My Genealogy Hound

EMMER A. PALMER. The gentleman whose honored name appears at the opening of this sketch is a representative of the men of energy and enterprise who have made Johnson County so prominent in the state. He owns one hundred and forty-five acres on section 2, township 45, range 24, and besides raising thereon the usual amount of grain, makes a specialty of breeding Jersey cows, which he sells to advantage in large numbers. He has established a dairy on his place, and in this industry meets a long-felt want among the farmers of the county.

A native of Ohio, our subject was born in Summit County in 1845, and was the ninth in a family of eleven children born to Resolve and Mary Ann (Swine) Palmer, natives of New York and New Jersey, respectively. The parents were married in the Buckeye State, whither they had removed in an early day with their parents, and where they remained the rest of their lives. Mrs. Palmer died in 1851, while her husband lived until 1879, passing away when seventy-two years old.

Emmer A., like all sons of the early settlers, spent his early life in attendance at the district school, and in working on the home place. When nineteen years old he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Ohio Infantry, and, although not of age, was accepted and saw active service for ten months. He was in all of the many engagements in which his company participated for the first seven months, the rest of his term of enlistment being spent on detached duty in the telegraph service.

After his honorable discharge, Mr. Palmer returned home and worked with his father for one year. At the end of this time, in 1866, he was married and started for Nebraska. After purchasing land in that state, he came home and spent the winter, but the following spring took his family to his western home and at once engaged in farming. To this vocation he added that of dairying in 1872, and at that time had eighty-seven good milch cows. He was doing a good business in Nebraska when, in 1891, he desired to change his location, and disposing of his interests there came to Missouri, purchasing the tract of land upon which he is still residing. As stated in our opening paragraph, it comprises one hundred and forty-five acres, of which much is fine pasture land, devoted to raising Jersey cattle.

Mr. Palmer and Miss Jeanette E. Everst were married in 1866. The lady was a native of Ohio and the schoolmate of the man who afterward became her husband. She became the mother of seven children and died in 1884. Of her family four are living, namely; Herbert, Henry, Clara and William. The eldest son is employed on the railroad, and Miss Clara is attending school at Hamburg, Iowa. The other two sons are with their father on the home place.

April 22, 1887, Mr. Palmer chose for his second companion Sarah (Fishel) Whitaker, who only survived her marriage seven months. March 14, 1889, he married Olive Russell, the daughter of Davis and Sarah (Smith) Russell. Her father was born in Ohio, while her mother was a native of Indiana. She, however, was born in Illinois.

Our subject is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Socially he belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, also to Mansfield Post No. 54, G. A. R. In politics he is a Republican and has an abiding faith in the purity of that party’s doctrines. He is one of those progressive farmers who have adopted such improvements in farming and dairying that their example should be generally followed, and make of Johnson County one of the garden spots of the state. He and his estimable wife are highly respected in the community, and the success which has crowned the efforts of our subject has earned for him the good opinion of all.