Captain John Palmer (c.1650 – c.1700) was an English soldier, lawyer and colonial administrator.
In the earlier 1670s Palmer moved from
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
to the
Province of New York
The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the Uni ...
, and he was then appointed ranger of
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
.
Thomas Rudyard
Thomas Rudyard (1640 – buried 2 November 1692) was a Quaker lawyer in London before moving to America and being appointed deputy governor of East Jersey and the first Attorney General of the English Province of New York, the predecessor positi ...
made him one of his councillors in
East Jersey
The Province of East Jersey, along with the Province of West Jersey, between 1674 and 1702 in accordance with the Quintipartite Deed, were two distinct political divisions of the Province of New Jersey, which became the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...
, in 1682.
Palmer purchased the land comprising much of the neighborhood now known as
Far Rockaway
Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County line ...
in the borough of
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
in New York City in 1685 from the
Native American chief
Tackapausha
Tackapausha -- also spelled as Tackapousha -- was a Lenape sachem, a successor of Penhawitz (his mother's brother, an important father-like figure in the Algonquian matrilineal kinship system). Tackapousha represented a broad coalition of Munsee-sp ...
for 31 English pounds. Palmer sold most of the land to
Richard Cornell
Richard Cornell (16251693) was an English people, English Quaker ironmaster and resident of Long Island who is generally considered the first European settler on the Rockaway, Queens, Rockaway Peninsula in the present-day Borough of Queens, New Yor ...
in 1687.
Also in 1687,
Thomas Dongan
Thomas Dongan, (pronounced "Dungan") 2nd Earl of Limerick (1634 – 14 December 1715), was a member of the Irish Parliament, Royalist military officer during the English Civil War, and Governor of the Province of New York. He is noted for hav ...
sent Palmer to England, to confer with
James II. He was then made a commissioner governing
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
, with John West, taking profit from supposed uncertainties in land titles of colonists there. In 1688 the governor
Sir Edmund Andros
Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served ...
of New England fell as a result of the
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...
, and Palmer was imprisoned.
Legacy
The Palmer's Landing neighborhood in the Arverne By The Sea development in
Arverne
Arverne is a neighborhood in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Queens, on the Rockaway, Queens, Rockaway Peninsula. It was initially developed by Remington Vernam (land developer), Remington Vernam, whose signature "R. Vernam" ...
is named after him
Notes
Palmer (Rockaway, Queens landowner), John
American landowners
People of the Province of New York
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