Phebe Draper Palmer Brown, the daughter of William and Lydia Lothrop Draper, was born in Rome, Oneida County, New York, October 9, 1797. The Drapers originally came from England to America in 1645, locating near Boston. The family spread through the New England States. In 1800, Thomas Draper and wife moved to Canada. His son, William Draper Sr., left New York and settled in Pennsylvania.

When Phebe was ten years old her family moved to Ontario, Canada. THe family stayed in Canada where Phebe married George Palmer IV in 1815 in Cramahe Township, Newcastle District, Northumberland, Ontario, Canada, when she was eighteen years old.

In 1832 Eleazer Miller, a LDS missionary, introduced the gospel to the Draper family. When Brigham Young came to Canada the following year, he baptized Phebe. Her husband had not joined before he died on December 4, 1833, leaving her with eight small children. To them were born seven children, Lovina Palmer, Osahel Palmer, William Palmer, Eliza Palmer, Lydia Palmer, Zemira Palmer, and Rhoda Palmer. They joined the Church in 1833 and gathered with the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio.

For the next several years, her life was one of hardship and struggle as she and her family were driven from Kirtland to Missouri and from Missouri to Illinois. Her Brother William Draper Jr., and the Ebenezer Brown family accompanied them when they settled in Pleasantville, Pike County, Illinois.

In the year 1836, Joseph Smith, Sr., gave her a blessing of comfort and promise. He told her if she was faithful and wise she would be blessed with a companion who would be a man of God, and that she would be able to bring up her family right; that she would have good, happy days.

She suffered the hardships of the Saints, being driven from Kirtland to Missouri, and from Missouri to Nauvoo, Illinois, where the one promise of her blessing was fulfilled by her marriage to Ebenezer Brown on August 26,1842 [no children are known to have been born to Phebe from this marriage], his first wife, Ann Weaver, having died on June 24, 1842, leaving him with a family of four children. They were driven from their comfortable homes in Illinois. They had moved to Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois at the direction of the church. They found no peace and were driven into the wilderness, where they were camping in the year1846 on their way to the Rocky Mountains.

When Captain James Allen required that Brigham Young make a call for 500 men to join the U.S. Army to fight the Mexican War, Ebenezer and Phebe answered the call, taking her son Zemira Palmer with her. Their combined remaining eleven children were left with Ebenezer's oldest daughter, 21 year old Harriet Brown Stratton and her husband Oliver Stratton, while Ebenezer and Phebe went with the Mormon Battalion. Ebenezer was a 2nd Sergeant with Company "A" while Phebe was chosen to be a cook, nurse, laundresses. She was a kind-hearted woman and throughout the entire journey many of the burdens of the soldiers were lightened by her sympathy.

At Santa Fe, New Mexico there was a lot of sickness and many soldiers were sent to meet their families in the Salt Lake Valley under the leadership of Captain James Brown of Company "C". They continued on but new leadership of the Battalion, poor medical help, rough terrain, lack of water, and inadequate clothing made the rest of the march unbearable.

Phebe was one of the women selected to make the trip to San Diego, California, which they reached on January 29, 1847, and because they were without funds, they reenlisted for another year. Ebenezer was not mustered out of service until March 14, 1848, their first enlistment had been for twelve months.

Phebe, with her husband and son Zemira, traveled north where they participated in the search for gold in and around Sutter's Fort, Sacramento, California. The three of them helped wash gold on the American River. Brigham Young called them to Utah. With the aid of the gold nuggets they had found, they did so , and began their journey to join the Saints who had gathered in Utah. Phebe rode a mule (whose name was Ginny), all the way from California to Utah.  They were reunited with their children in the fall of 1849.

In 1849, Ebenezer settled in South Willow Creek, later renamed Draper. Phebe moved from Salt Lake in the spring of 1850 with the children, they being the first family to settle in Draper. It is possible that common schools began before 1852 in the South Willow Creek settlement, but no documentary evidence has been established. Tradition indicates that "Phoebe Brown, wife of Ebenezer Brown, kept school ‘for the little ones in summer time’ but we are not told when or where her school was held." (One Hundredth Anniversary of the Draper Ward, p. 12) Her teaching could have been between 1849 and 1852 when the school/meetinghouse was finished.

In the winter of 1850, Ebenezer and his wife Phoebe welcomed Phoebe’s brother William Draper as they settled in South Willow Creek. William Draper was then called to preside as bishop of Draper, Utah. By 1852 twenty families had settled in South Willow Creek, making food rather scarce. Many settlers were forced to live on sego-lily bulbs, chokecherries and other wild fruits and plants found in the canyons and foothills of the settlement. These foods didn’t always supply the needed nourishment. A majority of the pioneers had emigrated from parts of the world where 30 to 40 inches of rain fell annually. Until coming to the desert in Utah Territory with its insufficient rainfall, no one had taken time to think about irrigation. Snow captured in the mountains made irrigation water plentiful in the spring and early summer, but it diminished by mid-July and into the fall months as mountain snow melted to give up the cold, clear water to canyon streams rushing to the valley floor. The reduced streams caused irrigation problems, so that thirsty, wilting gardens and lost harvests forced the pioneers to develop ditch systems and flood-irrigation methods still used in parts of Draper to this day.

With Phebe's approval, Ebenezer answered his call to practice the principle of polygamy. On May 19, 1853, her husband married Elsie Samantha Pulsipher, and on October 29, 1854, he married Mary Elizabeth Wright. In 1870, Mary died and on April 29, 1877, Samantha died, each leaving a large family of children, which Phebe took care of, making three families she had reared; her own and two of her husband's. She acted as first postmistress of Draper and held a responsible position in the Relief Society. She was a well read woman and had a fair education for that time. Her dedication to the Church never wavered. She was active in the Relief Society and was well known for her compassion for others.

Ebenezer Brown died in 1878. Phebe lived in Draper until her death on February 28, 1879, being 82 years of age...

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Children of Phebe Draper Palmer Brown and George Palmer IV:
1. Lovina Or Jane Palmer b. 20 Jul 1816 at Cramahe, Northen, Ontario; d. 5 Feb 1887 at Draper, Salt Lake, Utah; buried: Feb 1887 at Draper, Salt Lake, Utah
2. Asahel (Asa) Palmer b. 26 Jan 1819 at Cramahe Twp, Haldimand, Northumberland, Ontario Canada; d. Bef Jun 1880 at South Grove, De Kalb, Illinois
3. William George Palmer b. 25 Aug 1821 at Haldiamond, Northumberland, Ontario, Canada; d. 14 Apr 1891 at Provo, Utah, Utah; buried: 15 Apr 1891 at Provo, Utah, Utah
4. Eliza Palmer b. 31 May 1824 at Haldemand, Northumberland, Ontario, Canada; d. 1832 at : Loughborough Twp, Frontenac, Midland District, Ontario; buried: 1832
5. Lydia Elizabeth Palmer b. 15 Oct 1827 at Haldemand Twp., Northum, Ontario, Canada; d. 13 Jul 1911 at Boise, Ada, Idaho; buried: Jul 1911 at Boise, Ada, Idaho
6. Zemira "Jim" Palmer b. 9 Aug 1831 at W. Loughborough, Frontenac, Ontario, Canada; d. 22 Oct 1880 at Orderville, Kane, Utah; buried: 25 Oct 1880 at Orderville, Kane, Utah
7. Eliza Palmer b. 9 Aug 1831 at West Loughboroug, Frontenac, Ontario; d. 22 Oct 1880 at Orderville, Kane, Utah;
8. Rhoda Ann Palmer b. 15 Mar 1834 at Cramahe Twshp, Northumberland, Ontario, Canada; d. 27 Dec 1879 at Lewiston, Cache, Utah

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Zemira "Jim" Palmer
Zemira Palmer was born August 9, 1831at W. Loughborough, Frontenac, Ontario, Canada, the son of Phebe Draper and George Palmer IV and twin brother of Eliza Palmer. After the death of his father in 1833 his mother married Ebenezer Brown on August 26, 1842, and when she was given the privilege of accompanying her husband on the march of the Mormon Battalion, Zemira asked to go with them. Although he was not old enough to be a soldier he was given permission by the officers in charge to go provided he could carry a gun and all the other necessary equipment. His mother, knowing the need of a growing boy for extra food, often purposely burned the bread served to the officers so that they would cut off the blackened crusts. These she saved for Zemira who said they tasted better than a piece of pie under other circumstances.

In "A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War" Sergeant Daniel Tyler states that Zemira served the Mormon Battalion as a servant to Colonel James Allen until Allen's death. He then served Dr. George B. Sanderson from Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe; then served Lieutenant Lorenzo Clark until the corps were discharged in San Diego.

After the disbanding of the Battalion in Los Angeles, Zemira helped his parents pan gold in order to get an outfit and enough provisions to join the Saints in Utah.

...
Zemira Palmer and Sally Knight Palmer

On December 1, 1851 Zemira married Sally Knight, daughter of Newel Knight and Lydia Goldthwaite Knight. They were the parents of twelve or fourteen children, Alma Zemira Palmer, Emma Palmer, Newell Palmer, Lydia Palmer, Phebe Palmer, James Palmer, William Palmer, George Palmer, Asael Palmer, Jesse Milo Palmer, Mary Palmer, Martha Palmer, Joseph Palmer, and Chloe Palmer. In his later years he was called to live in the United Order in southern Utah where he served as one of the leaders. Sally died in 1916 in Orderville, Kane, Utah

On March 30, 1856 he married (2) Caroline Jacques, they had eight children. Caroline died in 1877 in Orderville, Kane, Utah.

Zemira died at the age of 49 years in Orderville, Utah in the year 1880.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Carter, Kate B., ed. 20 vols. Salt Lake City: International Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1958-1977. Page

A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War" Sergeant Daniel Tyler, 1881. Page 125.

http://historypreserved.com/draper_text_more.htm

"Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude, Vol. 1" International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers., Page 394.

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