Likely born sometime during the Revolutionary War, Mintus (or Mint) Palmer was enslaved in Stonington, Connecticut, by members of the Palmer family. He gained his freedom as an adult and married a woman named Rose, who eventually gained her freedom as well. Together, they raised a large family.

The first reference for an individual named Mint appears in Sarah Palmer’s 1796 probate records. “1 Negro man called Mint aged about Nineteen or twenty to be to be freed at the age of thirty-five years,” the document reads. Rose was emancipated in 1802 and Mint in 1805, after which he appears to have worked as a day laborer. A Bible given to him by Rev. Ira Hart, the local minister, lists the names and birth years of Mint’s and Rose’s children. Over the years, Mint’s name can be seen in a local account book, buying produce and other goods and working to support his family. Mint and Rose and the home they lived in are also described in an excerpt from Homes of Our Ancestors in Stonington Connecticut by Grace Dennison Wheeler, published in 1903. Mint died in 1826 at the age of 45. Rose would live another 42 years, dying in 1868 at the age of 88. Accounts show that her neighbors periodically held events to support her in her advanced years. Rose’s gravestone in Hilliard Cemetery describes her as “Rose Anna, wife of Mint..” Though no gravestone exists for Mint, he did receive his own commemorative marker in 2023when students from Stonington Middle School installed a Witness Stone for him next to his wife’s grave. Their grandson, Samuel Palmer, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War, is commemorated nearby.