ABOUT THIS BLOG

Zemira Palmer is my third-great grandfather. In 2010 I was given tons of information about him by two angel cousins. With their permission I share it all!! - Deniane Kartchner

Contact: denianek@gmail.com

Sally Knight Palmer

Sally Knight Palmer

Zemira's Wives

The photos of Zemira's two wives were contributed by Lucile Brubaker

and her mother, Lenna Cox Wilcock. Thanks!

Caroline Jacques Palmer

Caroline Jacques Palmer

BLOG SOURCES


Unless otherwise noted, the main source for this blog (including the introduction) is a history titled “ZEMIRA PALMER, 1831 – 1880, His Life and Family in Early L.D.S. Church History.” This history was prepared by Lenna Cox Wilcock and sent to Deniane Kartchner via email by Lenna's daughter, Lucile Brubaker, with Lenna and Lucile's permission to post on this blog with the stipulation it be used for family history purposes only and not for financial gain. Lenna and Lucile are descendants of Zemira Palmer through his wife Caroline Jacques.


I have posted the history in segments exactly as Lenna wrote them (with the exception of adding details needed to help the sections stand alone).


Introduction

Zemira Palmer was born the year after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints was organized in Fayette, New York. Living amongst the earliest “Mormon” converts, his entire life and that of his family was inextricably inter-woven with that of the early Saints.


The faith of the Palmer and Draper families, as with all the Saints, was severely tried and tested as they were swept along in the turbulent stream of Mormonism in its desperate struggle for survival while defending their freedom to worship their God as they chose. As Utah Pioneers they contributed greatly in making the desert blossom as a rose in the rugged western American frontier.


One month before his death, in a letter to his sister Zemira made the following statement, and by living according to what it expresses, he was worthy to gain the great reward of which it speaks:


“. . . There is one thing which seems to be true, the Lord is fulfilling His promises. He has said by the mouths of His prophets that He would send judgments on the wicked & trials on the faithful, so that everyone that can be shaken, will be, and those who cannot be shaken, shall gain the great reward of eternal life & supreme happiness.”1


1- Excerpt from letter written by Zemira Palmer to his sister Lovina Palmer Munroe Sept. 18, 1880.


* * * * *

Zemira Palmer History on this blog

2.04.2010

(9) Zemira's father George Palmer dies






Now, back to our story.  Later in the same year of 1833 after the Drapers had embraced “Mormonism,” Zemira’s father George Jr. died, leaving his mother Phebe a widow at age 36.

His death was a great blow to the family.  Zemira was just over two years of age, so wouldn’t have felt the intensity of the loss of a father and husband which his mother and the older children felt. At that time however, the family had a better understanding of the principles of the gospel of Christ, of the purpose of life and the eternal nature of the family ties, which would provide comfort and hope in this time of grief and sorrow.

The very next year a great change for the Palmers and Drapers presented itself.  New converts to the Church were advised by their leaders to gather with the main body of Saints in the United States. The goal of the latter-day Church, as in the former-day Church, was to build up the Kingdom of God on the earth.  They accomplished this by sending missionaries to other nations, preaching the restored gospel, gathering the honest in heart from other lands, and preparing them to become a Zion people, where as true followers of Christ they could live in love and harmony and peace. They could only do this effectively when the Saints were gathered together in groups.

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Contributors


Lucile Brubaker (and her mother Lenna Cox Wilcock) are also contributing to this blog.

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