During his life he was known for his extensive collection, notably of Roman coins: William Camden called him "a curious and diligent Antiquarie".
He was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1575, where his contemporaries included the antiquaries Henry Ferrers and Richard Carew.
They had at least three sons (including Thomas Palmer, who emigrated to colonial Virginia in 1621) and four daughters.
In his will made 22 November 1624, Palmer bequeathed his lands "in Virginia and New England" to his sons and nephew and declared that, should their issue fail, the land would be used for the founding of a university to be called "Academia Virginiensis et Oxoniensis", the Academy of the Virgin and Oxford.
[3] In his 1881 work on the history of Cecil County, Maryland, George Johnston further asserts this settlement was established by William Claiborne and that the presence of scholarly books discovered there in 1637 by Lord Baltimore indicate the one-time presence of Palmer on the island.