Lauderdale-Jefferson County AlArchives Biographies.....Norton, John M. 1844 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 January 6, 2012, 12:00 pm

Source: See below
Author: Smith & De Land, publishers

  JOHN M. NORTON, Superintendent of W. B. Wood Furnace Company, Florence, was
born in 1844, at Brownsville, Pa. He was reared at Wheeling, W. Va., whither his
parents removed when he was a child, and there learned the trade of nail maker.
His father, George W. Norton, was the pioneer nail manufacturer of the Ohio
Valley, and was the first man to manufacture nails at Wheeling. In 1863-4, the
senior Mr. Norton erected a nail mill at Ironton, Ohio, and, in 1867, was the
president and principal owner of the Bellfonte Iron Works at that place, he was
killed on the 4th day of January, 1886, near Callipolis, in the explosion of a
steamboat.

  It was with the Bellfonte Iron Works that John M. Norton first took lessons as
a furnace builder, and in 1871, as superintendent, he constructed the Norton
Iron Works, at Ashland, Ky., and subsequently managed that establishment six
years. From Ashland Mr. Norton went to Wheeling as the superintendent of the
Belmont Furnace; thence, at the end of one year, to Grand Tower, Ill., as
manager of the Lewis Iron Works; and from there to Alabama, where, at Oxmoor, he
superintended the Eureka Company's Blast Furnace three years. Returning to Ohio,
he superintended the Jefferson Iron Works at Stenbenville for three years;
coming thence again into Alabama, in March, 1867, he took charge as
superintendent of construction of the Alabama, Tenn., Coal and Iron Works at
Sheffield. In August following, he was employed by the W. B. Wood Furnace
Company to superintend the completion of their works, of which, it is
understood, he is to become general manager.

  Mr. Norton was only nine years of age when he began the trade of nail maker,
as "feeder," at the Bellfonte Works, and, with the exception of the time devoted
to obtaining an education, he has since given his entire time to machinery, and
the construction of iron furnaces. He was unfortunately caught under a
locomotive at Wheeling and lost one of his legs.

  Mr. Norton is regarded by iron manufacturers as one of the most thorough
furnace men in the United States. He was married at Ironton, in 1880, to a Miss
Crawford.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical
Birmingham, Ala.: Smith and De Land
1888

PART IV.
MONOGRAPHS OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS IN NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ALABAMA,
TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MANY OF THEIR REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE.


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