After a day of driving in circles and not finding the ancestors we were searching for, we made our way to Connecticut. The morning of the 4th, we set out to the city of Stonington’s historic cemetery.
Mom by the sign
opening the old iron gate
My family is rather interesting in that both my mother and my father are descended from Walter Palmer.
Click to enlarge and read
My mother’s side comes from his daughter, who married Thomas Minor. Her full brother, Jonah, is one of my father’s direct ancestors. That makes Walter Palmer both my 10th and 11th great-grandfather (and my parents tenth cousins once removed).
Walter Palmer 1585-1681
His original field stone marker is still in the cemetery.
His son-in-law Thomas’s (my 10th great-grandfather) original marker is there as well. By the way, I’ve read his diary that he kept from 1653 – 1684.
Thomas Minor (1608 – 1690)
After we left the cemetery, we went to tour the historic Nathanial Palmer house, which was built in 1852. I’m not sure what the actual relationship is, but he is a cousin, also being a descendant of Walter Palmer. He gets to boast that he was the first American to find Antarctica.
We got to tour the house all the way up to the turret.
winding staircase to the turret
It was a beautiful view.
The view from the turret.
After that, we went down to the shore.
We toured the light house. Only the first floor is open to the public, but it is a nice little museum.
Stonington Lighthouse built in 1840
And it has the coat worn by John Minor in the War of 1812. Yes, this is another cousin of some sort (not sure how yet). HERE is an article that give more information on how there was an explosion that caused the rip in the coat and injured him. He even lost the vision in his eye because of it.
John Minor’s coat from the War of 1812.
It was quite an interesting morning walking in the home place of so many of my ancestors.
Teresa
Eden Hills 