politics, serving as the Member for Maryborough in the Queensland Parliament from 1880 to 1883. John Palmer married Janet Ewan in Sydney on 27 September 1860 before returning to Rockhampton where they subsequently raised five children. With Palmer's election as mayor in 1861, Janet Palmer became Rockhampton's first "mayoress". After battling illness for about two weeks, Palmer died on 4 September 1870. According to newspaper reports, Palmer's cause of death was remittent relapsing fever. He was described in an editorial in The Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland Advertiser as "a man of sterling integrity", with the newspaper also eulogising that Palmer had "always shown a warm interest in all movements calculated to promote the well-being of the town." Palmer's funeral was held on 5 September 1870. It was reported that Palmer's funeral was "unusually large" which included a procession of thirty vehicles "of every description" and about 250 horsemen. He was buried in the South Rockhampton Cemetery. After Palmer died, his wife Janet remarried to Richard Josias Robinson on 24 June 1873 in Sydney. Robinson had taken over Palmer's business following his Palmer's death. However, Robinson died less than seven months later on 14 January 1874. Janet remarried a third time just over a year later to Rockhampton health officer Dr. David Salmond on 27 March 1875, to whom she had two more children with. After 15 years of marriage, Salmond died in Sydney at the age of 67 on 10 April 1890, making Janet a widow for a third time. Janet Salmond died at the age of 86 on 28 July 1923 at her home at Wentworth Falls in New South Wales. Her funeral was held on 30 July 1923 and she was buried in the cemetery at Rookwood. Legacy Palmer Street in the Rockhampton suburb of Allenstown was named in honour of John Palmer. Palmer's name is one of the names inscribed on the gold mayoral chain presented to Rockhampton City Council by Alderman Frederick William Harrap in 1952. The chain, consisting of a double row of medallions, bears the name of all the mayors of Rockhampton since Palmer became the first in 1861. After it was presented to outgoing mayor Henry Jeffries, Jeffries only had one opportunity to wear it at a formal occasion when he hosted a civic reception for Queensland premier and former Rockhampton local Vince Gair. Jeffries' successor Rex Pilbeam continued wearing the chain