 in Stonington. He was buried on 19 February 1717/8. He married Hannah Stanton of Stonington on 19 or 20 November 1662 in Stonington. [1]

At a 10 May 1666 Court of Elections in Hartford, [Nehemiah’s father-in-law] Mr. Thomas Stanton was asked to administer the freeman’s oath to Nehemiah Palmer and others of Stonington. Nehemiah was on a committee that laid out a highway beginning at Mystic River and running to Mistuxet Brook. The committee made a report on 5 April 1669. [5]

In July 1700 Nehemiah built what was later known as the Baldwin house east of the burying ground on the road formerly known as the Indian trail to Pawcutuck Rock. [6]

Nehemiah Palmer was a deputy to the Court of Elections at Hartford on 14 May 1668. He was appointed deputy to a General Assembly held at Hartford on 8 October 1668, but was absent. Mr. Nehemiah Palmer was a deputy to the Court of Elections at Hartford on 13 May 1669 and on 14 May 1674. He is on a 5 October 1669 list of freemen in Stonington. [7]

Mr. Nehemiah Palmer was one of the nine founders of the Church of Christ in Stonington on 3 June 1674. He was chosen one of the first two deacons. [8]

Mr. Nehemiah Palmer was appointed deputy to a General Assembly held at Hartford on 8 October 1674, but was absent. On 13 May 1675, upon the petition of Mr. Thomas Stanton and Mr. James Noyes, the Court of Elections in Hartford granted the wife of Thomas Shaw 100 acres. Mr. Nehemiah Palmer and Ephraim Minor were to lay it out for her. Mr. Nehemiah Palmer was a deputy to the Court of Elections at Hartford on 11 May 1676. At a meeting of the Council on 25 November 1675 and at a session of the General Court on 12 October 1676, Mr. Nehemiah Palmer was appointed to sign bills in his plantation for what was due from the country. [9]

Thomas Rose of Marshfield and Jeremiah and Thomas Hatch of Scituate purchased 200 acres for 20 pounds from Nehemiah Palmer by a 29 June 1680 deed in Stonington. Nehemiah stated that the land was, “willed to my wife: by her Late father Thomas Stanton, deceased, and is my part of four hundred acres which is to be divided betwixt Mr. Noyce and me: which Land Lyeth near Ashawog and Shunake Rivers in severall tracts Except fifty ackers which is not yet laid out …” The deed was signed by Nehemiah and Hannah Palmer and witnessed by Gershom Palmer and John Stanton. [10]

On 12 May 1681 the Court of Elections requested that the deputy governor, Major Tallcott, Lieutenant Mason and Mr. Palmer be a committee to hear what the Indians had to say. Captain James Avery, Mr. Witherspoon, Captain Mason and Mr. Nehemiah Palmer were appointed to seek out a tract of land that might be suitable for Momohoe and the Pequots with him. Also, on that date, it granted Nehemiah Palmer and any other person with him liberty to buy Cattapesett’s land on the east side of the Paquetuck River for the colony’s use. On 11 May 1682, the court appointed Mr. Nehemiah Palmer to a committee to buy land suitable for Mamohoe and his company. On 14 May 1685 the Court appointed Lieutenant Thomas Leffingwell, Captain James Avery, Nehemiah Palmer or any two of them to lay out the parcels of land given to the Pequots in New London or Stonington. [11]

On 13 May 1686, Nehemiah was a deputy to the Court of Elections; on 9 May and 13 June 1689 he was a deputy to the General Court. On 11 May 1699 he was a deputy to the General Assembly. On 11 May 1699 Nehemiah was appointed Justice of the Peace in New London County. Also on that date he was appointed to a committee to run the dividing line between New London and Preston. On 12 October 1699 he was appointed to a committee to take care of the country’s interest in the undivided land. On 9 May 1700 he was a deputy to the Court of Elections. On 13 May 1703 the Court appointed him to assist the governor until the following October. He was reappointed in October and the following May. On 13 May 1703 Nehemiah Palmer, Esq. was Justice of the Peace. He was appointed again on 11 May 1704, 9 May 1706 and 8 May 1707. On 10 May 1705 and 8 May 1707 he was deputy to the General Assembly. [12]

Nehemiah Palmer, “being sick & weak,” made his will on 29 September 1716. He mentioned his wife Mrs. Hannah Palmer, his sons, Joseph, the eldest son, Jonathan, Daniel, and Nehemiah and his daughter Hannah Palmer. He said that he had made provisions in deeds for gifts for his sons. [13]

35. HANNAH STANTON (say 1645–1727) (Thomas)

Hannah Stanton was born say 1645. She died on 17 October 1727 in Stonington. [14] She married Nehemiah Palmer.

Hannah, the wife of Nehemiah, was admitted to the church on 24 February 1689. [15]

Children of Nehemiah Palmer and Hannah Stanton: [16]

i. Lieutenant Joseph Palmer (#42) was born on 3 October 1663 in Stonington. He died on 31 January 1709/10 in Stonington. He married Frances Prentice.

ii. Elihu Palmer was born 12 March 1665/6 in Stonington. He died on 19 September 1666 in Stonington.

iii. Jonathan Palmer was born on 7 August 1668 in Stonington. He was baptized on 14 February 1674/5 in Stonington. He died on 26 August 1726 in Stonington. He married Mercy Manwaring on 1 December 1706 in Stonington. Mercy, the daughter of Oliver and Hannah (Raymond) Manwaring, was baptized as an adult on 25 October 1702 in New London. She died in March 1739 in New London, age 54 or 55. [17]

Jonathan was admitted to the first church in Stonington on 10 December 1704. Mary, the wife of Jonathan, was admitted to the church on 2 June 1712. [18]

John Breed of Stonington and Henry Rowland of Lyme posted a bond for the estate of Mercy Palmer of Stonington on 10 April 1739. [19]

On 24 June 1726 Jonathan Palmer of Stonington, “being sick & weak,” made his will. He mentions his wife Mercy and his children. The witnesses, Captain Thomas Noyes, Noyes Palmer and Nehemiah Palmer second, testified on 21 October 1726. [20]

iv. Daniel Palmer was born on 12 November 1672 in Stonington. He was baptized on 14 February 1674/5 in Stonington. He died on 13 August 1751 in Stonington. He married first Margaret Smith of New London on 5 or 25 Mar 1700/1 in Stonington. He married second, as her second husband, Mary (Avery) Denison on 12 January 1731/2 in Stonington. [21] Mary died between 10 February 1761, when she made her will, and 20 February 1762, when a witness testified. [22]

Daniel and his wife were admitted to the first church in Stonington on 21 Feb. 1702. [23]

Mr. Daniel Palmer was a deputy from Stonington in 1712, 1714, 1719, 1723, 1724, 1728, 1730, 1732 and 1739. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in the County of New London from 1714 to 1739. In October 1724 Mr. Daniel Palmer was appointed to be one of the commissioners to final settle a jurisdictional dispute between Connecticut and Rhode Island. In May 1728 Mr. Daniel Palmer was one of the commissioners appointed to meet with commissioners from Rhode Island to settle the boundary. [24]

In May 1731, Daniel, Nehemiah and Daniel, Jr. successfully petitioned the court to lower their taxes. [25]

Daniel Palmer of Stonington made his will on 12 May 1747. He mentions his wife Mary and his children. [26]

v. Elihu Palmer was baptized on 14 February 1674/5 in Stonington. He probably died young. [27]

vi. Lieutenant Nehemiah Palmer was baptized on 8 July 1677 in Stonington. He died in 1735. He married Jerusha Saxton on 17 January 1699/1700 in Stonington. Jerusha was the daughter of Captain Joseph and Hannah (Denison)(Chesebrough) Saxton. Jerusha married second James Dean on 29 December 1735. James, the son of James and Sarah Dean, was born on 31 October 1674. He died in October 1747. He married first Sarah Packer on 2 June 1697. Jerusha married third William Buell in 1751. [28]

On 12 January 1700 Nehemiah’s house was raised. Nehemiah Palmer and Jerusha Palmer owned the covenant at the first church in Stonington on 16 March 1701. Lieutenant Nehemiah Palmer was a deputy to the General Assembly in New Haven on 14 October 1703. [29]

On 4 February 1705/6 Manasseh Minor wrote in his diary, “a court for Nehemiah pallmor Jr.” On 22 September 1714 he wrote, “Nehemiah palmer fined for being drink.” On 16 July 1717 he wrote, “Nehemiah palmos Courte.” On 11 August 1717 he wrote, “nehemiah ran away.” On 13 January 1717/8 he wrote, “Cunstable went after  nehemiah palmer.” [30]

vii. Hannah Palmer (#17) was baptized on 11 April 1680 in Stonington. She died between 21 May and 27 July 1757. She married Captain Ichabod Palmer.

Endnotes

1. 1637, 9th : mo: day 23, Nehemiah Palmer the son of Gualter [sic] Palmer and of Rebeckah his wife was Babtised in James Huntwell, “The First Record Book of the First Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts,” NEHGR 25 (1871), 149. Nehemiah, founder of 1st church Stonington, b. ( ) in England. CCR, 83 North Stonington, 52. Nehemiah, d. Feb. 17, 1717/8; Nehemiah, s. Walter, m. Hannah Stanton, d. Thomas, Sr., b. of Stonington, Nov. 20, 1662. DTM, “the 19 day [Nov. 1662] mr. Stantons Two daghters was married.” Feb. 1717/8: 19 “Justis palmor was buryed,” 140.

2. Wheeler, Homes of Our Ancestors, 240.

3. Champlin, “Ancient Burial Ground at Stonington.”

4. HTS, 136.

5. PRC, vol. 2, 32. HTS, 105.

6. Wheeler, Homes of Our Ancestors, 240.

7. PRC, vol. 2, 83, 94, 105, 221, 523.

8. FCC, 43, 100 (no date), 190.

9. PRC, vol. 2, 236, 257, 274, 294, 386.

10. Christine Rose, “Immigrant Thomas Rose of Scituate and Marshfield, Mass.,” The American Genealogist 21 (1944), 97.

11. PRC, vol. 3, 78, 82, 84, 100, 169.

12. PRC, vol. 3, 195, 251, 254; vol. 4, 283, 288–9, 305, 318, 406, 434, 414, 466, 499, 533; vol. 5, 20, 21.

13. CPR > Hartford > Probate Packets, Newbury–Palmer, Thomas, 1675–1850 > images 1282–6 of 1397.

14. Hannah, Mrs., d. Oct. 17, 1727. CVR, Stonington, 188, 192–3. The term “say” is used place someone approximately.

15. FCC, 43, 100 (no date), 190.

16. Their first four children’s birth (children of Nehemiah) records, the death records for Elihu (the first), Jonathan and Daniel, Jonathan’s marriage (to Mercy Mannering [!]), Daniel’s first and second marriage records and Nehemiah’s marriage record are in CVR, Stonington, 185–90. Joseph, Jonathan, Daniel and Elihu’s (children of Nehemiah) baptism records are in FCC, 195.

17. Mercy’s parents, baptism and death dates and places, the identity of her husband in Charles D. Parkhurst, “Manwaring Family Genealogy,” New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 51, (1920), 307, 314. Thomas Minor says that Nehemiah’s children were baptized on 14 February1674/5. DTM, 127.

18. FCC, 190, 192. Dec. 1704: 10, “Jonathan palmor admitted,” in DMM, 74.

19. CPR > Hartford > Probate Packets, Newbury–Palmer, Thomas, 1675–1850 > images 1241–5.

20. CPR > New London > Probate Records, vol. C–D, 1725–1742 > images 45–6.

21. March 1701: 5 “Danill palmor married,” in DMM, 45. Baptism in DTM, 127.

22. “Connecticut Wills and Probate Records,” Ancestry > Hartford > Probate Packets, Newbury–Palmer, Thomas, 1675–1850 > images 1241–5 of 1397.

23. FCC, 190. Feb. 1702: 21 “Danill palmar & his wife … admitted,” in DMM, 51.

24. PRC, vol. 5, 345, 424, 446, 509, 559; vol. 6, 12, 44, 107, 125, 178, 242, 318, 379, 411, 456, 483, 505–6, 518; vol. 7, 6, 92, 149, 153, 157, 191, 224, 270, 293, 314, 324, 366, 403, 427, 485, 545; vol. 8, 29, 79, 81, 159, 224.

25. PRC, vol. 7, 324.

26. CPR > Hartford > Probate Packets, Newbury–Palmer, Thomas, 1675–1850 > image 1086.

27. Baptism in DTM, 127.

28. Nehemiah’s year of death and Jerusha’s second and third husbands and the year of the marriages in “New England Marriages to 1700,” American Ancestors, vol. 2, 1132. James’s parents, birth and death dates, his wives’ names and marriage dates in HTS, 333. December 1699: 24, Nehemiah palmor publish,” in DMM, 37.

29. DMM, 41. FCC, 194. PRC, vol. 4, 434.

30. DMM, 90, 118, 137, 139.

Revised November 12, 2019

© 2019 A. Buiter