Chatham-Liberty County GaArchives Biographies.....Norman, Newton J. 1855 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 14, 2004, 11:44 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 641-642

   NEWTON J. NORMAN. One of the most conspicuous figures in the recent history
of this part of Georgia is the well-known gentleman whose name introduces this
review. An enumeration of the men of this part of the state who have won honor
and public recognition for themselves and at the same time have honored the
community in which they live would be incomplete without reference to Newton J.
Norman, a lawyer of admirable ability and solicitor general of the Atlantic
circuit, comprising the five counties, viz.: Liberty, Bryan, McIntosh, Effingham
and Tattnall.

   Mr. Norman was born at Flemington, Liberty county, Georgia, September
12,1855, the son of Capt. William S. and Susan Lorenna (Stacey) Norman. The
father was born at Walthourville, Liberty county, Georgia, February 26, 1822,
and died August 15, 1878. He was a lawyer by profession, a graduate of the State
University at Athens, with T. R. Cobb, Charles C. Jones and others whose names
are associated prominently with Georgia history, and afterwards studied law
under Joseph Wilkins and Wm. B. Fleming. At the beginning of his law practice he
removed from Walthourville to Hinesville, the county seat of Liberty county and
situated about two miles from Flemington, and afterwards to Flemington. In
addition to his professional interests he also became a large planter in Liberty
county. At the beginning of the war he raised a company which was known as the
Liberty Volunteers, becoming captain of the same and being stationed at Tybee
island. After six months service his entire family were taken down with typhoid
fever, which required his presence at home, and during which time his command
joined the army of Northern Virginia. As soon as his family was sufficiently
recovered for him to take up duties again for the Confederacy, he was appointed
solicitor of revenue, under the Georgia Confederate government, for the counties
of Liberty and Bryan, which position he held with efficiency until the close of
the war. Upon the termination of the great conflict, he was elected judge of the
county court of Liberty county, and after four years on the bench, he resumed
the practice of law, in which he continued actively until his death. Captain
Norman, in addition to his high repute as a lawyer and jurist, was also a writer
of note, both of prose and poetry; his literary qualifications being of
particularly high order. He was a member of and active participant of the
affairs of old Midway church in Liberty county, the oldest and most historic
church organization in Georgia. The subject's mother was likewise a native of
Walthourville. She survived her husband for five years, her demise occurring on
August 15, 1883. The family has long been established in this part of the South.
Mr. Norman's paternal grandfather was William Norman, who was also a native of
Liberty county, as was also the great grandfather, William Norman. The
great-great-grandfather, also named William, was born in Dorchester, South
Carolina and removed from that place to Midway, Georgia, March 22, 1771.

   Newton J. Norman has passed his entire life in the state. He was reared and
educated in Liberty county, one of the schools he attended being Bradwell
Institute at Hinesville. He studied law under Judge John L. Harden and was
admitted to the bar of Liberty county in 1894. Since that time he has maintained
his residence and law practice at Flemington, but for several years has had a
law office in Savannah, where he has his winter residence. He has occupied
several public positions of importance and trust. In 1888, he was elected a
member of the board of county commissioners of Liberty county. He resigned from
that position to become a candidate for the state legislature, to which he was
elected in 1890, serving one term. In the exciting race for United States
senator, between Gen. John B. Gordon and Thomas M. Norwood, in that session of
the legislature, it was Mr. Norman's vote, as will be recalled, that elected
General Gordon to the senate.

   Following this he was re-elected to membership on the board of county
commissioners of Liberty county, but before his term expired he resigned as such
and was elected in December, 1900 to fill an unexpired term as solicitor of the
Liberty County court; at the end of this term he was elected to the position for
a full term. In October, 1906, he was elected to his present position, solicitor
general of the Atlantic circuit, and in 1910, he was re-elected to this position
for another term of four years. He is one of the lawyers of whom Savannah is
justly proud, his usefulness to the city and to the profession which he so
greatly adorns being of the most definite sort. In addition to his duties as
solicitor general, Mr. Norman has a general civil practice in courts other than
his own.

   Mr. Norman's wife before her marriage was Miss Minnie Box, who was born in
Hampton county, South Carolina. They have three interesting children: lola,
Sarah Lorenna and Newton J. Norman, Jr.

   Mr. Norman took a leading part in the reorganization of the old Midway church
and in the re-establishment of regular religious services there after an
interval of many years. At the meeting in which this reorganization took place
he was elected president of the board of selectmen of the church and he has
continued to take an active leading part in the affairs of that historic
organization. Honored and respected by the people of both city and county, he
enjoys a large measure of public esteem, not only for his professional
achievements, but also for his worthy standing1 in the domain of private
citizenship.


Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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