Palmer/Parmer Family Reunion

Martin Parmer at Battle of Gonzales

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Dan Hill a Palmer/Parmer cousin out in California is a fine historian.  He taught us something recently at the 2005 reunion in Huntsville, Texas.
 
Martin Parmer fought to defend the "Come and Take It" cannon from the Mexicans in the Battle of Gonzales.  The Battle of Gonzales was the first battle of the Texas Revolution. 
 
Not only did Martin Parmer sign the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico and serve as Chairman of the Committee that drafted the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in March of 1836 but he also fought in the first battle of the Texas Revolution on October 2, 1835.
 
The source of this information is Texas revolutionary veteran and Texas Ranger, Creed Taylor.  Taylor also gives us the only written description of Martin Parmer that we have.

From "Tall Men and Long Rifles, The Glamorous Story of the Texas Revolution As Told by Captain Creed Taylor, Who Fought in That Heroic Struggle From Gonzales to San Jacinto," James T. DeShields, The Naylor Company, San Antonio, Texas 1935, we have Creed Taylor's  description of Martin Palmer at the Battle of Gonzales:
 
"One man in the throng was especially conspicuous and, if possible, he seemed more eager for the fray than any other.  This was old Martin Palmer, 'the ring-tailed panther'-- a soubriquet he acquired while serving as a member of the territorial legislature of Missouri, during a free-for-all fight among members on one occassion.
 
" 'The Panther' as he was called was a Virginian, and a typical backwoodsman, who had spent most of his life along the frontiers of Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, and had much notoriety throughout the southwest as a fighter and a hunter.
 
"...Palmer was a man of more than ordinary parts, of most extraordinary strength of mind and body and brave as a lion.  He was of large stature and bronzed of feature, always dressed in buckskin hunting shirt and leather trousers, with a panther skin cap, wore his hair long and platted in Indian style, and was indeed a unique figure.  I first saw the 'Panther' at our home on Taylor's Bayou and he impressed me as a most extraordinary character. 
 
"On this occasion the 'Panther' was well mounted and armed, and in high glee, eager for a brush with the enemy;..."
 
 

Battle of Gonzales - Handbook of Texas Online

Creed Taylor - Handbook of Texas Online

Martin Parmer Family Tree - Descendants, Ancestors and Collateral Lines

Martin Parmer in Primary and Secondary Sources

Texas History Page Blog

Texas History Page

Fredonian Declaration of Independence

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