With thanks to Hazel Basford who found this poem typed on a folded sheet of paper and dropped at the Lochnagar Crater on the morning of 24th June 2025.
Hazel posted a photo of the poem on the Lochnagar Crater. Official Page on Facebook
Walter was born on 22nd June 1868 Prairie Center, LaSalle County, Illinois, USA. His parents were Ephraim Milo Palmer and Sarah Henderson Butler. Walter married Irena B. Lardin on 25th September 1889. A year and a half later, Irena died in May 1891. Walter married his second wife, Mary Frances White, on 11th December 1894 in Chicago, Illinois. They were the parents of two children: Burton White Palmer and Margaret Allison Palmer.
Walter was a family historian, breeder of trotting and show horses, and an accomplished poet. He wrote the poem "Dear Ancestor" in 1906 while he was visiting the grave of his great grandfather, Ephraim Palmer (1760-1852).
Sources: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87759950/walter-butler-palmer
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87759950/walter-butler-palmer
