San Diego County Biographies

JOHN D. PALMER

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


was born in Washington County, Ohio, June 5, 1843. His father, Oscar F. Palmer, 
was a native of Ohio and was born April 27, 1823. His mother, Anna M. 
Chamberlain, was born in Washington County, Ohio, May 22, 1824. (For ancestry of 
these families see I. L. Palmer's biography on another page.) They were married 
August 24, 1842, and had four children, of whom J. D. was the eldest. His mother 
having died June 27, 1852, his father went to California in 1853, and he went to 
live with an uncle and aunt. Here he went to school part of the time and helped 
on the farm in the busy season. At twelve years of age he went to work for 
farmers in the summer and to school three months in the winter until he was 
fifteen years of age, when he learned the carpenters' trade. He then became a 
brakeman on the railroad and afterward fireman. On April 22, 1861, he enlisted 
for three months in Company C, Third Ohio Infantry, at the end of which time he 
again enlisted for three years and was mustered out July, 1864. He enlisted for 
the third time, in Company C, One Hundred and Eighty-second Ohio, in August, 
1864. His regiment, the Third Ohio, the Fiftieth and Eighty-first Indiana, the 
Eightieth Illinois, and two companies of First Tennessee Cavalry were sent on a 
raid under command of Colonel A. D. Straight. They were ordered to intercept and 
destroy communications between the rebels and their supplies. They were 
surrounded, and after a fight of five days and nights were captured. The men 
were, after fifteen days, paroled, and the officers put in Libby Prison. After 
being in that terrible prison for some time Colonel A. D. Straight made a tunnel 
from one street to another, which opened into a cellar, through which he and 
about 600 men escaped, but about half of them were recaptured. He was mustered 
out July 14, 1864, but again enlisting he was sent back and took part in the 
battle of Nashville, under General George H. Thomas. He remained in the army 
until the close of the war and was mustered out in July, 1865. He then married 
Miss Lydia S. Swift, of Washington County, Ohio, daughter of Charles and Amy 
Swift, who was born May 2, 1844. Their union has been blessed with eight 
children: Ida L., born in Washington County, Ohio, June 20, 1866, who married 
Mr. J. F. McCann, of Athens County, Ohio, and has had four children: Leota 
Blanche, born in San Diego, August 11, 1884; John Harold, born April 9, 1886, 
and died April 20, 1887; Forest Glenn, born in San Diego, April 19, 1888, and 
Howard, born April 15, 1890; Oscar Fitz Allen, born February 18, 1868, in 
Washington County, Ohio; William Henry, born January 19, 1870, in Morgan County, 
Ohio; Maggie L. and Mattie L., born March 10, 1872; Andrew S., born February 22, 
1878, in Morgan County, Ohio; Edgar Winfred, born January 30, 1880, in Morgan 
County, and Bessie Claire, born February 11, 1883, in Morgan County, Ohio. Mr. 
and Mrs. Morgan and their daughters are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church; she is also a member of the women's relief corps of the G. A. R. Mr. 
Palmer is an Odd Fellow and a member of the G. A. R. He was engaged for fourteen 
years in the saw-milling business in Ohio, but his property was swept away by a 
freshet, when he came to California in 1884. He landed in San Diego with only 
$16 in his pocket, but immediately engaged in contracting, building and moving 
houses. He has been offered as high as $20,000 at one time for his real estate 
in San Diego, and he has an outfit for moving buildings valued at $10,000. The 
history of such a stout-hearted, self-reliant man should inspire with courage 
every poor man who has met with misfortunes to take courage and by honest 
industry rise again.
 
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.-  196-197