Oliver H. Palmer

     GEN. OLIVER HAZARD PALMER.
 Gen. Oliver Hazard Palmer, who died of
pneumonia on Saturday afternoon, at his resi
dence, No. 40 West Thirty-second-street, was
born Oct. 5, 1814, at Walworth, Wayne County,
N.Y. His father, Nathan Palmer, a native of
Granville, Washington County, went to Wayne
County, which was then a wilderness, in 1806, andd
selected a forest of 600 acres. He took his per-
sonal effects on horseback four miles from the
nearest settlement into this tract, and here, in a
log-house, Gen. Palmer first saw the light. Gen.
Palmer went to school until he was 16. After
that, until he was 21, he worked on the farm in
the Summer and taught school in the Winter.
He wanted a better education. For two years
after he attained his majority he attended the
Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, at Lima, paying his
way by teaching.
 He began studying law in the office of Judge
Theron R. Green in Palmyra, in 1839, and was
admitted to the Bar in 1842. Judge Strong's at-
tention was attracted to him by the power the
young man exhibited in a debate on slavery in
the village school-house. During 1840 and 1841
he was the editor of the leading Democratic
paper of Wayne County. In 1842 he was ap-
pointed First Judge of the courts of Wayne
county, which position he resigned two years
later and became the law partner of Judge
Strong. For several years prior to 1848 his views
on the slavery question had been modi-
fied from those held byu the Democratic
masses, and in that year he became a sup-
porter of the Free-Soil Van-Buren plat-
form, adopted at Buffalo. He subsequently
became identified with the Republican Party and
worked for the election of Abraham Lincoln. In
1851 he went to Rochester and formed a law co-
partnership with his brother-in-law, George H.
Mumford. He was one of the committee to take
charge of the raising of troops in Monroe County
under the call of July 8, 1862, and was appointed
Colonel of the One Hundred and Eighth Regi-
ment. He took a conspicuous part in McClellan's
campaign in Maryland and Virginia, including
the battles of South Mountain and Antietam.
At Fredericksburg he was in command of
a brigade, and was in the advance divi-
sion. Ill health compelled him to retire
from his command, and he left his regiment
near Falmouth March 6, 1863. On May 22, 1866,
he was given the brevet rank of Brigadier-Gen-
eral for faithful and meritorious service.
 On his return to Rochester in 1863, he was
made Treasurer of the Western Union Telegraph
Company, and when the offices were removed to
New-York he came hither. He was afterward
Vice-President. He resigned this office, but re-
mained a Director until the last change
in the management. After his resignation
he organized the law department of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company, of which
he was and continued to be a Trustee.
He wrote a pamphlet as the result of his observa-
tions as solicitor for the company which attract-
ed much attention. He took opposite ground
from those who claim that suicide is always the
result of insanity. He was President of the
Hahnemann Hospital. His health began to fail
a year ago. He was in Florida several weeks last
Winter and in Europe last Summer for his health.
A wife, three married daughters, and one son,
Oliver H. Palmer, Jr., survive him. His funeral
services will take place at Calvary Protestant
Episcopal Church Wednesday morning at 10
o'clock. The interment will be in Rochester.