This story is part personal and part historical. Jim and Susie Ivey, who are from the Amery area, are very interested in genealogy and history and for the most part, these two interests go hand in hand to create this story. The story begins in 2011, while Jim was trying to document Susie’s 3 times great grandfather Isaac Palmer. From census records Jim knew that he was last found in Kentucky. Jim has been a avid genealogist and a volunteer for Find-A-Grave for many years. He happened on a new memorial listing on their website for Isaac and Ann Palmer. It had information on the location of the Cemetery where they were buried. So, with those directions in hand we set off to find the graves. We are snowbirds so we just happen to go through Kentucky two times a year on our way from our Wisconsin home to our Florida home. So in the fall of 2011 we took the directions and tried to find the cemetary. We drove around a rural area south of Hopkinsville, KY for a few hours and found nothing. We stopped at a local farmer’s home to see if he could help. After a smile, he asked if we had any idea as to how many private cemeteries were in that part of the country. Most of the farms in the area had one. He also said that it was likely that over the past hundred and fifty years, many of those cemeteries may have been plowed under. So we came to terms with the fact that we might not ever find the graves. So we gave up looking for that trip and continued on to Florida.
Jim could not get this out of his mind and would not give up. Why would someone have created a memorial for someone if there was not a cemetery? He made contact with the person that created Isaac and Ann Palmer’s memorial on the Find-a-Grave web site trying to get additional help. As it turned out the information that he used to create the memorial, came from a book that he got from the local library. In the fall of 2014, he searched to find a local historian to help us find the cemetery. He made several inquiries to local Genealogical groups, Museums and Historical groups in hopes of finding someone who was interested in our story and agree to help. After a number of calls, he came in touch with Jean Clark, a volunteer at one of the historical societies who was born and raised in the area and was very excited to offer help. In the spring of 2015 Jim received a call from Jean Clark who said that she had found the cemetery and on our return trip to Wisconsin, we stopped in Kentucky again and this time, with Jean’s help, we were able to locate the cemetery. The cemetery was on private land on a 600 acre cattle ranch. Turned out at one time there was a small Baptist church located on the property. We located the stones in a wooded area of a cattle pasture. There were about 35 graves sites in this cemetery and most of the stones were broken and buried on the ground. When we located the Palmer stones, they were in very good condition considering they had been there since 1843. This was a very exciting discovery for us and a very historical find for the state of Kentucky, and the Country. We took photos of the stones and Jim posted them on the Find-a-Grave web site memorial.
Susie is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Isaac Palmer is her Patriot 3times Great Grandfather. Isaac was a Minute Man in the Revolutionary War from 1776 to 1781. A Minute Man was a member of the Militia formed in 1775. They were trained in military tactics and trained to respond to emergencies “at a minute‘s notice.” Isaac was living in Virginia at the time of the revolution and later married and moved to Kentucky.
We often thought, after finding the graves, that this little cemetery should somehow be protected from further damage from the cattle, which has not happened as yet.
This is where our story and another different story come together. In Dec 2019, Jim got a call from a member of the Washington State Society DAR Rae Anna Victor who was looking for Susie, a relative of Isaac Palmer. Rae Anna had found Jim’s name through the Find- A- Grave web site that Jim was managing for Isaac. During my conversation with her, she talked about her reasons for wanting to find a living relative of Isaac. Our first question was why was a DAR member from Washington State interested in Isaac Palmer? As it turned out, the first DAR Chapter of the State of Washington was founded by Isaac’s great granddaughter Harriet Palmer Crabbe back in 1894. She was the organizing Regent of the Washington State Society DAR. Rae Anna went on to tell Susie about the America 250 Project which is a national celebration of the 250th birthday of the United States which will take place in 2026. The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) will be a large part of this celebration and has created the DAR “Pathway of the Patriots” project. As a part of this project, Isaac Palmer was chosen to be the State of Washington’s designated Patriot and be so honored as a part of this national celebration.
The plans for Isaac and his wife Ann were to exhume them from the cattle pasture and relocate them to the Kentucky Veterans Cemetary West in Hopkinsville, KY. We were elated at this news! In order to proceed with the project they needed a descendent to sign a document to give the permission. It took a lot of time, money and government hoops to jump through to get this accomplished. We were just a small portion of the efforts to get Isaac and Ann moved. Many people worked on this project with research and fund raising events. Then there was Covid which slowed the process down. So in August of 2020 Isaac and Ann were exhumed and reinterred. There was suppose to be a dedication ceremony but that got cancelled because of Covid protocols at a public place.
So finally in October of 2021 we were able to dedicate the new graves of Isaac and Ann in the Kentucky Veterans Cemetary West in Hopkinsville, KY. There was a dedication of a plaque at the church he had attended. Then a ceremony at the cemetary with a group from the Sons of the American Revolutionary (Col. Stephen Trigg Chapter KYSAR), all in revolutionary period costumes. The KYSAR Honor Guard presented the colors, gave a gun salute with muskets and the playing of taps. There was a proclamation from the mayor of Hopkinsville that October 1, 2021 was Isaac Palmer day in Hopkinsville, KY. Susie was presented with an American Flag thanking Isaac for his service to our nation.
Many speeches, songs and dedications with flowers from DAR members from multiple states around the country. It was a wonderful tribute and one of the most memorable days of my life.
There is more history to the Isaac story such as his grandson John M. Palmer was a General in the American Civil War and went on to be the 15th Governor of the State of Illinois. As mentioned earlier, his great Granddaughter was the founding member of the Washington State Society Daughters of the American Revolution. All of this historical back ground leads us to America’s 250th Anniversary which will be celebrated July 4, 2026. Isaac is also honored on the America 250 project website www.dar.org/national-society/america250. “Honoring Our Patriots” gives a short bio of 250 patriots of which Isaac Palmer is just one.
The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution encourages all Americans to remember our past, celebrate the present and honor our patriots as we move into the future.
As a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and a member of the VFW Auxiliary post 7929 here in Amery, I am trying to bring public awareness to the upcoming celebration. God Bless America and all those who fought for our freedom.
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