Samuel A. PALMER

                   1880 US Census for Avilla, Noble, Indiana lists William's occupation as Telegraph agent.

There some confusion with a different Palmer family. I descend from Levi Palmer, born 1763. He is buried in Cayuga County, New York and fought in the revolution as a teenager. This is documented and was later awarded a small pension based on this service, along with countless others. Yes, your end of the family was a brick wall for me. The last I have of them is in the 1860 census in Henry County Ohio.

William F. Palmer was born in 1843, in Ohio. His parents were Martha and Samuel Palmer. His mother was from Ohio, and his father was from Connecticut. He enlisted to fight for the Union on December 2, 1861, in Napoleon, Ohio. He was 19 years old.
   He joined the 68th Ohio Infantry regiment, and spent about two months training at Camp Chase, Ohio. On February 7th, 1862, they were ordered to Fort Donelson, Tennessee. Fort Donelson was a Confederate fort in northern Tennessee on the Kentucky border. 15,000 rebels guarded the fort. The North attacked the fort, and the South tried an all-out attack to break through General Ulysses S. Grant's line, but failed. On February 16th, the fort's remaining 12,000 men surrendered. It was a devastating loss for the South, and a huge victory for the North. General Grant got a promotion, and got the nickname "Unconditional Surrender."
While at Fort Donelson, William Palmer got sick with diarrhea. Shortly after the fall of Fort Donelson, they were ordered to Crump's Landing, near the battle of Shiloh, Tennessee. William got sicker, instead of better, and came down with "lung disease". On April 11th, 1862, after only five months of service, he was discharged from the army on a Surgeon's certificate of disability. His discharge papers say that he had "chronic diarrhea" and "lung disease." Later pension records say that he had "hemorrhaging lung disease" (coughed up blood). It is most likely that he came down with tuberculosis, which is still incurable, even in our day. Tuberculosis was a common disease in army camps.
   William would never get better. On December 30th, 1868, he married Tina H. Smith in Republic, Ohio. Tina's widow's pension records say that his health grew worse and worse until he finally died on June 2nd, 1882. He was only 39 years old. William and Tina had one son, Verne Palmer, who was born on July 2nd, 1880. Verne was almost two years old when his father died, and Tina, who was eight years younger than William, was only 31.
The 1880 US Census for Avilla, Noble, Indiana lists William's occupation as Telegraph agent.