~MISSY'S SNAPSHOTS~ Snapshots of my immediate family and my ancestors coming from Belgium, France, Netherlands, MI, NY, AR, AL, AZ, MO, TN, NM, LA, PA, UT, FL, and MS. Also, my pets!
Francois Palms and his wife Marie Rosenboeck are the earliest -members of this family that I have been able to trace. As far as I have been able to determine, they lived and died in Belgium. There were seven children by this union, but we know very little about the children who remained in Belgium and nothing about their descendants. Of their children, we are primarily interested in our direct line. From "The City of Detroit" by C. M. Burton, I quote from the article on the PALMS FAMILY which was written by Charles L. Palms. "Ange Palms was a commissary in the French army when Napoleon I was at the zenith of his power and followed the fortunes of his great commander until the disastrous battle of Waterloo. He was decorated with the Legion of Honor for his successful effort to save a part of the ammunition on the Waterloo battlefield. During the stormy period involving the dethronement of Charles X and the elevation to the throne of Louis Philippe, the citizen king, Ange Palms was obliged to leave Belgium. (Dethronement of Charles X was in 1830, the stormy period was 1827-28-29.) Following the close of the Napoleonic wars, he returned to Antwerp, where he conducted an extensive manufacturing establishment. (Napoleonic wars ended after the battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815.) This was destroyed by fire in 1831. He then gathered the remnants of his fortune together and after two years spent in Mayance, Germany, he came to America, bringing with him letters of introduction from the Prince of Liege to President Martin Van Buren. (Martin Van Buren was Vice President under Jackson 1832-36; President in 1836-40.) He was accompanied by his wife, four sons, and two daughters and in their travels, they proceeded as far westward as Detroit, where they took up their abode. On the 26th of August of the same year, Mrs. Palms fell a victim to the cholera scourge which was creeping over the land. Ange Palms remained for a few years in Detroit and then removed with his family to New Orleans, where he established a manufacturing business and continued to make his home until his death, which occurred in 1876 when he had reached an advanced age." The notes in parentheses are mine. This is a very interesting account of Ange Palms however, I am afraid it has been somewhat elaborated upon by the writer. Also to the best of our knowledge, Ange died July 28, 1866, when he was 87 years of age. 1876 is probably a printer's error. The family tradition about Ange chartering the ship Martha, loading it with produce from his mills, and sailing for America brings some questions to mind as I have never found anyone who knew what he manufactured either in Belgium or in New Orleans.
A few years ago I asked Francois de Champeaux to check the records in Belgium for any data on Ange Palms. While many records were destroyed when the Germans came through in World War I and I thought something might be found. He went to Antwerp, where he engaged the assistant to the Director of Archives in the Record Office of the city to undertake the research; no results. He went to Waterloo and found no trace whatever. He also inquired at the Paris Archives. To quote from Francois’s letter" which does not mean Ange was not at a period of his life commissary in the French army."
The first Directory of Detroit was published in 1837. Francis Palms is the only member of the family listed in it and he was living on Congress Street above Woodward Avenue. I believe Louis Palms lived for a time in Pontiac; perhaps the others did also. I do not know why Ange Palms and several of his children moved to New Orleans, perhaps there were relatives or friends living there. From the diary of Mrs. McVay, great aunt of Catharine Crapo Bullard, "February 26, 1841. Have become acquainted with the ladies who are boarding here they have all called on me, Mrs. Quick, Mrs. Ferris, Mrs. Palms (possibly a first wife of Jean Pierre Palms), etc." As far as we know there was no Mrs. Palms in Ange's family at that time. Mrs. McVay was staying at the Louisana Hotel in New Orleans and was paying $10.00 per week for room and board. On May 10, 1836, Francis Palms was married at Detroit, to Martha Burnett Larned, a great-granddaughter of Aniquiba, Chief of the St. Joseph River Potawatomi, (great main village). From the records of St. Anne Church "Mariage. Le dix Mai mil huit cent trente six, toutes les formalites civiles et religieuses ducement observies, nous pretre soussigne, avons donne la benediction nuptiale a Francis Palms et a Martha Lamed. Temoins N. Guichard, J.M. Tontion Signes F. V. Badin V. G." '
She died on February 18, 1838, leaving a small son Francis F. Palms. Marie Therese Palms, Francis’s sister, took over the care of the baby and when they moved to New Orleans, a few years later, F. F. PalIIIs went with them and he was brought up in the South and armed in the Confederate army during the Civil War. At this time Francis Palms was a young man 27 years of age, who was just becoming established in his new surroundings. The loss of his young wife, not yet 22 years of age, must have been a severe setback to him. On April 4, 1838, he declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States to the Supreme Court of Michigan and stated that he had resided in the State upwards of five years. This process evidently took ten years in those days as he received his final papers on June 30, 1848. It was nearly five years after Martha died when he again took the vows of matrimony, on November 26, 1842, with Catherine Desriviere Campau, a daughter of Joseph Campau and Adelaide Dequindre. (Marie Francoise Palms, a sister of Francis married Daniel J. Campau, a brother of Catherine Campau.)
Francis and C. D. C. Palms had three children, the first two of whom died young, a daughter, Clotilde, reached maturity and married Dr. J. B. Book on August 28, 1889. Evidently, C. D. C. Palms and Francis separated about 1862 and she went to live in Montreal, where Clotilde attended the convent Villa Maria with one or two interruptions until 1868. As Francis Palms was a dealer in real estate this separation caused him much trouble. She gave power of attorney to Francis Palms, Judge Charles Moran, and Charles Peltier, dated December 28, 1865; this was revoked November 23, 1868. He then did his real estate business through various partnerships and companies that he formed.
There is a letter from C. D. C. Palms to her uncle Judge Charles Moran, dated Montreal, August 15, 1862, in which she says, "Francis and some of the family are on one side and some of my brothers are on the other side." Her mother, Adelaide Dequindre Campau, died May 30, 1862, she had remained in the Roman Catholic faith while some of her children had left it a number of years before their mother's death. I believe Francis Palms had lost interest in the faith at this time; certainly, he and C. D. C. Palms had definitely separated. A letter from a school friend named Evelyn to Clotilde Palms dated July 26, 1868, congratulates her on her escape from "Castle Dismal and the watchful vigilance of your maternal relation." Also asks, "did your mother follow you to Detroit?" From this, we can assume that Clotilde was through with the convent and the church at this time. She lived with her father until the fall of 1869 when C. D. C. Palms returned to Detroit from Montreal; then went to live with her mother at 34 Alfred Street in Detroit for a few years. In 1875, Clotilde went to live with her father at 345 Jefferson Avenue, East; on the north side of the street near St. Antoine Street. C. D. C.
Palms died on March 28, 1880. Mother saved quite a number of old letters dating from 1843, and it is interesting to note that while they all spoke French and received letters in French from others, all the letters exchanged between mother, father and daughter are in English. Also, the letters from Ange Palms, Jr., and the Wilders in New Orleans, are in English. This is especially noticeable as Francis Palms was twenty-three when he came to America. On the other hand, F. F. Palms spoke English well but with a delightful accent, and French was always spoken at home by all the children.
There are many interesting stories about Francis Palms and his peculiarities. I will try to tell a few. He had a wonderful memory and kept personal records of all his timberlands and real estate. When he was out checking his timber and buying lands he could check the descriptions from memory. Also when he was out to buy lands he would wear old clothes, etc., which was only natural as one would not go into the woods in city clothes. He never bought a newspaper but would stop at the Biddle House on his way downtown every morning and read the newspaper there. There is an interesting story that when F. F. Palms finally decided to return to Detroit about 1880, in his father's declining years, neither father nor son recognized the other. The long years of separation had made them as strangers. There are a number of letters from the various brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces in New Orleans to Francis Palms in Detroit, but there was no one from F. F. Palms to his father among the letters mother had saved.
As far as I have been able to determine Francis Palms never visited his relatives in New Orleans. After F. F. Palms returned to Detroit he lived on Congress Street not far from his father and there is also a tale about how he and his family were waiting for Francis Palms to die, after his last stroke, so they would have the money to live the way they would like. Evidently, Francis did not give his son as much money as he would have liked during his lifetime. The locks on the doors were not very good in those days so every night Francis Palms would place a stick of firewood by the door of his house in such a manner that if an intruder tried to open the door it would knock over the stick of firewood with a terrible noise. A pretty efficient burglar alarm. Francis Palms was supposed to be frugal and close with his money, and I guess he was. He certainly had the ability to make money and was the one member of his family who was very successful in amassing a fortune. Among the letters I have examined, there are many requests for financial assistance and it is interesting to note that he came to the help of his brother, Ange Palms, Jr., several times, in quite substantial amounts and I feel sure he never thought he would receive anything in return. He undoubtedly could not and did not meet all demands that were made upon him and probably most of those who benefited did not think that he gave them enough. This letter from his brother Ange is similar to many others. By Mark Palms (Cousin)
