Dr. Thomas Palmer

Notes:

"Samuel Palmer was born August 8, 1707, in Middleboro, MA, the fourth of nine children born to Thomas and Elizabeth Stevens Palmer. Although Thomas Palmer was not a college graduate, he was ordained as the minister of the First Church in Middleboro on May 2, 1702. As was the practice at that time, he was also the town physician, perhaps ministering to the physical needs of his parishioners through scripture and prayer. When Samuel was just a year old, his father was discharged by the church on June 30, 1708, for 'scandalous immorality and intemperance.' He was dismissed 'by the advice of an ecclesiastical council of twelve Churches, which deposed him from the ministry, and laid him under Church censure. And some time previous to that, he had been dismissed by his Church and Congregation, and preached in a private home to a party of his adherents.' In disgrace, Thomas Palmer most likely supported his family by practicing medicine among those "adherents" who stood by him. To his credit, however, Thomas was able to vindicate the family name by sending two of his sons to Harvard College, Samuel and his youngest sibling Job. It is unfortunate that Job died at twenty-five in 1745, five years after the death of his mother in 1740 and two years after the death of his father in 1743. All three are buried in the Middleboro Green Cemetery next to the First Congregational Church." [Leonard Miele, "The Life of Reverend Samuel Palmer," Spritsail: A Journal of the History of Falmouth and Vicinity 20:1, 2006.]

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Stevens. Elizabeth (daughter of James Stevens and Sarah Smith) was born on 11 Jun 1677 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; died on 17 Apr 1740 in Middleborough, Plymouth, Massachusetts; was buried in Cemetery at the Green, Middleborough, Plymouth, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Mary Palmer was born on 27 Jun 1715 in Middleborough, Plymouth, Massachusetts; died on 9 Sep 1768 in Woodstock, Windham, Connecticut.