Jonathan Palmer was born around 1804 in Vermont. He married Laura Barrett, and they had at least four children: Hubbard, born around 1836; Laura, born around April 1839; John, born on September 8, 1840; and Julius, born around 1845. His wife died in the 1840s. He worked as a farmer in Fayston, Vermont, and by 1860, he owned $2,400 of real estate and $513 of personal property by 1860. He married Matilda Dyke on July 11, 1858. He died of kidney disease in Vermont in December 1869.