Richard Palmer (c.1830-1912) was born in Bow, New Hampshire, and died in Malden, Massachusetts. He was a student of Mary Baker Eddy's, studying with her in the spring of 1883 and joining the Christian Scientist Association on April 11, 1883. Palmer was an active member of the Association and Church of Christ (Scientist), serving as an usher at church services and being elected as director of the Church from 1886-1888. The Baker and Palmer homesteads in Bow were in relatively close proximity. Eddy's father, Mark Baker, and Richard Palmer, Sr., regularly transacted business while the Bakers were residents of Bow. There is no record of when Richard Palmer left the Christian Science movement, but it was most likely about 1892 when he remarried. After leaving the movement, he lived in Malden and continued to work as a truss maker for Codman & Shurtleff, a Boston-based manufacturer of surgical implements.

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