Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/677

Rh pleas, and in 1720 one of the first masters in chan- cery that was appointed by Gov. Sir William Keith at the organization of a court of chancery.

PALMER, Benjamin Morgan, clergyman, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 25 Sept., 1781 ; d. in Charles- ton, S. C, 9 Oct., 1847. Pie was graduated at Princeton in 1800, studied theology in Charleston, and was licensed to preach by the Congregational association of ministers in South Carolina, continu- ing with this body until it was merged into the Charleston union presbytery in 1822. He was pastor for several years of the Presbvterian church in Beaufort, S. C, and from 1817 ^till 1835 of a church in Charleston. He received the degree of D. D. from the College of South Carolina in 1815. In addition to numerous sermons, he published "The Family Companion" (1835). — His nephew, Benjamin Morgan, clergyman, b. in Charleston, S. C., 25 Jan., 1818, was the son of Rev. Edward Palmer, who, at his death in 1882, was the oldest minister of the southern Presbyterian church. He was graduated at the University of Georgia in 1838, and at the Theological seminary of Columbia, S. C, in 1841. He has held Presbyterian pastorates in Savannah, Ga., and Columbia, S. C, and since 1856 has been in New Orleans, La. In 1853-'6 he was professor of church history and polity in Columbia theological seminary, S. C, of which he was a director from 1842 till 185G. He has also been a director of the Southwestern Presbyterian university, Clarksville, Tenn., since 1873, and of Tulane university. New Orleans, since its organiza- tion in 1882. He has frequently served as com- missioner to the general assemblies of his denomi- nation. He received the degree of D. D. from Oglethorpe university in 1852, and that of LL. D. from Westminster college, Fulton, Mo., in 1870. Since 1847 he has been an editor and contributor to " The Southern Presbyterian Review," published in Columbia, S. C, of which journal he was a founder. In addition to numerous addresses and pamphlets, he is the author of " The Life and Let- ters of Rev. James Henley Thornwell, D. D., LL. D." (Richmond, 1875) ; "" Sermons " (2 vols., New Orleans, 1875-'6) ; and " The Family in its Civil and Churchly Aspects" (New York, 1876).

PALMER, Courtlandt, merchant. b. in Stoning- ton. Conn., 11 Nov., 1800; d. in New York city, 10 May, 1874. He received a common-school educa- tion, and in early boyhood came to New York city, where he entered the hardware business, and soon gained a large fortune. The financial crisis of 1837 was disastrous to his firm, but he invested the little capital that remained in real estate, which so increased in value that at the time of his death he was included among the rich men of the city. Mr. Palmer was for several years president of the Provi- dence and Stonington railroad, one of the founders of the Safe deposit company of New York, and a director in several business corporations. — His son, Courtlandt, b. in New York city, 25 March, 1843 ; d. at Lake Dunmore, Vt., 23 July, 1888, was edu- cated at Columbia and Williams, and graduated at the Columbia law-school in 1869. Mr. Palmer took much interest in the development of technical edu- cation, and was an advocate of liberal ideas. In 1880 he established and became president of the Nineteenth century club of New York, an organ- ization that meets periodically during the winter months, when leaders of art, literature, and social science are invited to speak, and their remarks are followed by open discussion, in which the utmost freedom of courteous speech is permitted. Mr. Palmer made frequent addresses, and contributed to the literature of free thought.

PALMER, Edward, reformer, b. in New Eng- land in 1802 ; d. in New York city, 25 Feb., 1886. He became a printer in Boston, Mass., and at- tracted attention by writing and publishing a pamphlet in which he demanded the abolition of slavery and the suppression of capitalized monopo- lies. Removing to New York city, he associated himself with a coterie of philosophers, under the leadership of Marcus Spring, and promulgated many eccentric ideas. He claimed that men should work for higher motives than that of pecuniary gain, and emphasized his teachings by refusing to accept money for his services, confining himself to the barest necessities of life. At his death he had passed out of recollection, as he had lived in retire- ment for nearly a generation.

PALMER, Elihu, author, b. in Canterbury, Conn., in 1764; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 7 April, 1806. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1787, and studied divinity, but became a deist in 1791. He resided for a time in Augusta, Ga., where he collected materials for Dr. Jedediah Morse's " Geography," and subsequently lived in Philadel- phia and New York. In 1793 he became totally blind from an attack of yellow fever. He was a violent political agitator, and the head of the society of Columbian illuminati, which was established in New York in 1801. He published " A Fourth of July Oration " (1797), and was also the author of " The Principles of Nature, or A Development of the Moral Causes of Happiness and Misery among the Human Species " (London, 1802 ; reprinted 1819), and " Prospect or View of the Moral World from the Year 1804" (2 vols., New York, 1804).

PALMER, Erastus Dow, sculptor, b. in Pompey. Onondaga co., N. Y., 2 April, 1817. He followed the trade of carpenter and joiner from the age of eleven until he was nearly twenty-nine, when he first turned his attention to art. Incited by a cameo portrait, he did his first work in this direction — a head of his wife on a bit of shell, with tools that were made by himself from files. Encouraged by a connoisseur of the neighborhood, he devoted himself wholly to this new occupation, and during the two following years cut about 100 cameo portraits. Then, finding that the delicate work was injuring his eyes, and led by a longing for artistic labors that would afford greater scope for his talent, he first attempted sculpture proper. An ideal bust, the " Infant Ceres," modelled in 1849 from one of his own children, was his first work in marble. It was exhibited at the Academy of design in 1850, and attracted much attention. This was followed by two allegorical bas-reliefs — representing " Night " and " Morning." The artist, having meanwhile settled in Albany, subsequently produced numerous other bas-reliefs, notably " Faith," " The Si>irit's Flight," " Mercy," " Sappho," and " Peace in Bondage " (1863), 'the last one of his best. Of his ideal busts the principal are " Resignation." "Spring," "June," and "The Infant Flora." The "Indian Girl" (1856) was the first of his full-length figures, most of which were strongly idealized. The most important of these are ""The Sleeping Peri," "The Emigrant Children," " The Little Peasant," " The "White Captive," which is generally considered his best work (1858), and " The Angel at the Sepulchre." a monument in Rural cemetery, Albany (1868). His group, " The Landing of the Pilgrims," comprising sixteen figures fifteen inches high, was executed in 1857. It was designed to occupy the pediment of the south wing of the capitol at Washington, but its motive grated on the strong southern sentiment represented by John Floyd, the secretary of war, who had charge of the capi-