AT THE SUMMIT OF HIS POWERS AND PRODUCTIVITY-Continued CHAPTER XVII. THE FINAL STADIUM OF SERVICE; NOBLE BUT BROKEN CHAPTER XVIII. 421 482 531 THE FINAL STADIUM OF SERVICE; NOBLE BUT BROKEN-Continued 571 CHAPTER XIX. THE FINAL STADIUM OF SERVICE; NOBLE BUT BROKEN-Continued 606 CHAPTER XX. THE STREET CAR ACCIDENT, DEATH, BURIAL AND EULOGIES 620 CHAPTER XXI. SUMMARY VIEW OF THE MAN AND HIS SERVICES 651 LIFE AND LETTERS OF Benjamin Morgan Palmer CHAPTER I. THE ANCESTORS. (1621-1818.) WILLIAM PALMER I.-WILLIAM PALMER II.-WILLIAM PALMER III. AND THOMAS PALMER I.-REV. THOMAS PALMER-REV. SAMUEL PALMER. JOB PALMER-REV. EDWARD PALMER.-SARAH BUNCE PALMER. IT is vain to pour contempt upon the pride which traces one's history back to a noble heritage." Virtue receives a grace when it descends from sire to son: "And is successively, from blood to blood, The history of Benjamin Morgan Palmer "was rooted in a strong, pure and gentle" lineage. The virtues which shone so luminously in him, had appeared before in his ancestral lines. The truthfulness of these assertions may be tested by a glance at the following sketches of his ancestors: WILLIAM PALMER I., (—————-1638). In the year of our Lord 1621, when the Plymouth Colony was less than one year old, there came into the new settlement a second ship, laden with immigrants from the mother country of England. Amongst these was one William Palmer, whom, for convenience, we have called William Palmer I. We know little of him with certainty. Back in England, his home had been in Nottinghamshire. It would be interesting to know that he was related to Herbert Palmer, of the county of Kent, who was to sit as a member of the Westminster Assembly and to be known as the best catechist in all England. For in Her bert Palmer appeared certain prominent characteristics that have appeared, also, in some of the greater offspring of William Palmer I., notably the faculty of uniting breadth of affection with the tenacious maintenance of personal convictions. No such relationship is known, however. Tradition says that this William Palmer I., who came over on the ship Fortune, bore the title of lieutenant. Though history tells us little of his life in the colony, it is no difficult task to imagine how he was occupied for the first years after his coming. "Fishing, hunting, and the collection of fuel and timber were the chief businesses of the colonists. These pursuits, which gave place to one another in turn, were interrupted by occasional traffic with the Indians." In his first midwinter the colonists "built a fort with good timber, both strong and comely, which was of good defence, made with a flat roof and battlements, on which their ordnance were mounted. It served them also for a meetinghouse, and was fitted accordingly for that use. It was a great work for them in their weakness and time of want. But the danger of the time required it, and also the hearing of the great massacre in Virginia made all hands willing to dispatch the same."1 The settlers barricaded their dwellings. They enclosed the whole settlement, with the fort and space for a garden for each family, with a paling. They completed a military organization. They kept a watch and ward against the Indians. They struggled with weakness and famine. They prayed and worshipped, some of them in sincerity and truth, others in hypocrisy; for not all of the passengers on the Mayflower, and not all on the Fortune, were honest and worthy. The community was a mixed one. That William Palmer I. belonged to the body of good men in the colony, and that he had in him worthy stock, there can be no doubt. Can an evil tree bring forth good fruit? His descendants in every generation have been men of worth, some of them men of mark. His line has given to the church more than thirteen ministers, viz.: Thomas Palmer, Samuel Palmer, Dr. B. M. Palmer, Sr. (uncle to Dr. B. M. Palmer of New Orleans), Edward Palmer, Benjamin Morgan Palmer, Edward P. Palmer, Edward Palmer Hutson, I. S. K. Axson, P. E. Axson, B. E. Lanneau, Wallace T. Palmer, Edward 'Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, p. 126, quoted in Palfrey's History of New England, I., p. 196-197. Palmer Pillans, and John W. Caldwell, and others. His line includes Mrs. S. P. B. D. Shindler, the poetess, who wrote, "I'm a Pilgrim, and I'm a Stranger," "Passing under the Rod," and several prose works, some of which had large sale. He had married some years before leaving England. His wife Frances followed him to the New World in August, 1623. At that time, the ship Ann and the little James arrived, having aboard "some who were the wives and children of such as were already here." Amongst these were Frances Palmer and her son William Palmer II., having come over in the Ann. William Palmer I. and his wife Frances removed in the year 1632, taking their family with them, to Duxbury, a town situated on the other side of the harbor, at a distance of nine miles from Plymouth. A sense of security had spread, and property had increased, especially cattle. The settlers at Plymouth, who for the first years had lived compactly, had begun about this time to "disperse for the convenience of more pasturage and other accommodations." Later, the Palmers removed further up the coast toward Boston, to a place called Scituate. There the will of William I. was probated March 5, 1638. WILLIAM PALMER II. William Palmer II. was born, as we have seen, in England. He was married at Scituate, March 27, 1633, to Elizabeth Hodgkins. He removed to Yarmouth. He was one of the purchasers of Dartmouth. Tradition says that he removed to Newton, Long Island, in 1656, had born of him a son, in 1665, who was to become the Rev. Thomas Palmer; and that he died about the time of this son's birth; but there appears to be some solid evidence that he died as early as 1637. WILLIAM PALMER III. AND THOMAS PALMER I. William Palmer III. was born January 27, 1634, and his brother, Thomas Palmer I., in 1635 or '6. This William Palmer became heir of "Plymouth Estate," and settled at Dartmouth in 1660. He died in 1679. His wife bore the name "Susanna." His children were William IV., born 1663, John, born on the 18th of May, 1665, and "other children❞ not named. It has been conjectured, and with considerable probability, that one of these "other children" was Thomas Palmer, whose acquaintance we shall make as the Rev. Thomas Palmer; and that he was a twin brother of John, since the Rev. Thomas' birth year is certainly known, from his tombstone, to have been 1665. On the other hand it has been conjectured that, as William Palmer II. had a son born to him in 1635 or '6, who bore the name of Thomas Palmer, and as he is known to have inherited his father's lands at Scituate, he became the father of the Thomas Palmer born in 1665. There are thus three views taken as to the connection between William Palmer II. and Rev. Thomas Palmer; and, notwithstanding the fact that several published “records" make Rev. Thomas Palmer to have been the son of William Palmer II., it is not deemed safe to assert that such was the connection. Mr. Alfred W. Lanneau, of Charleston, S. C., has given to this question much intelligent study and concludes, "that the Rev. Thomas Palmer was the son of William III. and not of William II.; and that he was a brother of John and of William IV." He writes, "My record of his life shows that he had a brother William when he moved to Middleboro." THOMAS PALMER II. (1665-1743). According to the testimony of his tombstone, this man was born in 1665. If not the son of William Palmer II., and of his wife, Elizabeth Hodgkins, he was the grandson, and probably through William Palmer III., as his father. He became a minister and settled at Middleboro, Mass., about 1696. He seems to have been a rash and headstrong man, and given to occasional intemperance. The discovery of these weaknesses provoked opposition to his settlement. He was ordained only after several years of preaching, probably May 2, 1702, his ordination being accomplished apparently through taking the opposition by surprise. The opposition continued. Council after council was held. Finally, in accord with the advice of the council of twelve churches, and also of that of "the anniversary convention of ministers in Boston, he was, by the church in Middleboro, June 30, 1708, deposed from the ministry, and excluded from their communion at the sacramental table." A section of the church stood by him, and he preached to his party in a private house for some time after his deposition. He lived out his days in the place; and, as he had considerable knowledge of medicine and skill in the healing art, |