The Norton Genealogy in Family Correspondence

My in-laws are clearing out their home at the moment, and I was lucky enough to find a letter among their papers which was sent to my husband's maternal grandmother from Mrs. Florence Hull of Staten Island, New York.  The letter is undated but was sent after the marriage of my mother in law and her two sisters.  It contains information about both the Norton and Davis families.  Here are some exerpts:

"The relationship re The Bingham's is because--

Your grandmother, Louise Norton, married Adoniram J. Davis and her sister, Amanda Norton, married Danfreth Pepper and had:

Louise C. Pepper married Davis A. Bingham and they had:

1/ George Albert Bingham married Lora McLaughlin and had:
Dr. Albert Bingham married Florence Newell (Michigan)
2/ Jennie married Samuel French (3 children)\
3/Joel W. married Maud Davis (3 children)
4/  Eva Bingham--unmarried\
\
So you see the Davis' married the Binghams' and vice versa.  I am related to the Davis' through my Mother's maternal line but how it comes in, I have never ascertained.  Mother told me that her Mother, Sarah Woodworth Norton was always called Polly McLay--"Aunt Polly".  In our Lewis line I find one of them married Davis' also.  

I have a picture of your parents' home in my collection and the next time I write, I'll send it to you, also--I think I have a tin type picture of your Great Grandparents, William and Amaryllis Norton, who are both my Great, Great Uncle on the Norton side and my Great, Great Aunt on the Andrews side.  William married Amaryllis Andrews and his Brother Charles married her sister, Julia Andrews, the latter of whom were my Great-Grandparents.  

This summer I do not expect to travel except to New Jersey for a week at the Manse of my Cousin and  yours also, namely, Rev. Dr. Donald R. Pepper.  He is a Minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Bennardsville, N.J.  My beloved Father, was responsible for getting him in the Ministry and Mother and Father treated him as a Son, whom they never had.  I was away at Finishing School when he was born, so he seems like a boy to me.  He is President of the "Browning Society" this year of which I am a member...\

\I note that Canada is severing Colonial ties with the U.K. after all these years.  I know Grandmother Sara Norton was born under the Crown and very proud of this, and Dad's Grandmother, (maternal) was born in England and was Lady Susan Potter, whose Father was a Lord.  It's those people in Quebec who are responsible, and are probably mostly Catholics.  Am I correct and forgive me, if any of your relatives married Catholics, for I have two or three friends of that religion but I don't like their religion one little bit.  

....Whatever became of Cousin William Davis, and I think there was Harriet Davis, called "Happy" who had a curvature of the spine because her nurse dropped her as a baby...

Now, please write me soon for I do worry about you and think of you everyday.

Take good care of yourself and I hope and pray all is well with you.\

Love always, Florence"

It's interesting to know that a tin type photograph of William and Amaryllis Norton existed at one time.  I don't know of its present whereabouts.  If anyone out there has it, I'd love to see it!

The Will of Adoniram J. Davis

Adoniram J. Davis (1830-1903) was the son of William Davis and Mary Sibley of Elgin, Ontario.  He was the husband of Louisa Norton of New York and the father of Mary/Minnie (Davis) Scott (who married Arthur Herbert Scott) and Dr. William Norton Scott, who later moved to Spokane, Washington.

"I Adoniram Judson Davis of the Town of Aylmer in the County of Elgin yeoman do make publish and declare this and this only to be my last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills and testaments or documents of such nature and kind by me heretofore made.

1.  I direct that my just debts and funeral and testamentary expenses be paid by my executors...as soon as conveniently may be after my decease.

2.  I decree and bequeath to my beloved wife the use, income and profits of all my Estate real and personal so long as she shall live and after her decease my executors are to realize and convert my Estate into money and subject to the pregoing provisions I devise and bequeath one fifth of my estate to my Grand daughter Lousia Clark, now of Three Rivers in the State of Michigan to be paid over to her at the expiration of one year after the decease (of my said wife?) if she has attained the age of twenty eight years (line illegible) during such year, but if she has not attained such age then my said Grandchild is to receive annually the income accruing on such one fifth until she attains such age and until said one-fifth is paid over to her.

3.  I devise and bequeath to (my son?)  William Norton Davis, M.D. of Waterford in the County of Norfolk subject to the foregoing two fifths of my estate absolutely and I devise to my daughter Minnie Louisa Scott of Montreal in the Province of Quebec subject to the foregoing two fifths of my estate absolutely and freed from the management or control of her husband or any other person whatsoever. 

4.  My executors are to have full power and authority to sell and convert any or all of my estate and keep the proceeds invested in Mortgages or Real Estate Bank Stocks or such other securities as they decree advisable except Chattel Mortgages and Promissary notes but the Income to be paid to my wife as long as she shall live.    

5.  And I nominate constitute and appoint my said wife Louisa Adelia Davis and my said son and daughter William Norton Davis and Minnie Louisa Scott Executors of this my will. 

In witness whereof I have duly signed .... sixteenth day of September A.D. 1898.
(signed) A.J. Davis

T.H. Backhouse
Barrister at Law
Aylmer, Ont
May Weisbood
Stenographer, 
Aylmer, Ont. 

Adoniram's grandchild Louisa Clark is the child of Ursula Davis, who married Dr. Whitman Clark of Three Rivers, Michigan on May 13, 1874.  Whitman's passport application, filled out in 1910, says he was born in Ingersoll Ontario and moved to the United States in 1871.  It also states that his daughter Louisa Clark was born in Centreville, Michigan, on May 16, 1876.  The Michigan Deaths and Burial Index on Ancestry reports that Ursula died at the age of 23 on September 28, 1878 in Three Rivers, Michigan.  The cause of death is not stated.

Ursula (Davis) Clark is buried in the Riverside Cemetery, Three Rivers, Michigan, beside her husband.

Ursula's memorial stone, Riverside Cemetery, Three Rivers, Michigan.

In fact, I have never attempted to track all of Adoniram and Louisa's children.  In the 1851 census, Adoniram and Louisa are newlyweds living in with Adoniram's family, and they do not appear to have any children. In the 1861 census Adoniram and Louisa have three children:  Amarillas, aged 9, Ursula, aged 7, and William, aged 1.  In the 1871 census (which has several strange mistakes--Louisa is written as Laura and the family is marked down as being of German origin) Adoniram and Louisa are living with 18-year-old Anna (probably Amarillas), 16-year-old Ursula, 10-year-old William and 7-month-old Mary.  In the 1891 census, Adoniram and Louisa (now 51 and 54, respectively) are living with only one child, Minnie (the family nickname for Mary), now aged 10.  We know that Minnie and William survived their father, and Ursula probably died before 1880, leaving one child.  What happened to Amarillas?

The family tombstone in the Orwell Cemetery in Yarmouth Township memorializes two more of Adoniram and Louisa's children, Judson and Wallace.  Wallace does not appear on the 1860 census, so he probably died before the age of 5.

What the Washington County Historian's Office Knows About the Norton Family

Louisa Norton, wife of Adoniram Davis, belonged to the Norton family headed by William Norton and Amaryllis Andrews of Granville, Washington County, New York.  I wrote to the Washington County Historian's office and they kindly sent me their files on William Norton.  They also sent me information on Josiah Norton of Granville.  William's father was named Josiah Norton, and he also had a brother named Josiah.

The first piece of information is from the Boston Transcript, May 18, 1931.  The Boston Transcript was a newspaper which ran a regular and well-known genealogy column.  

"Solomon Norton, an early settler in Poultney, Vt., is said to have been the Solomon NAUGHTON who was a member of Col. William Whiting's 17th (Albany Co., NY) Regt. in the Rev. altho I have no records to substantiate this belief.  Josiah and William Naughton were also in the same Regt. and all were then living in Canaan, Col. Co., NY and supposedly bros.  William, Josiah, Stephen and Thode Naughton were in Canaan and in 1790 census (sic).  Solomon Norton with his family was in Poultney, Vt. when the 1790 census was taken and prob. settled there shortly after the Rev.  He built the 1st saw--& gristmill on the Vt. side of the river in Poultney opposite Hampton Corners, NY.  

I have seen somewhere the statement that John Norton, the oldest child of Solomon was b. in Poultney, this I believe to be an error as birthdate was Feb. 17, 1775 & the name of Sol. Norton does not appear in any Rev. records of Poultney area.  If Solomon Naughton and Solomon Norton are the same, he apparently was a resident of Canaan at the time of the Rev. 

Solomon Norton md. Sarah Rexford.  Sarah died Nov. 18, 1815 and is bur. in old cem. at East Poultney, Vt.---aged 59 (from t.s.)

Children:

1. John, b. Feb 17, 1775

2. Mercy, Sep. 21 1776

3. Sarah, Aug. 12 1778

4. Solomon, Apr. 27 1782

5. Lois Mch. 2 1784

6. James Dec. 6 1789

7. Hannah May 8 1791

8. Rachel Jan 18 1794
9. Joel May 15 1796

10. Aaron Sep. 25 1798

11. Amos Apr. 7 1801

Note:  Marva Norton Ralph believes the above Josiah Naughton to be her Josiah Norton of Granville, Wash. Co. NY.

***

Josiah Norton, Rev. War, Canaan, Col. Co. NY;  md. c1777 Margaret BENNETT.  Aft. 1790 lived in Granville, NY.

Some of their children:

1.  Nancy Norton b. Canaan, NY 8 Mch. 1781;, m. Samuel HALE prob. at GranvilleNY c1800

2. Josiah Norton Jr. b. Wash. Co. NY 1795;  md. Thirza TANNER and mov. to Indiana

3.  Elijah (twin) md. Lucinda WEBSTER--moved to Warsaw, NY in 1805

4. Elisha (twin) (believe he did not marry)

5. Sarah (Sally) Norton b. Wash. Co. NY 10 Sept. 1797;, md. Daniel Rhodes abt. 182.  Lived Wash. Co., then Clymer, NY till c1840

6. Amanda Norton b. Granville 5 Jan. 1802;  md. Ira Foster

7.  Hiram Norton md. Julia Steele, dau. of Sylvester & Carlotta STEELE 

8. Sylvia Norton md. Titus Andrews & had son Lewis Andrews who md. Harriet Andrews who md. Loami Norton."

Another record they sent me is from the Goodspeed Collection, which is housed in the Washington County Historian's office:  

Aaron Goodspeed of Granville, Washington County, NY lived from 1862 to 1932. He 

made a hobby and a business of gathering genealogical data on local people of his 

area and Vermont. He collected newspaper articles, wrote hundreds of letters 

requesting information from families and spent a lifetime pursuing his love of 

genealogy.

These are Goodspeed's notes on the Norton family:

"Margaret, wife of Josiah Norton d. Jan 26, 1823 Ae 65 yrs.

William son of William and Amaryllis Norton d. Mar 17, 1825 Ae 3 m.

Elvin Norton d. Feb 2, 1831 in his 42d year."

Another genealogist, Mrs. Marva Norton Ralph, collected the following information and deposited it at the Washington County Historian's office.  Notice that William was not the only child of Josiah and Margaret to marry an Andrews.  The oldest child, Sylvia, marries a Titus Andrews after her first husband dies.  I'm guessing that Titus is a brother of Amaryllis.  The ninth child, Charles Norton, marries Amaryllis' sister Julia Andrews.

" NORTONS OF GRANVILLE

I assume that Josiah Norton married Margaret Bennett at Canaan, Col. Co., NY because he was serving in the Rev. War from that area at the time they would have been married.

Josiah Norton was b. 18, Nov. 1753 in Farmington, Hartford Co. Conn.  He came to Granville before 1800 from Canaan, Col. Co, (then Albany) N.Y.

Chil.

1. Sylvia Norton, b. 31 Dec 1779, md. 1st Ira Parker;  2nd: Titus Andrews 

2. Nancy Norton, b. 8 March 1781, md. Samuel Hale

3.  Rhoda Norton, b. 4 March 1783; md. Giles Parker, bro. of Ira;, d. Spring Township, Crawford, Pa.

4.  William Norton, b. 7 May 1785, md. Amaryllis Andrews; d. Granville, NY

5.  Allen Norton, b. 11 Feb. 1787, md. Lucy Wilkinson; d. March 11, 1842 at Candice, Ontario Co. NY

6. Elvin Norton, b. 27 Dec. 1789, d. unm. 2 Feb 1831 at Granville NY

7.  Elijah Norton (twin) b. 2 July 1791, md. Lucinda Webster;  d. Warsaw, Wyoming Co. NY

8.  Elisha Norton (twin) b. 2 July 1791, md. 1st Mary Beckwith;  2nd Nancy M. Best;  d. 21 Jan 1881 at Brady, Kalamazoo, Mich.

9.  Charles Norton, b. 14 Sept. 1793;  md. Julia Andrews, sister of Amaryllis Andrews;  d. 14 March 1882 at Granville

10.  Josiah Norton Jr. b. 1795;  md. Thirza Tanner;  moved to Ind. 

11. Sally (Sarah) Norton, b. 10 Sept. 1797;  md. Daniel Rhodes

12.  Hiram Norton, b. 29 Dec. 1799;  md. Julia Steele;  d. 1882 Granville 

13.  Amanda Norton b. 5 Jan. 1802;  md. Ira Foster"

The historian's office also included some correspondence from previous researchers in the file they sent to me. One correspondent writing in 1987 stated that Josiah Norton served in the Revolutionary War and that three of his sons served in the War of 1812.  She doesn't say which ones.  

The office also sent an index of land records which shows that Josiah Norton bought more than 65 acres of land in the Thomas Bridges Patent in Granville for $180.81 on June 20, 1801.

Taken together, this information gives me a lot of clues for further exploration.  I love the idea of having a county historian--what a great American initiative to preserve and share local history!  They're not everywhere--but New York state has one for every county, and Indiana does too.  

Dr. William N. Davis, Son of Adoniram J. Davis and Louisa Norton

Adoniram J. Davis' obituary in the Aylmer Express newspaper had alerted me to the fact that, as well as being the father of Minnie (Davis) Scott, he also had a son, "Dr. W.J. Davis, of Spokane, Washington".  I had no previous information about this son, but I believe I have found him on the 1900 United States Census.

The information situates him in Spokane Ward 4, District 0070, 1120 Broadway Avenue.   He is living with a wife, Maud, and three daughters.  Here is the information it contains:

William N. Davis, head of household, married white male, born in January 1861, 39 years old, has been married for 8 years.  Born in English Canada, both parents born in English Canada, immigrated to the United States in 1877 at age 23, is a naturalized American, Physician by occupation. They rent their house.

Davis, Maud, wife of household head, married white female, born in September 1867, age 32, has been married for 8 years.  Born in English Canada, father born in English Canada, mother born ?udia, immigrated to the United States in 1884 at age 16.

Daughter Evelyn H. Davis, born August 1893, age 6.
Daughter Isabell Davis, born October 1896, age age 3.
Daughter Mabel Davis, born October 1896, age 3.  All born in Washington.

I've also located a physician named William Norton Davis in the Ancestry database "Spokane, WA Directories 1889-93", which collects four years of the R.L. Polk and Co. directories.  He shows up four times;  three times at the address 21 & 22 Daniel Block, Spokane Falls, and once (1893) at 9 First National Bank Building.   I'm convinced that this William Davis is the Dr. W. J. Davis spoken of in the newspaper, since Norton is his mother, Louisa Norton's, maiden name.  I think the Aylmer Express got the initials wrong.  "William Norton Davis" also corresponds to the "William N. Davis" in the census.

Neither William nor Maud appear on the 1910 census as far as I can tell.  However, the three daughters appear as boarders in a home in Spokane headed by a Charles and Lottie Perkins. Their daughter, Charlotte Perkins, age 15, and Charlotte McMurray, the widowed mother of Lottie Perkins, live their as well.  Charles Perkins is a 50-year-old public school teacher.  Evelyn Davis is 16, and the twins are 13.  The Davis girls do not appear to be working.  Where are their parents?  If they are orphans, why aren't they living with family?  This record indicates that their mother was born in New York.

The database "Washington Deaths, 1883-1960" has an Isabel Ramsey in Seattle, Washington, who died on May 2, 1950 at the age of 53.  Her parents are listed as William N. Davis and Maude Haley.  Is this our Isabel?  I can't find a marriage record for her.  In the 1940 census there is an Isabel Ramsey living in Seattle, age 43, who is married but not living with her husband at that point (she is listed as the head of a two-person household, along with a 7-year-old son, Herbert).  Interestingly, this Isabel is listed as having only completed two years of high school.  She has no listed occupation or income.

Louisa Norton's American Sister

A little while ago I posted a copy of Louisa Norton's obituary, which stated that she died while visiting her sister in Mount Holly, Vermont, and that her body was accompanied to Aylmer by her niece and nephew Mr. and Mrs. Horton.  I have done some investigating to see if I can find any records of a woman from the Norton family of New York living in Mount Holly.

The 1850 census of New York shows that the Norton family has mostly sons, but there is one daughter besides Louisa, named Emily and born about 1835.  I can't find a marriage record for her online, but the obituary mentions that her nephew and niece are named Horton.  Using that name, I've found Emily on the 1910 American census living in Mount Holly, Vermont with her husband, Judson Horton, her daughter Amaryllis (there's that family name again) and her daughter's husband William Russel.  Emily states that she was born in New York, her father was born in New Hampshire, and her mother was born in Connecticut.  That all matches what we know of the Norton family.

Here's an interesting picture of Emily Norton's gravestone in the Hortonville Cemetery at Mount Holly.  It says that she is a member of the society of the U.S. Daughters of the War of 1812.  This implies that her father William fought in that war. I'll have to see what I can find out about that.

Emily (Norton) Horton, March 19, 1835-Sept. 25, 1930

 

Why I Love Weird Names, or, There Hasn't Been An Amaryllis In The Family For A While

When my husband and I were expecting our first child, my father-in-law told us a story about one of the Rutherford relatives of yore who, when they were in the same position, had been told by a helpful relative that "there hasn't been an Amaryllis in the family for a while", to which they supposedly snapped, "No, and it's a good thing too!".  There certainly isn't an Amaryllis in our generation, but it is true that naming children after beloved relatives is a time-honoured tradition, and one which I personally find very helpful when I'm trying to figure out who is a relative or who someone's parents were.  Sometimes the records that are available to me don't say, but weird names can be an excellent clue to further research.

Take, for example, William Joseph Davis (c. 1782-c.1863) and his wife Mary (c. 1780-c.1872).  They are the parents of Adoniram Davis (another good name!), who, along with his wife Louisa, were the parents of Minnie (Davis) Scott, the wife of   John Galloway Scott.  They were farmers who spent their adult years and raised their family in Malahide Township, Elgin County, Ontario.  As you will notice from their estimated birth dates, I don't have birth or death records for either William or Mary.  I also don't have their marriage record.  Therefore, I have no primary documentation about who their parents were or even what Mary's birth name was. This is what genealogists call a "brick wall";  in other words, we may not be able to extend the line back any further unless secondary records can give us some persuasive evidence either in establishing this information or in showing us where to look.  The records I do have include the 1842 Malahide Township census, the 1851 and 1861 federal censuses, an 1891 census for one of their adult children, a death record for the same child,  a marriage record for another child and a  brief mention in a book of local history (Discovering Your Roots in Elgin, James L. McCallum, 1999).  Watch how names can help build a case for establishing relationships.

The 1842 census for Malahide Township is pretty limited.  It only records the name of the head of  the household, in this case William Davis.  It tells us that he is a farmer and has been in Canada for 31 years (this is good to know), and also that he is originally from the United States.  There are eight people living in this household, but we don't know anything more (names, ages, relationships etc.).

The 1851 federal census is a lot more helpful in filling out the rest of the family.  It tells us that William Davis is a farmer from the state of New York, and that he is 68 years old.  He is a Baptist, as is his whole family.  He is living with Mary Davis, his wife, who was born in Nova Scotia and is 51 years old.  Next there is a list of children:  Joel Davis, a preacher, age 23, Adoniram, (our ancestor) age 21, Ursula, age 18, Euseba, age 15, John, age 15, Edwin, age 8, and Louisa, age 21.  All of them are listed as being born in Canada.  (Nova Scotia was not part of Canada at this time).  There is no place on the census to record relationships, but 21 year old Louisa Davis is probably the Louisa who married Adoniram, so she would be William's daughter-in-law, not his daughter. This means that Adoniram and Louisa were married before 1851. Now we know the approximate ages and birth places of William and Mary, but we still don't know Mary's maiden name.  We do, however, know the names and approximate ages of six of their children.

In the 1861 federal census, William again confirms that he is a Farmer from the United States. His age is illegible.  Polly Davis (Polly was a common nickname for Mary at that time) is now 61 and is still listing Nova Scotia as her birthplace.  The only one still living in their household is Edwin Davis, now age 18, still single,  and employed as a labourer.

William and Mary disappear off the census records at this point.  However, in the 1891 federal census, there is a David F. Davis in Malahide, East Elgin who is 67 years old, which would have made him 27 years old at the time of the 1851 census.  He states that his father was born in the United States and his mother was born in Nova Scotia, while he himself was born in Ontario.  This suggests very strongly that he is another son of  William and Mary Davis, who by 1851 was no longer living with his birth family.  In 1891 he is living with his wife, Mary E. Davis, who is 69 years old;  interestingly, she was born in Ontario, but both of her parents were born in the United States.  They are also living with a child, Agnes Davis, who is 16 years old and single.  I'm not sure she is their child--Mary would have been 53 when Agnes was born, which is quite old;  also, David F. and Mary are both Baptists, but Agnes is listed as a Methodist.  She is part of the family, however, and not a servant.

Tombstone for Adoniram and Louisa Davis,
Orwell Cemetery, Yarmouth Township, Elgin, Ontario.
From the Elgin County Genealogical Society Website. 

Finally, I have a death record for a David Flint Davis of Malahide, who died on March 3, 1912, at age 89.  This puts his birth at about 1823, which is within a year of  the birth date that  David F. Davis gave on the 1891 census, and it records his parent's names as William Davis and Mary Sibley.  These two Davids seem to be the same person.   So now we have a potential birth name for Mary Davis, and also we have the name Flint given to someone who is perhaps the eldest son.  Flint is not a Christian name, nor is it the name of any famous figure from that time.  Where did it come from?  I'm guessing it's a family name.  It's also not that common, which in this case is a good thing.

Finally, what about Discovering Your Roots in Elgin?  It tells us that the brothers William, Andrus, Daniel, Simeon and Joseph Davis were the first settlers to reach Malahide Township,and they settled there in 1810,  when William would have been about 28 years old.  This is roughly consistent with the information William gave in the 1842 census, when he stated that he had been in Canada for 31 years, which would put his arrival in Canada in 1811.  No families are mentioned;  we don't know if any of the brothers brought wives or children along.  It sounds like they were all bachelors.  Interestingly, they settled in just before the War of 1812.

It turns out that there were tons of Sibleys in Nova Scotia around the time of Mary's birth--the Sibleys are an old American family that have spread out a lot, and some of them wandered into Nova Scotia in the 1700s.  There have been a few intermarriages of the Sibley and Flint families over the years, and maybe one of them will lead to Mary's family  There is a very long book called The Sibley Family in America that I found on OpenLibrary, and I'm hoping that will help me track them down more precisely.

But what about Amaryllis?  Well, she helped me solve another problem.  Remember how William and Mary's son Adoniram Davis married a woman named Louisa?  I do have a marriage record for them, but it's more like an index--it just gives their names, where they live, and the names of the witnesses.  The date is impossible to read, but it's an 1850 register. Again, we can't identify Louisa's parents.

"Adoniram Davis.  Malahide.  Louisa Norton.  Yarmouth.  Witnesses:  William Davis, Joel Davis." 

However, on the 1861 census, Adoniram and Louisa have some children.  The census shows that Amarillas (sic), Ursula, and William Davis, ages 8, 6, and 1, are part of the household now.  It also tells us that Louisa was born in the United States.   Just for fun, I decided to search some early American census records to see if I could locate any Louisa Nortons of the right age in the right place (in the 1901 census, she gives her birthdate as July 23, 1826, and she also specifies that her birthplace was New York).  And I did!

The 1850 U.S. federal census shows a William and Amarillus (sic) Norton, farmers,  of Granville, Washington, New York, with a 24-year-old daughter Louisa (along with many other children).  William and the children are all born in New York, while Amarillus was born in Connecticut.  Louisa obviously named her first daughter after her own mother, and because the name is so rare, it allowed me to feel confident linking the two families.  And although we haven't had an Amaryllis in the family for a while, my husband's grandmother went by her middle name of Norton throughout her life--and so that's where her name came from.

All I know is, if my kids ever have children, I'll be able to point out that we haven't had an Adoniram in the family for a while.