April 2002
Revamped Website
Still working on the website updates. I’ve found a way to make the trees into .gif files and will repost them. However, they may be slow to load on dial-up connections.
Palmers: Meeting Cousins
Big news for the Palmer side, my husband Rick’s line. Family information for Rick’s side wasn’t very forthcoming. But I had been plodding away using the few facts that I knew. I had received a copy of the original certificate for Rick’s grandfather, William Mathew Palmer. William was born in 1896, his wife was Iris Bradley, and his parents were George Palmer and Nanny Beck. I have since searched through approximately 700 more census records–from 1880 this time–searching for his father, George M., born 1867. I still haven’t found him.
Deciding to go at this from several angles, I used the only other info that I had: Rick’s father had an Uncle Rowlett who lived in Virginia. I found Rowlett Palmer’s records in the Social Security Death Index. He died in Lunenburg County, VA in 1978. I sent for the original application and found that his father was also George M. Palmer. Rowlett, however, was listed as the nephew living in the house of William W. Palmer in the 1910 Lunenburg census.
Making a guess that William W. and George M. were brothers, I set out to find some descendants. I sent three letters to the Lunenburg County area where Rowlett died and–EUREKA–Connie Marie Palmer Lawson contacted me by email. She is the granddaughter of William W. She and her brother, Kenneth, inherited the family farm, and she knows a lot of the family history. In fact, the graves of George M., William W. and several of their descendants are on that land. George M was indeed George Melvin, William W. was William Woodard and their father was Mac Donald Palmer born in the mid 1800’s in Charlotte County, VA.
Connie and I have been working together on the rest of the history. She filled me in on Mac D’s father (Josiah) and I have since found several genealogies online that begin with Thomas Palmore in England in 1590, (immigrated on the Tyger in 1621 to VA) and end with Coleman Palmore–Josiah’s father. I have yet to confirm all the sources and Connie has given me tons of info on the descendants, so I have PLENTY to work on now. See the Palmer surname page for more info.