Palmer Family of St. Kitts

The Palmer family of St. Kitts is linked to the Cranstoun family of Antigua through the marriage of Arthur Herbert "Artie" Cranstoun 1894–1932 to Hyacinth Neville Marguerite Palmer 1901–1991.

On our first day in St. Kitts we went to the Archive Office, which is a small after thought of the St. Kitts government for historical records. I often wonder when the Caribbean islands will come to the realization their history is disintegrating before their eyes and will one day be gone forever, unless they spend some money to look after it. Vicki O'Flaherty, has done a marvellous job in digitizing what she could and organizing the records in an easy to use searchable database. I had mentioned to Vicki that I was interested in finding out about the Palmer family, she smiled and said, “In all the years of doing this you are only the second person to inquire about this family. There is a woman in England named Sheri Cooper and I will send her your email.” After searching the records and finding some things we decided to return to our hotel, when I had set up the computer there was a message from Sheri Cooper and we have been corresponding ever since.

Palmer Family Of St. Kitts

Dr. Thomas Chambers Palmer

• Wife

  • Mary Sophia Robinson Henville married Dr. Thomas Chambers Palmer and had nine children, four sons and five daughters:
    
    I could not find any records on Mary Sophia Robinson Henville even though I had obtained a database of births on St. Kitts and Nevis specifically for the Henville’s. In July 2015, I made contact with Che Davison (Langford Arthur Edwin Cranstoun’s step daughter) who lived it and she was able to provide an insight on the Cranstoun family from St. Kitts, which no one I knew, had any idea of.
    
    I had discovered through Hazel Brookes that she was a childhood neighbour of the Cranstoun’s, so I assumed that the house she had shown me was the house Langford and Sigrid lived in after they were married. How wrong I was! Che, informed me that the family first moved into the house of my Malone cousin on Princes Street in Basseterre. I was also informed that after Langford’s car bus accident, Charles Francis Henville became his lawyer.
    
    She said Charles Francis Henville was somehow related but she did not know how and when Langford’s sister “Cynthia” and her son Stephen would return to St. Kitts for a visit they would stay with the Henville’s.
    
    This was the break I needed to begin to understand the Henville family. I searched for Charles Francis Henville and found information on him, then I found his nephew Don Mitchell, also a lawyer, and I contacted him and was able to make contact with a son of Charles Francis Henville, Michael Henville.
    
    I had contacted Michael before but I had overwhelmed him with names he did not know. On my second attempt he saw I was really interested and I had used a few names he knew and he provided me with some contacts to extend my journey into my family tree. One contact was the daughter of Daphine Emily Palmer, Mary Patricia Miller, no one in the family had told me Daphne was married so I was overjoyed to make contact with her.
    

• Children
  • Anne Chambers Palmer ?–1908 (see further down page)
    Married Richard Edward Rawlins born 18 November 1826 on St. Kitts, British West Indies. They had eight children:
    
    James Friend Palmer Rawlins 1856-?
    Dr. William Henry Evelyn Rawlins 1857-1934
    Eloisa Wheatland "Ella" Rawlins 1862-1937
    Mayable Josephine Rawlins 1862-?
    Adele Kathleen Rawlins 1864-1939
    Richard Clifford Meggs Rawlins 1865-1929
    Rosetta Rawlins 1867-1930 (twin)
    Lillian Rawlins 1867-? (twin)
    
    
  • Charles Thomas Palmer 1859–?
    
    
  • James Friend Palmer 1862–1910
    
    Child: Margaret Wattley Palmer - mother unknown
    
    
  • M. E. Palmer 1864–1910
    
    
  • Ellen Jane Palmer 1866–?
    
    
  • Unknown Palmer 1868–?
    
    
  • Neville Edwin Palmer 1870–? Hyancinth's father.
    
    Child: Neville Palmer - mother unknown, married Eleanor "Ellen" Patrick and had a daughter Ashley 1912-1986
    
    Married Sarah Louise Bernadine Parmenter/Pamenter (see below)
    
    
  • stillborn Palmer 1874–?
    
    
  • Joseph Amory Palmer 1877–?
    
• Parents

  Unknown

Sarah Louise Bernadine Parmenter/Pamenter

• Parents

  • Mary Ann Smith Margetson 1826-1903, died Parsons Estate, St Kitts, British West Indies married George Parmenter/Pamenter
    
    Mary Ann Smith Margetson named her son Robert Bernard Parmenter/Pamenter Executor of her will and Edwin Neville Palmer was a witness, in which she left everything to her four children, George Thomas Constatine Parmenter/Pamenter, Robert Bernard Parmenter/Pamenter, Charles Henry Eugene Parmenter/Pamenter and Sarah Louisa Bernadenas Parmenter/Pamenter-Palmer (Hyacinth’s mother). The only son where one can find anything was Robert Bernard Parmenter/Pamenter who married Sarah Elizabeth Yearwood, daughter of Francis Yearwood. They had one son Wentworth Lloyd Parmenter/Pamenter born on April 4, 1884 at Ottley’s Plantation.
    

• Children
  • George Thomas Constantine Parmenter/Pamenter 1864-?
    
    
  • Robert Bernard Parmenter/Pamenter 1865–? married Sarah Elizabeth Yearwood they had three children
    
    Robert Bernard Parmenter/Pamenter was a member of the Nevis & St. Kitts Legislative Council in 1917 and the Handbook Of The Leeward Islands shows he was the owner of Jessup’s Estate on Nevis. Also, I found an article which states “In 1900 the business of the Charlestown branch of the mercantile firm of S.L. Horsford was acquired by R.B. Parmenter/Pamenter”.
    
    Audrey Merle Parmenter/Pamenter married Thomas Edward Elliot and they had a son and a daughter
    
    Wentworth Lloyd Parmenter/Pamenter born 4 April 1894 on Ottleys Plantation, St. Kitts
    
    Bernadine Parmenter/Pamenter
    
    
  • Charles Henry Eugine Parmenter/Pamenter 1867-?
    
    
  • Sarah Bernadina Parmenter/Pamenter 1868-1870
    
    
  • Sarah Louise Bernadine Parmenter/Pamenter 1870-? married Neville Edwin Palmer (below)
    
    
• Parents

  Parents of Mary Ann Smith Margetson were John Margetson born 1800 in England and Ayah. May not have married but had a relationship with a lady believed to be called Ayah, (surname believed to be of African-Carib Indian descent. Ayah meaning = Mother or Nurse Maid. Marie Evelyn, daughter of Henry Francis and Marie Augusta remembered her Grandmother and called her Ayah when visiting the family in England during the 1980's.

John Margetson

• Wife

  • Ayah. May not have married but had a relationship with a lady believed to be called Ayah, (surname believed to be of African-Carib Indian descent. Ayah meaning - Mother or Nurse Maid. Marie Evelyn, daughter of Henry Francis and Marie Augusta remembered her Grandmother and called her Ayah when visiting the family in England during the 1980's.
    
    John Margetson left England for St. Kitts to work for Manning & Anderdon (name sound familiar? see David Cranstoun The strings of family ties are growing tighter).
    

• Children
  • John David Margetson 1826-1884 died on Parsons Estate, St Kitts, British West Indies
    Had eight children with 4 different women.
    
    
  • Mary Ann Smith Margetson married George Parmenter/Pamenter see Sarah Louise Bernadine Parmenter/Pamenter above
    
    
  • Henry Francis Margetson 1841-1881 died on Parsons Estate, St Kitts, British West Indies
    
    Married Marie Augusta Thomas 1862-1897 on 4 September 1889 at the Moravian Church, Basseterre, St Kitts, they had three sons and a daughter. He was a planter and she was a concert pianist.
    
    Marie Evelyn Margetson born 24 December 1890 on Parsons Estate, St Kitts, British West Indies and died in April 1986 in New York, New York, New York, USA
    
    Edward Henry Margetson born 31 December 1892 on Parsons Estate, St Kitts, British West Indies and died 22 January 1960. He married Rosemond C Willoughby from Jamaica and they had two children.
    
    Barbara Margetson born 1924 in New York City and married a man named Watson.
    
    Desmond Willoughby Margetson born 1926 and died 2008 in New York City. He married Ann Lesser in 1951 and had two sons.
    
    
• Parents

  Unknown