About the Author: Jim Wood was born in Big Rapids and is a retired aerospace engineer. His wife Doraluvinia, was born in Los Angeles and is a stained glass artisan. They reside at Peachwood in Millbrook Town, Mecosta County, Michigan on a high and windy hill where times stands still.
This tale of the Muskegon River Valley begins at the onset of the Civl War when heeding President Abraham Lincoln's call to defend the nation from its domestic enemies. Colonel Robert P. Sinclair organized the 14th Michigan Infantry.
Morgan Lew is Palmer, age 48, living in the small hamlet of Nuncia, Ottawa County, enlisted in the regiment on Oct. 5, 1861. Upon his enlistment, his wife, Mary E. Palmer, 45, four sons and one daughter, left the family farm and moved to Detroit. During the spring of 1862, Morgan Palmer, a private in Company F, participated in the bloddy battle of Corinth. For the next two years, the regiment performed scouting, patrol, and anti guerrilla duties. Private Morgan Palmer was honorably discharged from further military service because of disabilities on April 20, 1864.
Three of the Palmer brothers, Benjamin, 18, John 19, and Mulford 18, enlisted for three years in the Michigan Provost Guard stationed at the Detroit Barracks in November of 1862. The Provost Guard of 136 soldirs protected government property, guarded Detroit from possible rebel raids from Windsor Canada, and performed such duties as assigned to it by state and federal military authorities in Detroit. On June 9, 1863, three months shy of his 12th birthday, Morgan and Mary Palmer's youngest son, Lewis G. Palmer, enlisted for three years in the Provost Guard. Assigned as a musician, he was the unit's first drummer boy.
Lewis was one of the youngest boys to serve in a Michigan unit and the entire Union Army during the fight for the very existence of our country's beliefs and way of life. When hostilities ceased, the Provost Guard was mustered out of federal service at Detroit on May 9, 1865. After the war ended, Lewis Palmer attended the Detroit Public Schools, and was a clerk-messenger for the Kaufman clothing store.
In 1867, the Palmer clan except for Mulford, moved to our River City. The Big Rapids Pioneer reported the death of Morgan Lewis Palmer, 58, at his home on Friday, Nov. 10, 1871. Four years later, Mary E. Palmer died unexpectedly at the age of 58 on Saturday, Jan. 9, 1875. Services were held in the Methodist Church with Rev. G.L. Haight officiating. She was buried next to her husband, MOrgan, in Highlandview Cemetery.
Benjamin F. Palmer, 32, a Big Rapids businessman, became tragically insane and died in April 1879. He was buried in the family plot in Highland View.
John H. Palmer had a dream to rise above his boyhood environment. After engaging in several avocations at the end of the Civil War, he decided to become an attorney. To that end, he attended the University of Michigan Law School for one year. He then continued to read for the law in the office of CC. Fuller and was admitted to Mecosta County Bar in 1874.
While his oldest brother was improving his lot in life, Lewis Palmer completed his basic education and studied at Michigan Agricultural College (Michigan State University). Lewis Palmer was the first teacher of the Ingham County's Meridian Township School. He also was a rural schoolteacher in Osceola and Mecosta Counties for three years. In 1869, he was elected County School Commissioner, read for the law and was admitted to the Mecosta County Bar in 1873.
In 1874, the recently married Una Rice and Lewis Palmer moved into their new home at 422 South Warren Avenue where the couple raised one son and two daughters.
Once brother John became an attorney, the brothere formed the law firm of Palmer and Palmer. Fennella Pelton and JOhn Palmer were married in 1876. They lived on the northeast corner of Maple Street and Warren Avenue in one of the largest homes in Big Rapids. They raised two boys and two girls in our River City.
In 1879 Lewis Palmer was elected Mecosta County's Prosecuting Attorney and served in that position four years. He then was appointed U.S. District Attorney for Western Michigan.
In 1881, their law firm became one of the first tenants of the newly erected Fairman-Newton Building at 102 South Michigan Avenue. Lewis Palmer was elected to the Michigan Senate in 1886 and again in 1888.
The firm of Palmer and Palmer was dissolved when John H. Palmer was elected judge of the 27th Judicial Circuit in 1887 and for a second six year term in 1893. Revered 53 year ols Judge John H. Palmer, former mayor of BIg Rapids, deid from Bright's disease on Aug. 13, 1897. John Palmer's casket was placed east porch of the family home where mountains of flowers covered both the porch and the casket. The largest funeral crowd ever seen in Big Rapids filled the yard, the sidewalk and a considerable portion of Maple Street. MOurners came from Reed City, Grand Rapids, Hersey, Ludington, Hart, and at least 90 people came by train from Newaygo. John Palmer was honored as Judge, soldier and Mason. The procession to the family plot in Highland View Cemetery included Masons, old soldiers, and was the longest ever seen in the city. The weather was showery and weeping clouds heightened the sadness of the occasion.
Lewis Palmer, the most popular orator in our area, was always ready to give a witty impromptu speech on any subject. To the delight of all, he speechified at Republican rallies, dedications, festivities, and patriotic gatherings. At each event, the Pioneer noted: "Judge Palmer delighted the gathering with one of his best speeches." His speeches were known for their wit, charm and content. Gov. Luce appointed him to deliver Michigan's official address at Northwest Territory Centennial Celebration held in Columbus, Ohio in 1888. In 1898, Lewis G. Palmer was elected Judge of the 27th Circuit filling the vacancy left by his brother's death in 1897. He was reeclected to full six-year terms in 1889 and again in 1905.
Judge Lewis Palmer died from a stroke at 3 a.m. on Jan. 4, 1911. Obituaries appeared in Detroit and GRand Rapids as well as all the newspapers in the 27th Circuit. The family wished to hold the funeral from the house. Because of the Judge's prominence and desire of the public to attend the service, the family was persuaded to hold the services at the Methodist Church.
The hansome casket was borne to the church where a standing room crowd of mourners awaited. The six brother Knight's Templar pall bearers were escorted by an honor guard of six members of the Andre's Post of the Grand Army of the Republic. The Revs. Bray and Cogshall conducted the service. At the rostrum decorated with banks of floral pieces of all kinds and Old Glory of which the Judge was a proud youthful defender, Grand Rapids Judge Perkins and Woodbridge N. Ferris paid tribute to the boy soldier, judge and devout family man.
Our young drummer lad was laid to rest in the family plot in Highland View Cemetery. The Palmer plot is very uniques in that four veterans of the Civil War and members of the same family are buried in the plot. Sergeant John H. Palmer occupies the northwest corner, his brother Corporal Benjamin F. Palmer occupies the southeaast corner, their father Private Morgan Lewis Palmer is buried in the southwest corner and the young drummer lad, Lewis G. Palmer is interred at the northeast corner of the lot.
Although it has seen better days, the 130 year old home that Lewis G. Palmer built for his bride in 1873 still exsists. The house architecturally mimics the Italianate style but is not a classic structure. However, historically it is the residence of the youngest Civl War Veteran to have lived in Mecosta County, the region and the state of over four decades and two the most revered citizens ever to have lived in Mecosta County. The homes is one of the two oldest houses in Big Rapids.
