CAPT. SAMUEL D. PALMER, formerly mayor of Covington, Ohio, and since 1904 in the Government service in connection with the Rural Free Delivery system here, is a veteran of the Civil War and since boyhood has been identified with military affairs. He was born April 19, 1848 in Franklin County, Penna., a son of Michael and Elizabeth (Rowe) Palmer. The parents of Capt. Palmer were born, reared and married in Maryland. They later settled on a farm in Franklin County, Penna., and their subsequent life passed there.

Samuel D. Palmer attended the public schools in Franklin County until he was thirteen years of age, when he joined two brothers, Daniel and George, at Gettysburg, Darke County, Ohio. From there, February 18, 1864, he entered the Federal Army, although he was only fourteen years of age, enlisting in Company K, Thirty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war, being mustered out July 26, 1865. On February 14, 1865, his regiment was consolidated with the Thirty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the two regiments being consolidated while he was a prisoner. Although a boy in years, the young soldier displayed the courage of a man, participating in thirty-four battles and skirmishes and often for weeks being in hourly danger of death. Only on one occasion was he injured and that not very seriously, being felled by an exploding shell, but on January 11, 1865, he was captured by the Confederates at Beverly Virginia, and he was confined in the terrible Libby Prison until April 1865, rejoining his regiment as soon as exchanged. His record is one of which he is justly proud. After he returned to Gettysburg, his interest in military matters continued and for twenty-seven years he was an officer in the Ohio National Guard, now being on the retired list, with the rank of captain. For five years he served as second lieutenant of Company G, Third Regiment, for one year as lieutenant, for eleven years as captain and for ten years was captain of Company A.

From 1865 until 1880, Captain Palmer resided at Gettysburg or on a farm of 120 acres belonging to Andrew Weaver in Adams Township, Darke County. His military duties frequently required his presence at other points and much of his attention. The farm of twenty acres in Concord Township that he owns now, he never lived on. He is a member of Langston Post, G.A.R., of which he has been adjutant for fourteen years and for several years was commander, and he was also on the staff of General Mumford, with the rank of colonel, when that officer was at the head of the Ohio organization. In 1880 he came to Covington and soon became a man to whom the citizens looked for advice and public help, electing him to the city council for two years and in 1894 making him mayor. He served in that responsible office for three full terms up to 1900, and during that time Covington made many leaps forward, adding to her public utilities and her commercial importance.

Capt. Palmer was married to Miss Belle Hill and they have two children: Maud, who is the wife of Samuel N. Arnie; and Loretta Pearl, who married Dr. W. B. Carey. Dr. Carey and wife have one son, Palmer Benord Carey, and they reside at Brooklyn, New York. Capt. Palmer and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he has been a steward since 1880. In politics he is a Republican. He is identified fraternally with the Masons and Knights of Pythias.