The Betsey Ann Cowles Palmer series (2 folders, approx 243 MB) contains correspondence to family in Montana, Michigan, and elsewhere. Topics include family matters and news, including settling the estate of her husband, Charles Henry Palmer, who died without making a will. The series also includes Betsey Palmer's obituary.
2 linear feet — 1.9 GB
The Palmer Family papers document the activities of an upper-class family in nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Michigan. The strength of the collection is its documentation of the growth of early business in Michigan. The Charles Henry Palmer (Senior) series contains the bulk of this information, with papers documenting his activities as an investor in mining and railroads in Michigan's Upper Peninsula from the 1850s through the 1880s. The balance of the collection contains both business and personal materials documenting the lives of various Palmer family members. Materials include correspondence, legal materials, business records, photographs, diaries and journals, and newspaper clippings.
The Charles Henry Palmer (Senior) series contains correspondence, topical files, legal materials, and other personal materials.
The majority of this correspondence (7 folders and approx. 157 MB) is incoming and concerns Palmer's business interests in Northern Michigan. The items from the 1850s document the establishment of the Pewabic Mine and the efforts of Palmer's associate, William Heywood of Boston, to sell the stock to investors on the mining exchange there. The 1860s correspondence continues to address mining investment, as well as stock exchange prices and procedures, employee compensation, and real estate purchases. In addition to mining, the Palmer correspondence of the 1870s and 1880s documents railroad investments, real estate transactions and subsequent tensions between local interests and Eastern investors. Palmer's personal correspondence (1 folder) contains letters from his father, sister and brother. Of particular interest, because of the era, is a letter written by Palmer's father during the Civil War (1863). Four letters are unsigned, some are undated. This grouping also contains a small number of photostat letters form Henry Tappan, discussing Tappan's travels in Europe and business relating to his stock trading with Palmer.