Woman of the Century/Hannah Borden Palmer

PALMER, Mrs. Hannah Borden, temperance reformer, born in Battle Creek, Mich., 8th October. 1843 Her father is a Presbyterian clergyman. On her mother's side she is descended from Hollanders, who were among the first settlers of Manhattan Island. She is the oldest of a family of eight children and her youth was full of work and care. HANNAH BORDEN PALMER. At the age of sixteen she entered Albion College, in Albion, Mich , and after a three-year course of study took the degree of M. A. After her graduation she began to teach in the union school in Lapeer, Mich. In November, 1864, she became the wife of Dr. Elmore Palmer, then surgeon of the Twenty-ninth Michigan Volunteer Infantry. She accompanied him to the front with his regiment, camping with them until the muster-out In September, 1865. After that home duties and the care of her children occupied her time until the crusade began. She was elected president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, of Dexter, Mich., under whose guidance and auspices were organized a public library and reading-room. In 1881, after the death of all her children, she removed to Colorado. There she opened a private school, which she conducted with success until her removal to Buffalo, N. Y. Mainly through her efforts, a lodge of Good Templars was organized in Boulder, Col., she being its presiding officer for five successive terms. Her love for children induced her to organize a Band of Hope, which soon grew to nearly two-hundred members. During that time she became a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of that city and soon received the gavel. In the spring of 1886 business led her husband to Buffalo, N. Y., in the practice of his profession. Seeing in the Royal Templars what she believed to be a fruitful source of great good, she united with that order, serving as chaplain, vice-councilor and select councilor. After three years as select councilor of Advance Council No. 25 she declined reelection. Her council sent her as its representative to the Grand Council in February, 1890. On her first introduction into that body she was made chairman of the committee on temperance work and was elected grand vice-councilor, being the first woman to hold that position in the jurisdiction of New York. In the subsequent sessions of the Grand Council in February, 1891, and February, 1892, she was reelected grand vice-councilor, being the only person ever reelected to that office