NORRIS BIOGRAPHY, YATES CO., NY

Copyright (c) 1999 by Bonnie Bunce (bmbunce@juno.com).

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Excerpt from HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF YATES COUNTY, NEW YORK by Stafford
C. Cleveland published in 1873 in Penn Yan, New York, Vol. 1, pages
665-67, (as well as additional excerpts from the other pages indicated in
brackets) in the chapter on the Town of Milo.

                ELIPHALET NORRIS.

    One of the noted men of the early settlement was Eliphalet Norris, who
was born near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1763.  He was a merchant, and
resolved to try his fortune in the Genesee Country.  Starting with a
small stock of goods, he reached Fort Stanwix, and found his purse
exhausted.  Here he was overtaken by Charles Williamson, who,
ascertaining his destination, with characteristic generosity, loaned him
money to proceed.  
This must have been in 1792, the year that Mr. Williamson first visited
the country.  [From p. 29-32:  Mr. Williamson was the local
representative of the owners of the Pulteney Estate, a parcel of land of
about 1,200,000 acres in Western New York which had been purchased from
Phelps and Gorham by three investors in Great Britain headed by Sir Wm.
Pulteney.  The investors paid $35,000 pounds sterling ($170,000) for the
land in April, 1792, and Mr. Williamson became a naturalized citizen of
the United States 
in order to have the legal authority to sell and convey this land to new
settlers in the area.]  Mr. Norris came on with his little store by means
of batteaux, and finally landed at the point thereafter known as the
Norris Landing, where he opened his store in a log structure of primitive
character.  His trade was largely with the Indians, of whom he bought
furs, giving them powder, lead, clothing and "fire water" in exchange. 
His trade was profitable, and he soon paid the loan of Mr. Williamson,
who was his warm friend.  It is related that the Friend, [Jemima
Wilkinson, a religious leader who called herself "The Universal Friend"]
who was doubtless incensed by the bad influence of his whisky on the
Indians, sent some members of her 
Society to remonstrate with him.  The story goes that he very adroitly
avoided the subject, knowing their errand, and setting before them some
of his best spirits, they were so much mellowed as to forget their
mission and he escaped the threatened wrath.
    In 1793 Eliphalet Norris married Mary, daughter of Thomas Hathaway,
senior, a beautiful young woman of twenty-three. [From p. 113-114:
"Thomas Hathaway . . . was a native of New Bedford, Massachusetts . . .
joined the Friend's Society in 1784 . . . When the Friends resolved to
form a community by themselves, Thomas Hathaway parted with all his
property at New Bedford, and came to the New Jerusalem, bringing his four
children -- Thomas, Mary, Elizabeth and Gilbert.  His wife had died
shortly after the close of the [Revolutionary] War. . . . [H]e contracted
a fever and died in 1798, at the age of 66."]  He continued prosperous
many years, and was a leading man, becoming an extensive landholder.  He
was one of the early Supervisors of Jerusalem, and was a very active
business man.  But owing to bad luck in trade and habits that blighted
him, like many others, he finally failed and moved to Maryland, living
first at Havre de Grace and afterwards in Baltimore County, where he died
in 1821.  The next year Mrs. Norris returned with her four surviving sons
and settled on two hundred acres left her by her father, on the Friend's
Tract, about two miles north of Himrods.  There she died in 1847, at the
age of seventy-six.  Their children were Thomas H., Benjamin G., George
W., James H. and Joshua F.
    Thomas H., born in 1795, married Electa, daughter of Thomas Raplee. 
They settled on the mother's homestead, and now own his and two other
shares of that estate.  Before dividing with his sons he had three
hundred acres, mostly adjoining.  Their children are John W., Thomas R.,
Mary Ann, Myron, Helen and Caroline.  John W., born in 1830, married
Sarah, daughter of George W. Hazard.  They reside on a part of the
homestead.  Thomas R., born in 1835, married Sarah, daughter of Abraham
W. Shearman.  They live near and  north of Thomas R.  Mary Ann, born in
1833, is the second wife of Griffin B. Hazard of Torrey.  Myron, born in
1839, is unmarried and resides with his father, as do Helen and Caroline.
    Benjamin E., born in 1797, married Orilla, daughter of Ezra Raplee. 
[From pp. 937-38:  "Ezra, son of James Raplee, the elder, married
Amarillis, daughter of Jesse Dains. . . . Their children were Arnold,
Aurelia, Almira, Jesse, Jeremiah and Delanson. . . .  Aurelia married
Benjamin Norris."]  They resided in Milo till 1850, when they moved to
Hayward Co., Maryland.  All their children married and settled there
except Oliver, the youngest son, who returned with his parents to Milo in
1868.  Their children are George R., Charles W., Amarillis, Ann, Almira,
Mary J., Susan M. and Oliver G.  George R. married Eliza A. Aler, and
they have three children.  Charles W. married Elizabeth A. Munger, and
they have two children.  Amarillis married George Cresswell, and they
have four children.  Ann married John J. Brown, and they have three
children.  Almira married John T. Smith, and they have three children. 
Mary J. married Washington Gorsuch.  Susan M. died single, and Oliver G.
is unmarried.
    George W. died single in Maryland.
    James H., born in 1801, married a daughter of William Baskin of Starkey.
 He settled in that town, and died there in 1819.  They had one daughter
who was the first wife of Adam Hunt, and died early.   
    Joshua F., born in 1808, married Semantha Kress of Starkey.  They reside
in Barrington, and their children are Nelson, John, James, Mary and
Susan.  John is married and resides in Barrington.  The others are
single.
    Elizabeth, another daughter of Thomas Hathaway, senior, and sister of
Mrs. Eliphalet Norris, married Judge Joshua Ferris of Tioga County, a man
of note and high public consideration.