Palmer, Levin T.

Born: 1814-12-03 New York

Died: 1900-08-26 Danville, Illinois

Flourished: Danville, Illinois

Levin T. Palmer, merchant, was born on Long Island, New York and attended local schools there before moving to Illinois in 1835. He served as a clerk for William Fithian in Danville for a year, then spent several years in Milwaukee. He returned to Danville and settled permanently, embarking on a career in the mercantile line and later in the loan and real estate business. Between 1836 and 1861, he purchased one hundred tracts of land in Ford, Iroquois, Livingston, McLean, Piatt, and Vermilion counties. By 1860, he owned real estate valued at $41,500 and possessed $15,000 in personal property. He married Esther Gilbert in 1842 and the pair had three children.

Lottie E. Jones, History of Vermilion County Illinois (Chicago: Pioneer, 1911), 2:791-93; U.S. Census Office, Sixth Census of the United States (1840), Danville, Vermilion County, IL, 88; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Danville, Vermilion County, IL, 36; For a list of Palmer’s land purchases, search “Palmer Levin T,” https://www.ilsos.gov/isa/landsrch.jsp; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Danville, Vermilion County, IL, 5; The Daily Republican (Mount Carmel, IL), 5 September 1900, 2:4; Gravestone, Spring Hill Cemetery and Mausoleum, Danville, IL.