IAGenWeb Project - Allamakee co.

Emmett Leroy Palmer

 

A thorough and experienced agriculturist and a good manager, Emmett Leroy Palmer takes a prominent place among the younger farmers of Allamakee county. Since 1910 he has owned his present property, comprising one hundred and twenty acres, and within a few years has brought it to a high state of cultivation, his fields yielding rich harvests and being fenced into suitable tracts. His buildings are substantial and modern and the latest farm machinery and implements can be found upon his place. Mr. Palmer is a native of Iowa, his birth occurring at Elkader, Clayton county, on September 21, 1878. He is a son of Aaron V. and Emma (Niblock) Palmer, the former a native of Pennsylvania, born about 1851, and the latter of Allamakee county, her birth having occurred near Waukon about a year later. In early life the father followed the trade of cooper but also engaged in teaming and farming and eventually settled on a property near Waukon, in Jefferson township, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits and where he still resides. Enjoying good health, he is still active and is now enjoying a prosperity which his long years of incessant labor have brought him. He also was engaged for a time in carrying mail from Elkader to West Union and to Postville, making these routes for about thirteen years.

Emmett L. Palmer is the second in a family of nine children, all of whom are living. He attended school in Clayton county and also in Jefferson township, this county. He was early reared to an agricultural life by his father and from him learned the thorough methods which now bring him such gratifying results. He remained at home until eighteen years of age, when he started out upon his independent career by working as a farm hand for others and also engaging in other work until married and then rented land which he operated until November, 1910, with such good results that he was enabled to buy his present farm. He owns one hundred and twenty acres in Franklin township and operates the same in a general way. The farm is now fully equipped with modern buildings, is conveniently fenced and its appearance in every way betrays careful management and well applied labor. Mr. Palmer is also a stockholder in the Farmers Cooperative Creamery Company at Monona and in the Farmers Shipping Association.

The marriage of Mr. Palmer to Miss Ethel Stafford occurred on September 4, 1901. She is a daughter of Seth N. Stafford and is just nine days younger than her husband, her birth occurring on September 30, 1878. Mr. Stafford is a pioneer of Allamkee county and one of the representative agriculturists of Franklin township. He owns a valuable farm of nearly three hundred and fifty acres on section 23 and there has gained prosperity. A native of Virginia, he was born near Morgantown, on the Monogahela river, on the 1st of June, 1848, and is a son of James Harrison and Christina (Trisler) Stafford. In his early youth he came to Allamakee county, where he spent all his active life with the exception of one year which was passed with his father in Colorado. As the years passed he attained to prosperity and has become one of the prominent citizens of his district. He was twice married and to his first union, with Miss Mary White, two children were born, a son and a daughter. Later he married Miss Betty C. Entwisle, who was born in Franklin township in 1858 and is a daughter of William and Martha (Hancock) Entwisle, the former a native of England and the latter of Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Stafford became the parents of seven children, of whom Ethel, the wife of our subject, is the oldest. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer have four children: Everett Merle, born August 31, 1902; Emmett Earl, August 18, 1907; Greta L., April 21, 1910; and Crayton James, October 17, 1912.

In his political affiliations Mr. Palmer is a democrat and although deeply interested in the affairs which affect the community, he has never aspired to office. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge at Monona and both, he and his wife, belong to the affiliated order of Rebekahs at Rossville. Mr. Palmer also holds membership in the modern Woodmen of America and in that connection has a life policy and also has protected his family by taking out insurance with other organizations. Mr. Palmer is public-spirited and progressive in all his actions and, as he is a man of natural ability, has already attained a success which many an older man might well envy. He enjoys in full measure the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens and is recognized as a forceful factor for good in his locality.

-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Diana Diedrich

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