Half a century ago today Mr. and Mrs. Walter J. Palmer of Winnacunnet Road, Hampton, walked along a deep and heavily packed path of snow from their respective homes to the Congregational Church parsonage in Hampton, where Rev. John Ross, for about 20 years a pastor there, united them in marriage. This was in 1888, only a few days after the "great snow storm," 63 years ago today. Johnathan Palmer and his wife, grandparents of Walter Palmer, observed their golden wedding anniversary at the same homestead.

The couple were at home to their friends yesterday afternoon and were the recipients of a number of gifts and were showered with congratulations and wishes for many more years of happy married life.

Born on April 25, 1858, Mr. Palmer Is the son of an industrious Hampton farmer, the late Daniel Palmer, and his birth was the starting point of the seventh generation of the family to live in the present homestead and he is the ninth generation in descent from William Palmer from Ormsby County, England, the first of the family to come to Hampton in 1638. The house that is now standing on the Palmer properly was built in the summer of 1887. When a youth Mr. Palmer learned house painting and most of his life he has followed that work and is still actively engaged in it.

He is a past noble grand of Rockingham Lodge of Odd Fellows, which he joined 55 years ago. Mr. Palmer has always taken an active interest in town government.

Mrs. Palmer, born on Feb. 14, 1863, was the daughter of Charles T. Lamprey, one of the famous "forty-niners," who dug for gold in California. She attended the Hampton schools and after her graduation from the academy was a teacher in the Centre primary school for five years and for one year taught in the Front Road school. The school has now been razed and the road is known as Lafayette road.

Mr. and Mrs. Palmer have two sons and five grandchildren. One son, Charles D. Palmer, who works with his father as a painter, has two children. Rita, 20, who is training as a nurse at the Deaconess Hospital, and Anse11, 18, who is studying Diesel engines. The other son, Roscoe B. Palmer, operates a garage on Lafayette road, Hampton, and has three children, Eleanor M., 20, a student at the Burdett Business School in Lynn, Mass., Arnold B., 18, a senior at Hampton Academy, and William R., 12, a pupil at the Centre School.