Born: November 12, 1808, Little Compton, Rhode Island. Died: March 29, 1887, Newark, New Jersey. Buried: Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands, New York.

Palmer attended Phillips Andover Academy (where he and Oliver Wendell Holmes were classmates) and Yale University. After Yale, he taught at a young ladies’ school in New York, then at a girls’ college in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1835, Palmer was ordained as a Congregational minister, and pastored in Bath, Maine, and Albany, New York, serving 15 years at each location. Around 1865, he became Secretary of the Congregational Union. Palmer retired in 1878. His works include:

• Closet Hours, 1851
• Complete Poetical Works, 1876

Hymns:

1. And Is There, Lord, a Rest?
2. Away from Earth My Spirit Turns
3. Before Thy Throne with Tearful Eyes
4. Behold the Shade of Night Is Now Receding
5. Come, Holy Ghost, in Love
6. Come, Jesus, Redeemer, Abide Thou with Me
7. Eternal Father, Thou Hast Said
8. Fount of Everlasting Love
9. Holy Ghost, That Promised Came
10. I Give My Heart to Thee
11. Jesus, Lamb of God, for Me
12. Jesus, My Heart within Me Burns
13. Jesus, These Eyes Have Never Seen
14. Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts
15. Lord, My Weak Thought in Vain Would Climb
16. Lord, Thou Hast Taught Our Hearts to Glow
17. Lord, Thou on Earth Didst Love Thine Own
18. Lord, Thou Wilt Bring the Joyful Day
19. Lord, when My Soul Her Secrets Doth Reveal
20. Mid Evening Shadows Let us All Be Waking
21. My Faith Looks Up to Thee
22. O Bread to Pilgrims Given
23. O Christ Our King
24. O Christ, the Lord of Heaven, to Thee
25. O Holy Comforter, I Hear
26. O Jesus, Sweet the Tears I Shed
27. O Sweetly Breathe the Lyres Above
28. Stealing from the World Away
29. Take Me, O My Father, Take Me
30. Thou, Savior, from Thy Throne on High
31. Thou Who Roll’st the Year Around
32. Thy Father’s House! Thine Own Bright Home
33. Thy Holy Day’s Returning
34. Wake Thee, O Zion
35. We Stand in Deep Repentance
36. When Downward to the Darksome Tomb
37. When Inward Turns My Searching Gaze
38. Wouldst Thu Eternal Life Obtain