(4) George Palmer and Phebe Draper marry

An older photo of Phebe Draper from Sarah Collinwood’s book, 
"Descendants of George Palmer and Phebe Draper", p. 10 c. 

Very shortly after he was honorably released*, George Jr. Palmer returned to Cramahe and in 1815 married his childhood neighbor, Phebe Draper, who was probably his childhood sweetheart.  While living in Crammie, they were blessed with a daughter Lovina and a son Asahel. 

They soon moved to the nearby town of Haldimand in the same County and while there had another son whom they named William George.

Phebe’s Uncle Thomas Draper lived 100 miles east of Cramahe, at Loughborough (Low’-bro) in Frontenac County. That area is described as a land with many lakes, lush foliage, and rich soil; a pleasant and beautiful place to live.  So, perhaps for that reason, Zemira’s parents and other relatives moved there.  And that’s where their last four children were born, Eliza, Lydia Elizabeth, Zemira and Rhoda.⁶ Looking at a map of Frontenac County, we see it is literally dotted with lakes.

So now George and Phebe Palmer and her Draper relatives lived on the same tract of land, or nearby, as they traded, bought or sold lots. They had the association of cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents with whom they could share experiences, and help each other with the work of clearing the new land, building homes, and supporting each other at all times.

(18) Phebe Palmer marries Ebenezer Brown

Ebenezer Brown

              On August 28, 1842, in Pleasantville, (or Pleasantvale) Pike County, Phebe’s patriarchal blessing was fulfilled concerning her having a companion who would be a man of God.  Ebenezer Brown had been in the same group as the Drapers, when his wife Ann Weaver became ill.  Phebe went into their home and tenderly nursed and cared for the sick woman until the time of her death. Phebe married Ebenezer, which was a double blessing, for not only did she now have a husband to love and care for her, but his four young children had a mother to love and care for them. ³⁵

Phebe had only Lydia and Rhoda of her own children to join the Ebenezer Brown household, for previously that same year, in February, Phebe’s son William George was married to Ellen Purdun, at Pleasantvale, and also her oldest son Asahel was married to Evaline Carter. 

35- Jennie B. Hollist & Imogene Brown, Ebenezer Brown & Descendants, p. 7 - Marriage.


*Photo retrieved from http://kentdavisfamilytree.com/ebenezerbrown.jpg

(19) Palmers move from Pike County to Bear Creek and Morley, Illinois

Although the Draper/Palmer group had escaped the horrors of the extermination order in Missouri, they were caught up in the persecutions that dogged the Saints wherever they were, and eventually the Saints of Pike County were driven from their homes and thriving farms. Many of them went to Hancock County.

After being driven out, we find that Phebe and Ebenezer Brown, in 1844, were living at Bear Creek, a settlement some miles south of Carthage, which was not far distant from Morley nor from Nauvoo. Lovina and her husband Henry Munroe were living there also. (Refer to list at end of Maps)

It is recorded that Phebe traveled to Nauvoo and was baptized for her husband George Palmer Jr. in 1844.  That was before the revelation was given which explained that men should be baptized for men, and women be baptized for women.

Instead of settling with his mother and the others at Bear Creek, Zemira with his uncle Zemira Draper and his Draper grandparents fled to Morley, (or Yelrome, which is Morley spelled backwards) in Hancock County. That was one of the many communities in the area called “Spokes on the Wheel,” so named by the Prophet; Nauvoo being the hub or center of the spokes.³⁶  At this place there was peace and prosperity for four or five years, some of which were before Zemira came there. Zemira would have spent his 11^th, and perhaps his early-teen years at this place.  (See Map 5.)

36- Donald Q. Cannon, “Spokes on the Wheel; Early L.S. Settlements in Hancock County”