capt_buzzard wrote: We read today about the Black Americans and Jewish Americans. What about the Irish Americans and their influence on America?
www.irishamericanheritagemuseum.org
www.irishamerica.com I think I mentioned before that I had "Scotch Irish Roots".
I do family history (Genealogy) and would like to share a few of my Irish Amercan ancestors that I am proud of.
This is my GG Grandmother Rose Glennon and a few things on her and my GG Grandfather Robert Palmer:
Immigrated from Kells, County Meath {Meeth}, Ireland. Arrived in New York, NY in May 1863. Left New York, NY on January 13, 1864 by ship to the Ismus of Panama. From this location she rode a mule across to the Pacific Ocean. Boarded another ship and arrived in San Francisco, CA on February 8, 1864.
Rose may have traveled to the U.S. with other family members.
Married Robert Palmer in San Francisco in 1866.
............................. ROBERT PALMER COMES TO KERN........................
Brands were LH, RP, ISI
Robert Palmer I arrived at Hangtown (Placerville) California on August 23, 1850
and came to Kern County in 1860 and started in the cattle business in 1862 using LH as his brand.
His family first settled in Virginia but he was born in Hopkinsville,Christian Co., Kentucky on may 7,1823 to Edward and Rebecca (Patton) Palmer and was the next to the youngest of five sons and two daughters.
Both the Palmers and Patton's had come to America before the Revolutionary War and fought in it. His Grandfather Colonel Matthew Patton was with George Washington at Valley Forge. His grandmothers name was Hester Dyer and the name Hester and Rebecca have come down through the generations of Palmers. An Uncle John McCauley Palmer was governor of Illinois during Lincoln's time. Edward and Rebecca moved to Morgan County Illinois when Robert I was three and from there he came to California by horseback, packing his belongings on a pack horse. He was one of the nine survivors who arrived in California from a very large immigrant group that left St. Joseph Missouri and came by the South Pass. many died of cholera. It was such a wet year that they could dig only shallow graves as they would quickly fill with water from seepage. Robert felt he survived because he boiled all water before using it.
Robert Palmer mined and explored in Humboldt River Valley for some time. He was one of the first to discover gold in Mono Gulch, Mono County in the Walker River and was one of the discoverers of gold in the Aurora mining district.
After coming to Ken County California in 1860, he mined on Piute Mountain (Claraville) with Wade Hampton (Hamp) Williams before going into the cattle raising business in 1862.
Mr. Palmers interest in cattle was no doubt influenced by early cattle raising of his ancestors.
Also, Mr. Palmer was on the first Grand Jury of Kern County. His oldest son Robert Palmer Jr., was one of the first white children to be born on the Piute Mts (Claraville) of Kern County.
In San Francisco, the 14th of June,1866 he was united in matrimony to Rose Glennon of Ireland.
She was the daughter of James Glennon and Mary Brady, both of Kells, County Meath, Ireland.
She bore Robert Palmer 12 children, all born in Kern County,Ca.
Robert Palmer Jr., Margaret, Richard, Mary Elizabeth, Lee, Rose Lee, Walter, Rebecca, Patton, Nellie, Edward, Hettie.
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First families Move into Kern Valley
The great gold excitement was winding down by 1865. there was still plenty of mining activity, but the mining towns of Petersburg and Keysville were almost deserted. There were several promising quartz lodes being worked, including 'she Keys and the Mammoth. and a few stamp mills that took in custom ore work.
Many of the single men worked part time in the big mines and spent the rest of the time trying to make their own small claims pay off. Some of the prospectors who came in with the gold rush stayed on, others wandered off across fhe mountains to follow their dreams of El Dorado.
Charles Worland was one of the first miners to raise crops on the rich bottom lands at the junction of the South Fork and the North Fork of the Kern River.
He divided his early years of mining with farming, and added to his income by building a toll bridge across the river just below the forks.
Isaac Williams was the first farrner to use the hot snrings in the middle of the valley to advantage. He boasted that he could irrigate his lands with either warm or cold water during any season of the year.
In 1876 the Robert Palmers (b. 7 May 1823, Hopkinsville, Christain Co, KY.) moved into Hot Springs Valley, changing it from the abode of bachelor miners and ranchers to a family community.
The family had been mining on Piute Mountain for the previous fourteen years. and had been among the discoverers of the first placer mines there. He and his wife, Rose (Glennon) Palmer (b. 10 Oct 1839, Kells, County Meath Ireland) brought with them a brood of children that finally numbered twelve.
He had purchased from J.M. Lewis 282 acres that lay along Erskine Creek. This creek had been named after Michael Erskine who. after driving a herd of 1,000 longhorns from Texas to California, invested (and lost) his profits from this venture on a gold mine and mill located along this stream.
The pressing question was where would the children attend school? They lived eight miles from the school at Kernville â€â€too far to ride horseback there each day. The only solution was to start a school, which he did, paying the teacher out of his own pocket until 1883.
At this time other families with children arrived in the area. A school was built and the county took over the burden of the teacher's salary. This school was located two-tenths of a mile west of the present Isabella Post Office. Because Mr. and Mrs. Palmer had been instrumental in starting the school, and also because their children made upThe bulk of the enrollment, it was named the Palmer School.
The memory of the Palmer family will live on, because Mr. Palmers two granddaughters, Virginia Hill (Palmer) Rhoads and Marguerite (Palmer) Chappel, still live in the valley, as well as a number of great grandchldren and great-great grandchldreri who are still attending Woodrow Wallace School on Erskine Creek Rd.
Sorry so long but that is just one generation of many...........