Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/722

 636 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI distinctive evidence of the confidence and es- teem reposed in liim in his home community, as he was then elected mayor of Elvius, in which position he is giving a most careful and progressive administration of municipal affairs. Both he and his wife hold member- ship in the Presbyterian church and he is afaiiated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. in July, 1906, was solemnized the mar- riage of ]Ir. Cameron to Miss Kate Langdon, daughter of Mrs. :Iary Langdon, of Elvius, and she is a popular factor in connectiou with the social activities of her home community. Mr. and Mrs. Cameron have no children. Aaron P^vlmee. One of the most active and prosperous agriculturists of Dunklin county, Aaron Palmer owns and occupies a valuable farm in the town of Senath, where he has won an enviable reputation as an honest man and a good citizen, and as one who has contributed his full quota towards the advancement and development of one of the richest agricultural regions of South- eastern Missouri. A son of William and Pamelia (^Miller) Palmer, he was born in Carroll county, Tennessee, February 4, 1845, on the home farm. William Palmer was born and reared in South Carolina, but as a young man settled in Carroll county, Tennessee, where he lived until 1849, when he came to Missouri, locat- ing in Stoddard county, near Bloomfield. He was of English ancestry on both sides of the house, as was his first wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch. She died on the farm near Bloomfield, in 1854, leaving three children, namely : Aaron Palmer, the subject of this sketch ; and a son and a daughter that are now living in California. William Palmer was subsequently twice married, and had one other child, Mrs. Martha Hays, of Dunklin covinty. Brouglit up in Stoddard county. Aaron Palmer lived at home for a few years after his father's second marriage. At the age of thirteen years, however, he began working out for wages, finding employment on differ- ent farms in Missouri and Tennessee. In 1862, during the most exciting period of the Civil war. he came to Dunklin coimty with two yoke of steers, which he drove sixty miles in three davs. his father, who had large herds of stock and was a southern sympathizer. coming here for protection, as things were prettj' warm for him in Stoddard county. Mr. Palmer himself subsequently fought for a few months in the Confederate army, being a member of ilarmaduke's Cavalry, which was stationed principall.y in Arkansas. At the close of the conflict Mr. Palmer came to Dunklin county in search of re- munerative employment, having no capital save willing hands, a courageous heart and a strong determination to win success in the battle of life. About four years later he had succeeded so well in his efl:"orts that he felt warranted in taking unto himself a wife. She had some land and a few head of cattle, and they settled near his present home. A year or two later Mr. Palmer purchased eighty acres of the land now included in his farm, and in its management met with such emi- nent success that he has since made frequent purcha.ses of other land, and is now owner of eight hundred acres of land in Dunklin county, nearly all of which is in one bod.y, he lieing now one of the largest owners of im- proved land in the entire county. When Mr. Palmer located in Senath there were no roads in the vicinity, nothing but paths, and only one building had then been erected in the town. The country roundabout was heavily timbered, his first dwelling place having been erected in the woods, and having been made of logs, with a stick and mud chimney. At the end of seven years Mr. Palmer traded his original property, selling to a man at Cotton Plant, and subsequentlv made another deal with Will F. Shelton, Sr.. of Kennett. He is now oceuping a large, seven-room cottage, and on his farm has fifteen tenant houses, which are occupied by his renters, who devote their time and attention to the raising of the crops common to this region, Mr. Palmer himself doing now biit little of the actual labor of the farm. Mr. Palmer has been twice married. He married first, in September, 1869, Parlee Cook, who died in 1895, leaving six children, namely : Nancy : Thomas J. ; Martha ; Charles, living at home; George, also at home; and Tennie. Mr. Palmer married for his second wife. Mrs. Rachel T. Gulp, nee Hardin, a widow ^vith three children, namely : Henry. Janetta and Alfred. In his political relations Mr. Palmer is a Democrat, and religiously he is an active and trustworthy member of the Primitive Baptist cliurch.