San Diego County Biographies
 
I. L. PALMER

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
        In 1829 Jabez Palmer landed in America from England, and settled at 
Stonington, Connecticut. He had three sons, one of whom settled in New York, one 
in Virginia, and one remained in Connecticut. Mr. I. L. Palmer's grandfather 
removed from the latter State to Ohio in 1797, and settled in Washington County, 
which was then a wilderness. They came with teams to Pittsburg, and then in 
boats down the Ohio to Marietta. This family consisted of Joseph, Jabez, Isaac 
and Betsey. The township in which they settled was given their name�" Palmer."  
Mr. I. L. Palmer's grandfather was married in 1820 to Mrs. Persis Tilton. They 
had a family
of ten children: Oscar, Joseph, Charles, George, Andrew, Jabez, Ann, Jane, 
Hannah and Mary.  Oscar was Mr. I. L. Palmer's father, and he was married to 
Miss Anna Chamberlain in 1841. Mr. Palmer's grandfather lived until he was 
ninety-three years of age, and his grandfather on his mother's side, John D. 
Chamberlain, was in the war of 1812, also in the Seminole war. He was a teacher 
and a surveyor, and lived to the great age of 102 years and died in 1885.
        Dr. Palmer's parents had four children, two girls and two boys. Mr. I. 
L. Palmer was the second son and was born at Marietta, Ohio, June 21, 1845. He 
attended the common school at his home, and finished his education at the 
University at Athens, Ohio, after coming out of the army, in which he enlisted 
April 19, 1861, at the age of sixteen. He was five feet ten inches high, and 
weighed 156 pounds. He enlisted for three months in Company F, Eighteenth Ohio, 
and when his term had expired he enlisted in Company A, Thirty-sixth Ohio, for 
three years. April 14, 1864, the then veteran enlisted for the third time in the 
same company with which he had been for three years and with which he had helped 
to fight so many severe engagements. He was in thirty-one hard-fought battles, 
200 skirmishes with bushwhackers, never missed a battle, a march or a guard, and 
only received one slight wound, in the hand by a piece of exploded shell. At the 
time of his last enlistment he weighed 230 pounds, while he now weighs 270. His 
father's brother and himself at one time weighed 775 pounds. He is a well 
proportioned, large man, young-looking and very active in his movements for one 
so heavy. To show how active he has been we will state that he has run a good 
many foot-races, and was hard to beat. At the close of the war, in 1865, he went 
to the common school one winter, to the academy, and then to the university. In 
1867 he was married to Miss Maria Woodruff, who was born at Watertown, Ohio, 
July, 1842. Her father, Mr. Silas Woodruff, was of English descent, while her 
mother was of German. Their union has been blessed with five children. three of 
whom survive. Their oldest son, Oscar, was born in Jackson, Missouri, December 
24, 1867; Anson and Ormstead, twins, were born February 16, 1870; Della May, 
June 5, 1873, in Clay County, Missouri. and Ova Mable, January 5, 1876, in Cloud 
County, Kansas.   Mrs. Palmer and the children are members of the Presbyterian 
Church. Mr. Palmer is an Odd Fellow and a member of the Heintzelman Post, G. A. 
R. He has also been a member of the National Guard for seven years. He came to 
San Diego from Kansas, where he taught school, and conducted a store part of the 
time, May 23, 1878, and set the first stake for the California Southern 
Railroad. He took the United States census in 1880, held the office of constable 
and deputy sheriff in 1883, which office he held until August, 1884. He then 
took charge of the rebuilding of the wash-out in Temecula Ca�on, after which he 
located the line from there to Barstow, and built twenty-four miles of the road. 
He came back to San Diego in 1885. In September of the same year he was 
appointed deputy marshal, which position he held until 1887, when he was 
appointed city assessor. In the fall of 1887 he was elected tax collector and 
street commissioner, and served until May, 1889. He has bought property and 
built a home, and has a ninety-five-acre ranch at Murrietta. While in Kansas he 
was township trustee, Justice of the Peace, and a school director for five 
years.
 
SOURCE:  An Illustrated History of Southern California:  Embracing the Counties 
of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower 
California� Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890.  p.-  349-350