James N. Palmer

James N. Palmer was born about 1803, apparently in Ashford, Connecticut; as his obituary in the Hartford Courant describes him as a "native" of Ashford. He was a civil engineer and a great promoter of the railroad; he served for many years as surveyor general of Connecticut. Several months before his death, he asked to be admitted to the Retreat for the Insane in Hartford, where he died on 29 September 1866.