To be a Virginian either by Birth, Marriage, Adoption, or even on one's Mother's side is an Introduction to any State in the Union, a Passport to any Foreign Country, and a Benediction from Above

Anonymous

All of my Palmer information is very recent. (See the February Archives.) The sources need to be verified and the information needs to be proven, but it appears the first Palmer to America was Thomas Palmer, born in 1590. He came with his wife and daughter Priscilla on the Tyger.

Thomas and his wife settled in Northumberland Virginia. Until I can prove the descendancy to Coleman, the only sure Palmer ancestry is from Connie Marie Palmer Lawson. That information links the following:

Rick's great grandfather, George Melvin, and Connie's grandfather, William Woodard, were brothers and were 2 of many children delivered to Mac Donald Palmer and his wife. Mac Donald was the son of Josiah Palmer/Palmore, son of Coleman Palmer. Any information in the tree on this site that takes place before Coleman was found online in several different gedcoms on Rootsweb, but still needs to be proven.

Meeting Cousins in June 2002
In about 1920, after returning from service in World War I, Rick's grandfather, William Mathew Palmer, left Virginia and went up to Michigan, probably for work. He met and married Iris Luella Bradley, and his children and grandchildren were born in the Detroit area. The rest of the family stayed in Virginia. Rick remembered very little about this Virginia family, except that his parents took him there to visit a farm as a child. He remembered an old graveyard, where the pictures of the deceased were on the gravestone. He also remembered meeting an uncle named Rowlett.

After finding Rowlett's death listed in the Social Security Death Index, I took a chance and wrote to a few Palmers in the same area. I hit the jackpot, and Connie Palmer Lawson and I had been exchanging emails ever since. Connie's father was also Richard Palmer! My Rick (Richard) had obviously been named after his dad's first cousin.

Connie and her brother Kenneth, are the grandchildren of William Woodard Palmer. His brother George Melvin was Rick's great-grandfather. Connie invited us to come for a weekend, and Rick and I enjoyed a fun-filled two days sightseeing, meeting relatives, and having a generally good time!

It was an awesome thing to sit with our new-found family in the heart of Virginia, knowing that Rick's grandfather (known to them as just "Mathew") was a close relative of all these people. We had a wonderful time comparing notes and looking at old photos. We even found a picture in Connie's album of Rick as a young boy. The identity of those in the photo had been a mystery to the family. We also found the gravestones with pictures that Rick had remembered seeing as a boy, in the Palmer cemetery, on the very farm where Connie and Donnie Ray live.

Gravestone Pictures

Click on each picture for a view of the whole stone.

On the left is George Melvin Palmer (1869-1942), Rick's great-grandfather. The woman on the right is Mary Harriet Bradbury Palmer (1842-1935), George's mother and the wife of MacD. Palmer. [MacD was a Civil War veteran and is buried in the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.]

We'll never forget our great weekend in Virginia, and hope to get back to see our cousins again soon.

Because I've added so much information, there is a separate tree just for the Palmer/Palmore surname: The Palmer Tree Surname list Persons Sources

Photos
Rowlett Palmer with George Melvin, his wife Emily Olesky Palmer, and sons George Melvin and Richard Kevin (my husband).
 
Obituaries/Death Records
Richard C. Palmer, December 12, 1993

Rowlett Mack Palmer, November 17, 1978

Genealogy Reports and Trees
Descendants of Reuben Palmer This report is still under construction. The information back to Coleman Palmer is correct. The connection between the supposedly first Palmer in America (Thomas) and his son Robert is not proven, so I have not listed him as an ancestor here. I decided to start with his son Reuben, but his descendants down to Coleman are just conjecture at this time. (Last updated February 2006. This file is a pdf. If you can't read it, download Acrobat reader free.)

Census Pages
1810 Virginia: Coleman Palmore

1850 Charlotte County, VA: Coleman Palmore and family

1850 Charlotte County, VA: Josiah Palmore with his family

1860 Charlotte County, VA: Coleman and family

1860 Lunenburg County, VA: Mack Palmore

1870 Charlotte County, Bacon Twp., VA: Josiah Palmore and family

1900 Chesterfield County, Manchester City, VA. Several of the children of Mac D are listed in this area: