"They came not here to carve a name "To that young land their needful aid "Their duties were their chief desires, Full right to freedom of the mind. "And where they sleep small flowerets bloom, That scarcely catch the passer's gaze: It was their wish no flaunting tomb Should be emblazoned with their praise.”—PAINTER. In the work herewith presented the author has not preceded the settlement of Pennsylvania, excepting by an occasional note that has fallen into his hands, or to discover the origin of some of the principal surnames connected with its progress. It may be proper to observe that the cause of this is owing to the lack of positive records and difficulty in obtaining correct information; and so, with the materials at hand, I proceed to their arrange ment. The word Palmer traces its origin from the time of the Crusades in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The emblem of superiority or triumph had for a long time become associated with the palm tree, it is said, from its peculiar nature of regaining its true position after being bent or pressed out of shape. The evidence of its emblematic nature may be seen by reference to a few passages from the Bible. In relation to the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus xxiii. 40): "And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and wil lows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days." The ninety-second Psalm, written near the close of the Babylonish Captivity by one, probably, having a view of their return to the Land of Promise, in the twelfth verse says, "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon." Solomon, describing the graces of Christ's Church (Song of Sol. vii. 7, 8): "This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes. I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof.” When Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (John xii. 12, 13): . . . . "when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord!" John, in his vision of the number sealed (Rev. vii. 9): “After I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." We therefore find, though centuries had intervened, that the same idea prevailed, and that those infatuated bands who sought the deliverance of the Holy Land often carried to their homes branches of this tree as emblems of their journey, and by their persistence gained a name-PALMER. As to the general name of the palms, it appears to have been derived from palma, the palm or inner part of the hand, from a fancied resemblance of their quaint pointed leaves to the human hand. It might also be stated that Robert Ferguson, in his work, "Teutonic Name-System applied to the Family Names of England, France and Germany," gives the origin of the name in some families from the roots Bal, Bale or Pale, meaning 'woe," in the sense of one who inflicts calamity on others, and Mer, meaning "famous"-together meaning "famous in war," etc., and forming in French the names Ballemare, Palmier; in English, Balmer, Palmer, etc. With these records of derivation it is easily perceived that there could be no common patriarch to many of the various families of the name that now exist; therefore, though the name may often figure in the records of the Old World, it will require the most definite proof to connect their Transatlantic relationship. Besse records the name a few times in his "Sufferings of the Quakers," from which I extract: "In 1658, Thomas Palmer and Richard Mills, coming to a meeting in Banbury, Oxfordshire, had two mares taken from them, valued at £5." “In 1659, Thomas Palmer and two others were subpoenaed into the Exchange at the suit of John Dyke, a priest, for tithes, valued at 14s.: they appeared accordingly, but refusing to swear to their answer, were imprisoned for contempt in a low dungeon at Warwick, twenty steps deep, where the said Thomas Palmer lay ten months.” "In 1660, Rose Palmer and others committed close prisoners to the Bottom in Aldburgh, for frequenting meetings at Ipswich, Suffolk." "In Buckinghamshire seventeen persons, including one Thomas Palmer, were taken out of a meeting by soldiers and carried to justices, who, upon their refusing to swear, sent them to prison." "In 1664, Ezekiel Palmer of Cambridgeshire had seven cows taken, worth £22, for nonconformity to public worship." "In London this year there died in Newgate, or by sickness contracted there, twenty-five persons-viz., John Clark, John Wilkinson, John Lewis, William Tomkins, John Hales, Robert Twynn, Henry Haster, Joseph Stonehouse, Mary Draper, John Palmer, John Cooke, Edward Baker, Andrew Andrews, John Wildbore, Richard Twynn, Mary Davis, George Hide, Hannah Cooke, Mary Mile, Henry Woodward, Richard Audley, Mary Travers, Roger Evans, Hannah Drury and Benjamin Greenwell. When the relations of some of the deceased desired their bodies in order to bury them, it was not granted; but they were privately interred in the ground belonging to the gaol, that their deaths might be concealed as much as possible from the observation of the people." "This year concludes by the actual transportation of three of the prisoners to Jamaica, though one died on shipboard." Soon after this the แ 'pestilence" broke out in the city, which was thought by many to be a punishment inflicted by the hand of God on a persecuting nation, and was plainly foretold by some of the people called Quakers, particularly by George Bishop of Bristol, who several months before published the following warning, viz.: 666 "To the King and both Houses of Parliament:-Thus saith the Lord, Meddle not with my people because of their conscience to me, and banish them not out of the nation because of their conscience; for if you do I will send my plagues upon you, and you shall know that I am the Lord. "Written in obedience to the Lord by his servant, GEORGE BISHOP. "BRISTOL, 15th of the 9 mo., 1664.'" In the chancel at Snoland in Kent, where Thomas Palmer, who married the daughter of Fitz Simon, lies buried, is the following epitaph: "Palmers all our faders were I a Palmer lived here And travelled still, till wud age I took my journey hence to heaven." Bailey, in "Clark's Introduction to Heraldry," thus defines the difference between a palmer and pilgrim: “A Pilgrim had some dwelling-place, a Palmer none; a Pilgrim travelled to some certain place, the Palmer to all; the Pilgrim must go at his own charge, the Palmer must profess poverty, whether real or willful; the Pilgrim might give over his profession, but the Palmer might not." Burke's “Encyclopedia of Heraldry" describes forty-five coatsof-arms under the name of Palmer, one of which is herewith presented. It will illustrate the range of thought in those times, even though it may have no connection with our family: Wivern. Arms. bet. 3 crescents ar. Crest. A Wivern Or, Armed & Sangued gu. On a few of them were mottoes, for example: "Par sit fortunam labori.” "Palma virtuti." "In Deo est mihi omnes fides." From Shakespeare we have the line— "Where do the palmers lodge, I do beseech you ?" Contemporary with John Palmer, the immigrant to Concord, there lived in London Samuel Palmer, an eminent printer, in whose office Benjamin Franklin was some time employed. He died in 1732. |