Samuel Palmer

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Category:2nd Connecticut Regiment, British Army, French and Indian War Category: Greenwich, Connecticut Category: Connecticut Colony, French and Indian War

Biography

In February 1756 the Connecticut Assembly resolved to raise 2,500 men,including officers, for that year's campaign in the French and IndianWar. As was the custom of the time, fighting largely ceased during the winter so the militia was created for a single fighting season. The force was divided into four regiments of eight companies each. Samuel Palmer enlisted in the 5th Company (under Captain David Waterbury) of the 4th Regiment (under Colonel Andrew Ward and later Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Lee) of Connecticut Militia (under Major General Phineas Lyman) on April 10, 1756. He was among Provincial troops that were massed at Fort Edward and Fort William Henry, in what is now Washington County, New York for a planned attack on the French at Fort Carillon (later called Ticonderoga) and Fort Saint-Frédéric which are located just south of Lake Champlain. Both of these French forts threatened the entire Mohawk valley of New York and western New England. However, before the offensive got underway, word arrived of the French victory at Fort Oswego, and the British, fearing that an overwhelming French army would be assembled in the Champlain Valley, cancelled their plans and Samuel Palmer was discharged for the season on the 26th of November. On the 28th of March, 1757, Samuel Palmer again enlisted with the men of Connecticut after the state assembly called for 1,400 men to be formed into one regiment of 14 companies to act in conjunction with the regular troops under the Earl of Loudon. He served in the 6th company (again under Captain David Waterbury). There being only one regiment,it was under the command now of Colonel Phineas Lyman. The book, and later the film "The Last of the Mohicans" take place during the 1757 campaign of the French and Indian War. There is a relatively accurate depiction in the film of the siege and the French capture of Fort William Henry and the aftermath. The English commander of the Fort, Lieutenant Colonel Munro, is certain that relief will arrive from Fort Edward, only 14 miles away, to save him from doom. While some reinforcements arrived on August 2, depicted in the film by the arrival of Munro's daughters amongst soldiers, more were clearly needed. The commander of Fort Edward, General Daniel Webb, refused to send more aid as he correctly assumed that shortly he would be the only thingbetween the French and Albany. He advised Munro to seek the best terms of surrender possible. Samuel Palmer and the rest of the Connecticut men (among others, including British regulars) spent the 1757 season in and around Fort Edward under the overall command of Webb. An excellent account of the times for the common soldiers from Connecticut during this 1757 campaign can be found within Luke Gridley's diary of that fighting season which was published in 1907. He was a private from Farmington, Connecticut. Our Samuel Palmer would enlist once more for service in the French andIndian war on April 7, 1761, after the Connecticut assembly called for 2,800 men to be divided into two regiments of 12 companies each. Heserved under Captain Thomas Hobby in the 6th company, 2nd Regiment commanded by Colonel Nathan Whiting. There is a record of him being hospitalized at Crown Point, a new English fort constructed near the siteof Fort Saint-Frédéric which the French destroyed before retreatingnorthward to Quebec in 1759. Samuel Palmer was a lucky man. Recordsindicate 11 of the 20 men of the 2nd Connecticut regiment, who were hospitalized at Crown Point, died at Crown Point. As there was no fighting in the area during 1761, this hospitalization would have been a result of sickness or disease, which was common at the time. He was discharged December 5, 1761. Quoted from Palmer Families in America, Vol. 1, p. 424, by Horace Palmer, hereafter referred to as PFIA: Samuel appeared in the tax lists from 1753 to 1774 as being always in the West Society of Greenwich either in Horseneck or Stanwich with his father Jonathan. He had many deeds on record and received considerable property from his father and inturn deeded all his lands to his sons. On 12/22/1774 Jonathan Palmerdeeded to his son Samuel one parcel of land with the barn and the dwelling house thereon "where I now live," together with two other parcels. On 2/25/1760 Samuel and Anne his wife deeded to David Knapp Jr. land given to Anne by her grandfather, James Reynolds, now of Dutchess County, NY, said land being on Clapboard Hill Ridge and east of Horseneck Brook. On 10/2/1759 Samuel and Anne his wife deeded land to Abraham Rundle and mentioned the estate of their "honored deceased father, Nathaniel Reynolds." On 12/27/1824 Samuel Palmer deeded to James FavorSelleck, Stephen Selleck and Samuel Selleck, sons of his daughter Damaris. PFIA says "In 1777 he was appointed to the committee of Inspection of Provisions of Families, in the Revolutionary War." for Greenwich. This is not correct. A closer examination of the records reveals it was his son, Samuel Jr.. Samuel was in the 1790 census in Greenwich with five males including himself over 16 years of age and four females. At the time his sons Levi and Samuel appear separately with their own families. His son Stephen had moved to Westchester county by 1790. The date of death for Samuel listed in "Palmer Families in America" isincorrect. His death notice appears on page 3 of the Dec. 23, 1825 edition of the "New York Spectator." Within a listing of death noticesit says "At Greenwich, Conn., Samuel Palmer, 93." He died in his 93rd year. I also located a letter written by my great-grandfather, Joseph A. Palmer to his cousin Amy Lyon of Moline, Illinois, in 1913 regarding genealogy. This letter, which is filled with family data, statesthat Samuel Palmer died Dec. 6, 1825. While this may or may not be correct, it is clear by the volume of data in the letter that care was taken to put the records together. I strongly suspect the source for the Palmer book was another death notice appearing in a Dec. 28, 1825 newspaper: "5" and "6" can easily be confused, smudged, and less than clear in old newsprint. I also found death notices for Samuel Palmer in the "Columbian Register" on Dec.24, 1825, the "Connecticut Observer" on Dec. 27, 1825 and the "Hartford Courant" also on Dec. 27, 1825. There is also a database at familysearh.org titled "Connecticut, Deaths and Burials, 1772-1934." It clearly says he died Dec. 24, 1825. However this cannot be the case as his death was printed on the 23rd. While it is certainly possible he did not die on 12/6/1825, as that oldfamily letter states, it is certain he did die during the month of December 1825 and not in 1826 as has been generally accepted. I could not locate a last will and testament or any probate proceedings of his estate and I was unable to find a location for his grave. Regarding the location of Samuel Palmer's home, on page 7 of the May 12, 1898, edition of "The Brooklyn Eagle" a piece details the probate proceedings of Josephus Palmer, of Greenwich, Connecticut who died in 1896 without children. It mentions that he lived in a "well kept farmhouse which his grandfather built on the shore of Putnam Lake." His grandfather was Samuel Palmer. Further research indicates Samuel Palmer's land, at least some of it, may have ended up part of the "Babcock Preserve" located today in Greenwich. This is based on public notices placed in 1938 within various NYC newspapers when the land for the Babcock Preserve was acquired from the Greenwich Water Company; these listed many former landowners and descendants (including Samuel Palmer, Nathaniel Palmer, Josephus Palmer, Ezekiel Close, and Abraham Hubbard.) A 1903 resolution of the Connecticut assembly, which formed the water company, says that part of the land included the "former residence of Josephus Palmer." I have a copy of the 1867 map of Greenwich. It is one of those nice old maps that show the location of the houses and the names of the owner. The home built by Samuel Palmer, later occupied by his son Nathaniel and grandson Josephus, does indeed appear adjacent to what would become the shore of Putnam lake. It was on the East side of what is nowButternut Hollow Road, the first home just barely south, of the corner at Old Mill road at 95 Butternut Hollow Road. Finally - be advised, Horace Wilbur Palmer's 1966 "Palmer Families in America" book names another son "Caleb" not listed here. Simple math dictates he could not have been a son. Also, an examination of the original manuscript reveals notes which also say he was not a son of Samuel. The name "Caleb" simply was not used, or passed down, by any subsequent branches of Samuel Palmer's family. While Huron County, Ohio was widely settled by Samuel's descendants, none of them settled in the same town as this Caleb - they settled in Fitchville, Caleb in New Haven.