The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-06-25
NEWBURY.
MRS. DEACON WELLS.

Maria Palmer was the youngest of tn
eight children of Dudley and Abigail
Pickering) Palmer, and was born May Ia
1918, at Brighton, Somerset County, Me.
to which place her father had removed
from Rochester, n. H., few years be
fore Her mother died while she was al
infant, and her father married twice
having seventeen children i'll all, of whom
fifteen with their husbands and wives
thirty in number, were living some years
ago, and of whom but six remain now,
Her earliest recollection was of hearing
of the death of her grandfather, Col
BarnabaS Palmer, who had been a Major
in Sir William Pepperell's expedition
and lost his right arm at the siege OF
Lainsburg in 1745. He died November ~
1916, aged % years.
In that baCkwOOds town, schools were
few and poor, but her father was we'll ed
ucated. and more than supplied the lack
to his children. She began to teach
school at the age of seventeen. and taught
about twenty terms in various parts OF
Maine. Not much was expected of teach
ers then. There were only two terms in
the year. and she filled the intervals with
work of various kinds
About 1897 she came to Concord, n. H.,
where her brother, Col. ID. 5. Palmer was
editor of the New Hampshire Courier,
and attended an academy. She then
taught near Rochester, \. H., and after
that entered cotton mill in Lowell for
the sake of better pay. Lucy LarcOm
the poet, was her roommate for some
time, and she afterwards rOOmed with a
niece of Prof Benjamin Silliman. These
three were contributors to the Lowell
Offering" publication maintained en-
tirely by factory girls, and of which
Charles Dickens in his American Notes"
speaks with unallOyed admiration. John
G. Whittier, then just beginning to be
10 nN rhI11t
port and revise their manuscript for the
press.
She became acquainted with Mr.. Wells
while working in Chelmsford, Mass, and
they were married at her home in Brigh-
ton, Me-, Sept IA, 1916, celebrating, their
golden wedding last year. Their daugh-
ter Elizabeth, died in infancy.
She early became member of Meth
Odist church in Maine, which became eX-
tinct, and while living in Lowell, united
with the John st. Congregational church
and was a member of the choir. She was
received to the first Congregational
church of Newbury in 1917 and of the
West NeWbury church in 1868 She had
been a Sunday school teacher more than
fifty years.
She came of long-lived stock, her old
est brother died last fall lacking but a
few months or completing his century.
For some months past Mrs. Wells has
been III falllnS healtn, anu edfly III llie
present month sustained a paralytic
Shock which caused her death June 18th.
Ny earliest recollections of Mrs. Wells
are exceedingly pleasant, | remember her
as strong, comedy, intelligent woman,
loved by all. She had the faculty of MAX
ing home happy, and will be deeply
m0urned by her aged companion, Dea.
David T. Wells, and her only son., Mr.. F.
P. Wells, who have the sympathy Of a
large circle of friends. Mrs: Wells, life
was made up of kind words and kind
acts mingled with traits which marked
her as a true woman. Funeral services |
Thursday, Rev r. II. Abercrombie off,
ciating, assisted by Revs. j. l.. Merrill
and George c. McDougall; singing by a
quartette from the Union Meeting House |
choir. Interment in the family lot at the
Town House burying ground. Mrs; Wells
was the sixth death in Newbury's list of
octogenarians since January l, 1897.
IL. W. b.