From Stonington Middle School Students Uncover Story of Enslaved Couple
Mintus “Mint” Palmer and Rose Palmer were born into slavery in approximately 1781 and 1780, respectively. Records are scarce, but show Rose Palmer was owned by Elias Sanford Palmer.
Mint Palmer was owned by Sarah Palmer and was listed under “residue and remainder of the estate” in property records after Sarah Palmer’s death. Elias and Sarah Palmer were descendants of one of Stonington’s founders, Walter Palmer, who settled in the Wequetequock Cove area in 1652. The Palmers claim President Ulysses S. Grant as a descendant. Also, the Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer House and the Donald F. Palmer football field at the high school bear the family name.
Rose Palmer was freed in 1802. Mint Palmer, after his emancipation in 1805, worked as a day laborer earning $16 a day in today’s dollars. Around 1806, the couple married, and built a two-room home near 316 Flanders Road. The house is not standing today, but student research revealed it was located near the home of Cato Cuff, the subject of last year’s Witness Stones Project.
According to a family Bible, the couple had seven children. One film noted it seemed they could not afford to support them, as all seven were “bound out,” or contracted into indentured servitude, by the town’s selectmen by 1823. Indenture contracts, often used to skirt anti-slavery laws, legally obligated individuals to provide free labor for a set term of years. The couple’s daughters were indentured until they were 21 and their sons until 25.
Mint Palmer died Feb. 12, 1826, after approximately 20 years of marriage. His cause of death, like his burial place and the names of his parents, is unknown. Rose Palmer survived her husband by 42 years and died March 30, 1868, two days after suffering severe burns when she walked too close to the fireplace and her clothes caught fire. She was buried in Hilliard Cemetery on Flanders Road.
