James G. Palmer, Caddo Parish, Louisiana

Submitted by Mike Miller
Date: 1999-2000






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Judge James G. Palmer, of Shreveport, former judge of the Twelfth Judicial District, 

has achieved a distinctive success in his chosen profession, and has identified 

himself with many worthy causes in his community and state.  He is one of Louisiana's 

most prominent Rotarians, being at the present time district governor of that 

organization.



He was born on a plantation in Claiborne Parish, November 27, 1875, son of W. H. 

and Mary Frances (Monk) Palmer.  Reared on a plantation, he attended public schools 

and Homer College in his native parish, but his own labors and sacrifices paid for 

his higher education.  He taught school a number of years, and from 1898 to 1904 was 

superintendent of schools of Vernon Parish.  While teaching he studied law privately, 

and at New Orleans in March, 1901, was admitted to the Louisiana bar.  His preceptor 

in his law studies was his cousin, James R. Monk, and for some time they practiced 

as the firm of Monk and Palmer at Leesville.



In 1908 Mr. Palmer was elected district attorney of the district comprising Vernon, 

Sabine and DeSoto parishes, known as the Twelfth Judicial District.  He filled that 

office until 1912, when he was elected district judge of the same district.



Judge Palmer resigned his seat on the bench in 1914 to remove to Shreveport, where 

for the past decade he has handled an extensive and important practice in all the 

courts.  Judge Palmer was elected to represent Caddo Parish in the Louisiana State 

Constitutional Convention of 1921, and performed some important services as a member 

of the judiciary committee.



Judge Palmer is former president of the Shreveport Rotary Club and in June, 1924, 

at the annual convention of the International Rotary at Toronto, was elected district 

governor of the Seventeenth District of International Rotary, comprising the states 

of Louisiana and the greater portion of Mississippi.  He is also a thirty-second 

degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, an Elk, a Woodman, a member of the Shreveport 

Chamber of Commerce and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.  Judge Palmer married 

Miss Genevieve Stone.  Their three children are:  Albert Stone,  Emily Frances and  

Virginia.



A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 136, by Henry E. Chambers.  

Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.