Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of Elisha Palmer

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Descendants of Elisha Palmer

Generation No. 1

1. Elisha² Palmer (Martin¹) was born Bet. 1790 - 1800 in Georgia ¹. He married Mary Ann (Anna) Weatherly September 17, 1821 in Lauderdale County, Alabama ², daughter of Job Weatherly and Mary Watters. She was born September 24, 1794 in Guilford County, North Carolina.

Notes for Elisha Palmer:
Based upon the Horace Wilbur/Byron Palmer manuscript of Palmer families in the southern United States, "Elisha Palmer is identified as the son of Martin Palmer of King William County, Virginia who married Elizabeth Powers of Goochland County, Virginia on December 24, 1881."

The Horace Palmer manuscript states that "Elisha Palmer was born in Virginia in 1795 and married Anna Wetherby in Virginia in 1817, and that Martin Wetherby Palmer was also born in Virginia, and that the family then moved south into Tennessee." The report further cites the 1820 U.S. census report of Giles County, Tennessee which identifies an Elisha Palmer and wife between ages 18 and 26 years with one male child under ten years. "The one child under ten is identified as Martin Wetherby Palmer. There is also a Henry in this same census in Giles County, who could have been a brother of Elisha."

A review of the historical facts available to date raise questions whether the testimony that the Palmers came down from Virginia was meant literally, or in a general historical sense. On the 1880 and 1900 Federal Census Reports, Martin Weatherly (Wetherby) Palmer indicates his father's birth state was Georgia. Martin Weatherly (Wetherby) Palmer (the son of Elisha) could not have been born in Virginia. On the 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1900 federal Census reports, Martin W. Palmer indicates his birth state as Tennessee. Similarly, brother John Palmer's birth state is Tennessee on the 1850 and 1860 census reports. Martin W. Palmer was born in 1823, and could not have been the son of the Elisha Palmer on the Giles County 1820 census report. This is not to say that he could not have been a later son of the same Elisha Palmer, but the evidence indicates that the Elisha Palmer who married Anna Weatherly on September 17, 1821 in Lauderdale County, Alabama (as documented by Alabama marriage records) is the father of Martin Weatherly (Weatherby) Palmer.

The Henry Palmer who appears on the 1820 Giles County census report appears next to Thomas Pruitt. It is likely that this is the same Henry Palmer and Thomas Pruitt who later settle in the eastern side of Lauderdale County, Alabama, and are reportedly descended from the "Thomas Palmer" line of southern Palmer families. The Elisha Palmer on this census report appears lower on the same census page, which could suggest a relationship with Henry Palmer and Thomas Pruitt. No 1820 census report survives for Lauderdale County, Alabama, and only the 1821 marriage record documents Elisha Palmer's first presence in Lauderdale County, Alabama.

An Elisha Palmer (Palmore) later appears on an 1830 census for Hardin County, Tennessee, and on an 1840 census report for Lauderdale County Alabama. Although it would seem that both Elisha Palmers' should be the same individual (the Palmers lived in northwestern Lauderdale County, Alabama close to the Hardin, Tennessee County line), the two Elisha Palmer families on the 1830 and 1840 censuses, have different family profiles. The Elisha Palmer on the 1830 Hardin County census (born 1790-1900), has one son born 1815-1820, one son and one daughter born 1820-1825, and two sons born 1825-1830, which would suggest an 1817 marriage date. This could be the same Elisha Palmer who was on the 1820 census report for Giles County, Tennessee. The Elisha Palmer on the 1840 Lauderdale County, Alabama census report is also born 1790-1800, but has two sons born 1820-1825, a son and daughter born 1825-1830, a son and daughter born 1830-1835, and a daughter born 1835-1840, and would suggest an 1821 marriage date. To date, neither of these two Elisha Palmer families have appeared on later census reports, which, if available, could provide information to better correlate or distinguish the families.

To date, this report has identified only two children of Elisha Palmer: John Palmer (b. 1822) and Martin W. Palmer (b. 1823). The fact that two sons were born between 1820-1825, would seem to corroborate the 1840 census report, as would the 1821 (documented) marriage date. Although evidence that Elisha Palmer's birth state was possibly Georgia does not fit with existing assumptions that the family migrated directly from Virginia to Alabama, the testimony given was only that the family originally came from Virginia. It is likely that the family was on the move and more migration existed than what was assumed. This is an area which requires further research. Nonetheless, Martin Palmer and Elizabeth Powers remain the most logical parents of Elisha Palmer based upon available information about existing Palmer families and family naming patterns.

A report attributed to Roy Moultrie (descendant of Henry Martin Palmer) states that Elisha Palmer migrated to Topeka, Kansas where he died in 1851 (also seen date of 1861- Topeka was not formed until 1853). Although my own impression is that the Palmers had been in Kansas at an early date, no documented evidence has been found to support such event. Such event might be corroborated by the migration of Elisha James Palmer to Kansas in 1878 and Topeka in 1900, and Daniel Thomas Palmer's similar migration to Topeka, Kansas in the 1880's.

To date, no other children of Elisha Palmer have been identified other than John Palmer and Martin Palmer. Lauderdale County, Alabama marriage records show an Emily Palmer marrying Thomas H. Brown in 1843, and an Elisha Palmer marrying Susannah Gwine (Gwin) in 1844. Both Thomas H. Brown and Susannah Gwin appear to be from families living within the same township in the northwestern area of the county, and the Gwin family lived within the same land section as Martin W. Palmer. Emily Palmer (Brown) appears on the 1860 and 1866 census of Lauderdale County, but no further record is found after1866, and the naming pattern of her children otherwise provide no circumstantial link to the Elisha Palmer family. The marriage of Elisha Palmer to Susannah Gwin could either be a son of Elisha Palmer or a second marriage of Elisha Palmer (Susannah Gwin appears to be widow with children). However no further record has been found of this family. An Elizabeth Palmer (b. 1825) is married to Richard Lard, nephew of Nathaniel Lard and Elizabeth Weatherly, and on the 1850 and 1860 census lives in proximity to John Palmer. However, on the census reports, Elizabeth Palmer Lard indicates a birth state of Georgia,

Notes for Mary Ann (Anna) Weatherly:
Elisha Palmer married Anna Weatherly per Alabama marriage records on September 17, 1821. The Weatherly's (whom I have not researched) are reported to have originated from Dorchester County Maryland, and migrated to Guilford County, North Carolina before 1780. Job Weatherly married Mary Ann Watters in Guilford County Abt. 1782, and had fourteen children born between 1783 and 1809 (3 sons and 11 daughters). On the 1800 census of Guilford County, Job Weatherly is identified as having one son (William M. Weatherly) and six daughters.

Per deed records, Job Weatherly sold his land in North Carolina in 1811, and by 1813, the family is located in Maury County, Tennessee. Mary Watters apparently died during this period, and in 1815, Job Weatherly married Margaret Susannah Carson, daughter of Andrew Carson who would also subsequently migrate to Lauderdale County, Alabama. Job Weatherly and Susannah Carson migrated from Maury County Tennessee to Lauderdale County Alabama, about 1818. Job Weatherly's youngest son Samuel is born in Lauderdale County on 07/29/1820.

Although no 1820 census survives for Lauderdale County, on the 1830 census, Job Weatherly has only the two children living with him from his marriage with Susannah Carson. Alabama marriage records document the marriage of four of his daughters in Lauderdale County Alabama between 1820-1830. The Weatherly's and the Palmers can be documented as living either in the same northwestern area of Lauderdale County (north of Waterloo, Alabama), or across the state line in Hardin County, Tennessee, which provides circumstantial evidence supporting the marriage record of Elisha Palmer to Anna Weatherly. Andrew Carson was an original grantee of land in Township 1, Range 14 and Range 15 West, where Martin Weatherly Palmer would also later be an initial land grant owner. On the 1830 census, Job P. Weatherly (son) is living next door to Andrew Carson, and Job Weatherly (father) is listed in proximity. Elisha Palmer is not listed on the Lauderdale county census for 1830, and was likely residing across the state line in Hardin County Tennessee. Job Weatherly is reportedly buried in Hardin County at his death in 1833, and sons John Alexander Weatherly and Job P. Weatherly marry sisters Cynthia and Lucinda Parmely from Hardin County.

On the 1840 census for Lauderdale County, Elisha Palmer is identified as living in the northwest section of Lauderdale County, and Nathaniel Lard (married Elizabeth Weatherly) is listed in proximity. Based upon Alabama land records, Martin Weatherly Palmer and Aquilla Pritchard (married youngest daughter Martha Jane (Patsy ) Weatherly are shown as receiving land grants during the 1840s in the same northwesterly part of the county (Township 1, 15 West).

By 1850, most of the Weatherly family members appear to have migrated out of Lauderdale County with Alexander Weatherly and Job Parker Weatherly migrating to Nacogdoches, Texas and the Aquilla Pritchard family migrating to Missouri. Although the Nathaniel Lard family appears to remain in the area, Elizabeth Weatherly dies sometime after 1840, and Nathaniel Lard remarries in the 1850's. Nathaniel Lard's daughter Lydia marries Owen Loyd, a brother of the Spencer Loyd who is married into the Lambert family which mgirates to Illinois with the Palmers (Martin Palmer's oldest daughter Mary Ann married to Thomas Lambert). Richard Lard, a nephew of Nathaniel Lard, marries an Elizabeth Palmer in Hardin Counnty Tennessee, but to date no Palmer relationship has been identified for this Elizabeth Palmer.

On the 1900 census, Martin Weatherly Palmer identifies his mother's birth state as Tennessee rather than North Carolina, but this could be attributed to the fact that the Weatherly's came to Alabama from Tennessee. Nonetheless, the 1820 marriage record together with the geographic proximity of the families in northwestern Lauderdale County Alabama provides fairly strong (perhaps not conclusive) proof that Elisha Palmer married the Mary Ann Weatherly who was the daughter of Job Weatherly.

Children of Elisha Palmer and Mary Weatherly are:

+	2	i.	John³ Palmer, born Abt. 1822 in Tennessee; died Bet. 1861 - 1870 in Sangamon County, Illinois.
+	3	ii.	Martin Weatherly Palmer, born September 18, 1823 in Tennessee; died September 15, 1906 in Waverly, Morgan County, Illinois.
	4	iii.	Son 3 Palmer, born Bet. 1825 - 1830 ³.
	5	iv.	Daughter 1 Palmer, born Bet. 1825 - 1830³.
	6	v.	Daughter 2 Palmer, born Bet. 1830 - 1835³.
	7	vi.	Son 4 Palmer, born Bet. 1830 - 1835³.
	8	vii.	Daughter 3 Palmer, born Bet. 1835 - 1840³.

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