Dr. Paris Alton Palmer (Pat) was born in 1868 and died in 1951. He was the son of William Esau Palmer and Margaret Russell Palmer, grandson of Jesse Green Palmer and Sarah Sharp Palmer. He married Belle Miller, who was the great-granddaughter of Martin Luther Miller and “Pioneer” Henry Sharp, two of the first settlers of Sharps Chapel. Dr. Pat and his wife Belle were the parents of seven children, and from those siblings there were 10 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.
Dr. Palmer practiced medicine in Union and Claiborne counties for more than 50 years. He was a graduate of the University of Tennessee Medical School and the New York Poly Clinic Medical School. He was also a member of the J. C. Baker Lodge F & AM for 48 years.
Dr. and Mrs. Palmer’s first home was on Old Hwy 33 at what is now Palmer’s Junction. The house was first lighted by power from a carbide plant and later a Delco plant. This home burned around 1928 and another was built on the same site. His office was a two-story building to the right of the house. When Norris Lake is at a low water mark, some of the old foundations of the home and office are still visible.
Dr. Pat and Aunt Belle and their large family liked to have dances and make music in their home. When my mother (Jean Lay Palmer) and my dad (Warren [Toby] Palmer) were “a-courtin’,” lots of the young people in the area would gather at the Palmer home on Saturday evenings, roll up the rugs and have square dances. My mother played the piano, Conley Gose (dec.) played the guitar, and Silas Snodderly played the fiddle. She said they always had a grand time!
I remember Granny Belle telling us about Doc going out in all kinds of weather to deliver babies and tend to the sick. She said that many times in the winter his clothes would be frozen to him and to his horse. She said that a lot of times he was paid with a ham, bacon or maybe a chicken or just a good hot meal. These payments were fine with him and these were his people and he gave them the best of care.
In later years, when the family bought a car, Doc chose to have one of the men of the family do the driving. My dad said that when he was about ten or eleven years old, he tied blocks of wood to his shoes so that he could reach the gas, brake and clutch on the car and take his dad out on the calls to the sick. My cousin Joe Pat McDonald (grandson of Doc) said that Papaw Doc was bad to lose his glasses and his pocketknife. He would pay Joe ten cents to find them. They were usually in the outhouse!
Once or twice a year, we grandchildren try to get together and it’s always fun to retell the stories about Doc and Granny. They were quite a pair!
I’ll finish with this one: My dad drove the car for Doc one night and the call was for a lady having a baby. Keep in mind, this was long before ultrasounds came along. They had no idea it would be multiple births.
On this particular evening, Aunt Mint Lay (dec.) of Sharps Chapel was assisting with the process. In was a common practice during those days for the ladies in the community to help. Anyway, the lady delivered one baby, then another baby, and a third baby!
Doc looked at Aunt Mint (she was very jolly and liked to have a laugh) and said, “Aunt Mint, what do you want me to do with these babies?”
Aunt Mint replied, “Well Doc, just stack ‘em in the corner!” My dad loved that one!