My Genealogy Hound

Col. R. Boone Palmer. Prominent among the enterprising and successful citizens of Wright County, Mo., and among those deserving special recognition for their long residence in the county, stands the name of the above-mentioned gentleman, who was born in Pickens District, S. C., in 1816. He is the son of John and Nancy (Boone) Palmer, and the grandson, on his mother’s side, of Ratcliff Boone, a relative of Daniel Boone. The paternal grandfather was a native of Virginia, and one of the pioneers of South Carolina. John Palmer, so far as known, was a native of South Carolina, and in that State was married to Miss Nancy Boone, who was also a native of South Carolina. After marriage he moved to Georgia, where he farmed until his death. They were the parents of eight children, six now living, of whom Col. Palmer is next to the eldest in order of birth. He moved with his parents to Georgia, there grew to manhood, and there, at the age of nineteen, was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Nix, who bore these children: William, Benjamin and Joseph; three died, two in infancy. One, Lucinda, was married to Noah Claxton, and before her death bore him two children. Col. Palmer moved to Missouri in October, 1840. He intended going to Texas, but finally located in what is now Wright County, where he purchased land, and was one of the pioneers of the place. Early in 1840 he was elected associate judge of the county court, and finally elected president. During one of his terms of office county warrants were raised in value from 50 to 95 cents on the dollar. He served as county judge for a period of four or five years. In the spring of 1849 he left Hartville and went over land to California, there following mining, and made $3,000 cash. He also followed ranching in that State, and in 1853 he returned by Panama and New Orleans to his family in Wright County, Mo., where he farmed until the opening of the war. He was then appointed colonel of the Seventy-third Enrolled Missouri Militia, to guard home property. In 1862 he was elected to the Legislature, and was re-elected in 1864 for two years more. He remained with that body until the close of the war. After that event he made a race for State senator, but was counted out. In 1870 he ran for the State Senate on the issue of enfranchisement, and was elected, serving four years. He was a member of the committee on education, and visited Kirksville Normal, and School of Mines and Metallurgy at Rolla. He is the author of the original bill in Missouri for the regulation of carrying concealed or exposed weapons. In 1879 Col. Palmer was elected as an Independent Democrat to the State Legislature, and served two years. He is official reporter for Wright County to the Agricultural Department of the United States. He is independent in his political views as well as in his religion, and is one of the leading men of the county. He has sold $5,000 worth of land, and has much on hand still. He is a member of the Wright County bar, being the oldest member, with one exception, in the county. In June, 1888, he traveled all through Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, and visited Lexington and the monument and homestead of Henry Clay, and although his early education was rather deficient, he has, by experience gained in traveling, and by his close application to study between business hours, become a well-informed man on any subject. He is now seventy-two years of age, is hale and hearty, and occasionally goes on hunting expeditions with his pack of hounds