Rhymes With Fyfe: The William Norton Family in the New York Tax Assessment Rolls

I'm trying to create a timeline for William Norton, father of Louisa Norton, who was the wife of Adoniram Davis. I'm finding it a little tricky. William has many siblings, as did his father Josiah Norton, and many of the names are passed down through the two generations. Also, it turns out that the name Norton is common in New York State. The records I usually rely upon to trace people--birth, marriage and death records--are pretty sparse around this time, so I'm looking around at other records which might fill in some of the blanks about his life. William was born in 1795, and he marries Amaryllis Andrews in 1816. (He fought in the War of 1812 in 1812). By 1820 he and his family had moved to Granville, Washington County, New York, where William and his wife Amaryllis lived for the rest of their lives. However, I've found a few tax records which suggest that William and some of his family were located in Canaan, Columbia County, New York from 1799 to at least 1803 (the records don't go any further). William's brother Elisha Norton's obituary states that he was born in Canaan, NY in 1791, and his father Josiah Norton shows up as a head of a household in Canaan in the 1790 census, so the family can definitely be placed there. What I'm interested to know is whether the William Norton on these records is our ancestor William, who would have been only 14 years old in 1799, or is he a different member of the same family, or is he someone totally unrelated? Other Norton names which appear are in the Canaan tax records are Thode Norton, Theodore Norton (probably the same person), Andrew Norton, James Norton, and a second William Norton, one with the initial W. You''ll notice Josiah's name does not come up at all.

Interestingly, there is a David Flint living in Canaan in 1790 and in the 1800s. Remember William Davis's son David Flint Davis? I'm wondering if there is a family connection, but right now I can't figure it out.

The history of Canaan is described on usgennet.org, I was interested in finding out which Church the family attended--Louisa and Adoniram were Baptists, and I wanted to see how far back in the family Baptist membership went. The Baptist Church in Canaan was begun in 1776, according to the information here, but none of the members are listed. However, in the Canaan Methodist Episcopal Church, which begun in 1804, a few Nortons (Truman Norton and Jeremiah Norton) are named as members, but I don't believe they are immediate family.

Database: New York, Tax Assessment Rolls of Real and Personal Estates, 1799-1804, Ancestry.

1799. Canaan, Columbia, New York. William Norton, Thode Norton, William W. Norton.
Columns, from left: Name of Possessors, Description of Real Estate, Value of Real Estate, Value of Personal Estate, Tax to be Paid Thereon.