Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Ephraim Palmer

Male Abt 1642 - 1684  (~ 42 years)


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  • Name Ephraim Palmer 
    Born Abt 1642  Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 19 Aug 1684  Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I4772  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Father William Palmer,   b. 1610, , Norfolk, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Bef Oct 1661, Newtown, Suffolk, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age < 51 years) 
    Mother Judith Feake,   b. Abt 1621, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1670, Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 49 years) 
    Married Bef 5 Dec 1639  Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F2161  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Sarah Messenger,   b. Abt 1648, of Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Married Abt 1668  Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F1691  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. The book "One branch of the Miner family...," by Lillian Lounsberry Miner Selleck (New Haven, 1928), pp. 142-43:
      "EPHRAIM2 PALMER, of Greenwich, Conn., married in 1668 SARAH2 MESSENGER, daughter of Andrew1
      Messenger. He died 19 Aug. 1684, and she married second, ___ Gregory. His estate was inventoried at about £205, and the names and ages of his seven children were stated.
      Children:
      1. Joanna3, b. about 1669.
      2. Sarah3, b. about 1671.
      + 3. Judith3, b. about 1673; m. Samuel3 Raymond.
      4. Susannah3, b. about 1675.
      5. Ephraim3, b. 24 Oct. 1677.
      6. Mary3, b. about 1679.
      7. John3, b. about 1681; m. (1) Sarah Close, who d. 1 Sept. 1748 aged 64; m. (2) Mary ___."

      2. The book "One branch of the Miner family...," by Lillian Lounsberry Miner Selleck (New Haven, 1928), pp. 142-43:
      "WILLIAM1 PALMER
      LIEUT. WILLIAM1 PALMER appeared in Yarmouth, Mass., as early as Jan. 1639, and resided there until 1652. He married JUDITH FEAKE, born about 1620, daughter of James Feake, goldsmith, of London, Eng.
      In December 1639, Robert Feake of Watertown, Mass., as guardian of Tobias Feake, aged seventeen, together with Sergeant William Palmer and Judith his wife of Yarmouth, son and daughter of James Feake, deceased, of London, goldsmith, signed a power of attorney to their uncle, Tobias Dixon of London, to sell a house on Lombard Street, London. Robert Feake of Watertown was uncle of Judith and Tobias.
      Palmer was a Deputy to the Plymouth General Court, 1642, 1643, 1644, 1648, 1649, and 1650; and was appointed Lieutenant 22 Sept. 1642, under Capt. Miles Standish. In 1653 he moved to Newtown, Long Island, where he was a Magistrate from Mar. 1658 to Mar. 1660. He conveyed property in Newtown, 1 Aug. 1659, and his widow Judith conveyed 29 Nov. 1661, showing that he died between those dates; probably later than 9 Mar. 1660 when he was on the tax list.
      Judith married second, Jeffrey Ferris, of Greenwich, Conn., and took her children to Greenwich with her. Ferris died 31 May 1666, and in his will dated 6 Jan. 1664 left ten pounds each to the "four boies" of his wife. Judith married third, John Bowers, who by deed 5 Apr. 1675 conveyed land to his "son Ephraim Palmer." Judith died before her last husband; and Bowers in his will dated 16 Mar. 1693/4, gave property that was her mother's to "my loving daughter-in-law [step-daughter], Judith Reynolds."
      John Palmer, perhaps a brother of William Palmer, though usually given as his son, died at Greenwich prior to 26 Oct. 1672. Application was made for settlement of his estate, 24 Apr. 1724, in which it was stated that he died many years ago and that no settlement had been made. The next of kin were stated as William Palmer, Ephraim Palmer, James Palmer, Joseph Palmer, and Judith Reynolds. John must therefore have been their brother or their uncle; and as the "four" Palmer boys specified in their step-father's will are all accounted for, it is more likely that John was their uncle, and brother of William.
      Children:
      1. William2, m. Mary Tyler, daughter of William and Abigail (Terrill) Tyler of Milford, b. about 1660; they removed to Westchester County, N. Y.
      +2. Ephraim2, m. Sarah2 Messenger.
      3. James2, of Greenwich, d. 28 Feb. 1717; m. Sarah Denham.
      4 Joseph2, m. Elizabeth Tyler, b. about 1663, sister of his brother William's wife; they probably removed to Bedford, N. Y.
      5. Judith2, m. John Reynolds."

      3. The following partial excerpt concerning this individual is from the biography of Jeffrey Ferris in the "Great Migration" book. These are highly reliable summaries of early pre-1636 colonists and the entire biography can be read in Jeffrey's notes:
      "Jeffrey Ferris...
      Migration: 1634
      First Residence: Watertown
      Removes: Wethersfield 1635, Stamford 1641, Greenwich by 1650, East Town 1655, Greenwich by about 1659...
      Estate: ...In his will, dated 6 January 1664(/5?] and proved 9 March 1666/7, "Jeaffrey Ferris" bequeathed to "my wife that now is [KP: Judith Feake], all the estate which she can make appear that she brought with her" and £l0; to "her four children, that is to say, those four boys which I brought up and kept" [KP: In no particular order: Ephraim, James, William, and Joseph Palmer]..."

      4. The periodical "New England Historical and Genealogical Register," 152(July 1998): 358-63, "The Three Messengers: Clearing the Decks," by Helen S. Ullman:
      "ANDREW1 MESSENGER was born in England, probably before 1618 as he was probably at least 21 years of age when he signed the New Haven Fundamental Agreement. He died, probably at Jamaica, Long Island, New York, before 12 April 1681 (see below). He married, perhaps about 1641, RACHEL ___, who died at Jamaica after 1688, when "Widow Messenger" was listed as remembering no marriages, christenings or burials in her family during the last seven years.[23]...
      Children, actual order unknown...
      ii. ABIGAIL MESSENGER, b. say 1644; m. (1) 1662 RICHARD DARLING of New Haven; they were divorced 7 July 1674;[59] she m. (2) between 1 Sept. 1674 and 10 June 1686, ZACHARIAH MILLS, son of George1 Mills of Jamaica.[60]
      iv. SARAH MESSENGER, b. say 1648; m. (1) ca. 1668 EPHRAIM PALMER, of Greenwich,[62] who d., prob. at Stratford, as the probate file for an Ephraim Palmer of Stratford contains an inventory saying he died 19 April 1684, leaving a widow Sarah, seven children, and land;[63] m. (2) bef. 15 Oct. 1699, ___ GREGORY, prob. JOHN, b.1638-40, d. ca. 1720.[64]
      Footnotes:
      23. "Return of Marriages, Christenins [sic) & Burials in the Town of Jamaica for 7 years preceding 1688," The Documentary History of the State of New York, E.B. O'Callaghan, ed., vol. 4 (Albany, N.Y.: Weed Parsons & Co., 1849-51), 3:197.
      60. Cook, Mills ms. [note 54], 15, 18, citing several documents from Frost's Jamaica records.
      62. Hickok [note 8], 386.
      63. Fairfield District Probate File 4802.
      64. Hickok [note 8], 386; Grant Gregory, Ancestors and Descendants of Henry Gregory (Provincetown, Mass.: the author, 1938), 54."

      5. The periodical "The American Genealogist," 26(1950):95, 183-84, "Palmer of Westchester," by Winifred Lovering Holman, S.B., F.A.S.G. My interest in this article is in the William Palmer of Yarmouth, who is an ancestor, and not the William Palmer of the article. The following are applicable quotes:
      "Various assertions, quite erroneous, have been made in print about William Palmer of Westchester County, New York. It has been claimed that he was identical with others of the name, such as William of Watertown, Mass., who was clearly later of Newbury, and finally of Hampton, N.H. [see Gen. Dict. of Me. and N.H., 527; Essex Files, 2:347-9; New Eng. Register, 51:309; 68:259; 69:284, 342; 75:79, 158, 318; 98:184); Lieut. William of Yarmouth, Mass., and Newtown, Long Island, a son of whose did later settle in Westchester, thereby adding to the confusion [N. Y. Record, 71:362; Selleck, Miner Family (1928), 142-3], William of Plymouth and Duxbury; William Jr. of the same, perhaps a nephew of the last-named; and others.
      There was also a William, early of Wethersfield, and never of Watertown, and a William of Branford, both in Connecticut. It is the writer's opinion, based on research thus far made, that William of Westchester was identical with both the Wethersfield settler and the Branford sojourner…
      As an addendum, a few notes will be given relating to the Palmer family [of Yarmouth] … Mead's Hist. of Greenwich (1911), 618-628, reprints the usual errors about the early generations. However, Lieut. William Palmer of Yarmouth, Mass., and Newtown, Long Island, died about 1661, and the subsequent remarriages of his widow brought the children to Greenwich, Conn. Among them, were Ephraim2 and William2.
      Ephraim married in 1668, Sarah, daughter of Andrew Messenger and had but two sons: Ephraim3 and John3.
      William2, born about 1658, married Mary Tyler of Milford, Conn., and removed to Westchester County. He had: William3, b. 6 Nov. 1694, d. 1786, of Charlotte Precinct, Dutchess County, a Friend; m. Rachel -___, and had issue, see N.Y. Wills, 14:87. Phebe, by 4 July 1696. Peter, b. 23 July 1703, removed to Dutchess County and had issue, see N.Y. Wills, 13:114. Abraham, b. about 1705, removed to Dutchess County…"

      SOURCES_MISC:
      1. FHL book 929.273-K727kf: "Knapp's N' Kin, The Ancestral Lines of Frederick H Knapp and Others," compiled by: Frederick H Knapp, Rt. #2, Box 438C, AB Hwy, Richland, Missouri, 65556; 1987; Revised/Updated 1991. It notes the following sources, none of which I have yet reviewed:
      -NYG&H Rec V11 & 86.
      -7 Gen. of Judith's, by A. Gibson.
      -Gen Frangments, by J.J. Latting.
      -Feake Fam. Gen, by G. McCrackern (1955).
      -Ancient Heads of Fam., by Holmes.