NORRIS BIOGRAPHY, YATES CO., NY Copyright (c) 1999 by Bonnie Bunce (bmbunce@juno.com). ************************************************************************ USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ************************************************************************ 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.