
The following article appeared in the Deseret News on 8 August 1860. Zemira Palmer is the grandfather of William Zemira Palmer.
Zemira was born in Canada in 1831 to George and Pheobe Palmer. His father died when he was a toddler. His mother moved to Kirtland, remarried to Ebenezer Brown, and when he was 15-years-old, the three of them joined the Mormon Battalion. They were all at Sutter's Mill in California when gold was discovered in the stream there.
Zemira later helped rescue the members of the Willie and Martin Handcart companies, helped defeat Johnson's army, married Sally Knight and helped to establish the United Order in Orderville, Utah. He died 22 Oct. 1880 in Orderville.