The Ford Family

Born	1585 England
Died	November 10, 1661 Stonington, CT

Spouse	Rebecca Palmer
Married	June 1, 1633 Rehoboth, MA
Children	Hannah Palmer Elihu Palmer Nehemiah Palmer Moses Palmer, I Benjamin Palmer Gershom Palmer

Former Spouse	Name Unknown
Children	Grace Palmer John Palmer Elizabeth Palmer William Palmer Jonah Palmer

Bio
Walter Palmer is our Immigrant Ancestor who first came to America in about 1629, starting the Palmer line from whom we are all descended. He was a Puritan and came seeking religious freedom. He helped to found Charlestown and Rehoboth, MA as well as Stonington, CT where he is buried. There are many data sources about this man, but here we will report on those we believe to be true based on documentation.

Walter is listed as having traveled on the ship the Four Sisters from England, arriving here on April 5, 1629. He married in England and had children, but his first wife must have died as she did not come with him and her name is unknown. We know for sure that his oldest child was named Grace, and that he also brought with him another daughter named Elizabeth and sons named John, William, and Jonah.

On May 18, 1631 he took The "Oath of a Freeman," which was a loyalty pledge required of all new members of the Massachusetts Bay Company in the 1630s. This would allow him to hold office and buy land. One record states that he and 9 other men from the Colony went into the wilderness to a place the Indians called Mishawaka and began to build homes for their families there. A year later they were joined by 100 people from Salem. They built this area into a town they named Charlestown in honor of their King, Charles I of England.

He was elected as a selectman in August of 1643. This settlement wanted to align itself with the Plymouth Colony, which Walter was not all that thrilled about.

Walter continued to search this new world, helping others and buying lands as he went. We find him next leaving Charlestown and, with his best friend William Cheesebrough, starting a new settlement that would later be called Rehoboth.

With 5 children ranging in age from 16 to 9, it is not surprising that he quickly found a new wife and married Rebecca Short on June 1, 1633. He and Rebecca have 7 children: Hannah in 1634, Elihu in 1636, Nehemiah in 1637, Moses in 1640, Benjamin in 1642, Gershom in 1644, and their last child Rebecca in 1646!

While Walter was busy building his family, Cheesebrough leaves Rehoboth to start a new life for himself in a place that came to be known as New London, Connecticut. Those in charge of Plymouth Colony did not like Cheesebrough living all by himself in the wilderness, and asked him to get some folks to move out there with him. He went out and recruited a few men, including Walter, to move. Walter and family leave Rehoboth in 1653 and bought land on the east bank of Wequetequock Cove. It is here that our ancestor, and his friends, established the town of Stonington. Walter would become the Constable here and served as a prominent member of society. Over his lifetime he acquired a lot of land and farms which he divided among his many children.