Walter Palmer (Puritan)
| Walter Palmer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1585 |
| Died | October 10, 1661 (aged 76) |
| Resting place | Wequetequock Cemetery 41°21′36″N 71°52′36″W / 41.35993°N 71.87673°WCoordinates: 41°21′36″N 71°52′36″W / 41.35993°N 71.87673°W |
| Known for | Founder of New England settlements |
Walter Palmer (1585–1661) was an early Separatist Puritan settler in the Massachusetts Bay Colony who helped found Charlestown and Rehoboth, Massachusetts and New London, Connecticut.
Palmer was likely born in Yetminster, Dorset, England in 1585. He married in England and fathered five children.
On April 5, 1629, Palmer sailed on the Four Sisters from Gravesend, England to Salem, Massachusetts, arriving that June. The next year, he was indicted on manslaughter charges for allegedly beating a man to death, but was acquitted in November 1630. His close friend William Chesebrough stood as a witness in the trial.
Palmer and Chesebrough took the Oath of a Freeman on May 18, 1631. In 1633, Palmer married Rebecca Short, his second wife, and they eventually had seven children together. In 1635, he was elected a selectman of Charlestown and the next year became constable.
On August 24, 1643, Palmer and Chesebrough left Charlestown and started a new settlement called Seacuncke (later renamed Rehoboth). Palmer was among the first selectmen. When the settlement assigned itself to Plymouth Colony, the deputy elected to represent Rehoboth at the Plymouth court refused to serve because he preferred attachment to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Palmer was then appointed in his place.
Palmer and Chesebrough were also dissatisfied with the Plymouth alignment and, sometime prior to 1653, John Winthrop, Jr. persuaded Chesebrough to relocate to southern Connecticut. Chesebrough obtained a 2,300-acre (9 km2) land grant from the settlement in New London, Connecticut; Palmer and his son-in-lawThomas Miner followed him and purchased land on the east bank of Wequetequoc Cove, across from Chesebrough.
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