| John Norris resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776. Join: US Southern Colonies Project Discuss: southern_colonies |
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The earliest evidence that can confirm the presence of John Norris in Anne Arundel Co. is his signature as a witness on the will of Thomas Meers of Severn in 1674. This record also tells us that John Norris could sign his name at a time when many men made their mark. [1]
The land records also give firm evidence of the arrival of John Norris in Maryland. He was living in Anne Arundel County, Maryland by 1685 when he purchased 50 acres of land called St. Thomas Neck located in the great swamp between Herring Creek and West River for 6,000 pounds of tobacco. This property was described as having a dwelling house, barns and stables on it.
John Norris lived in this area the rest of his life and always identified himself as John Norris of the Swamp. For some unknown reason the man who sold him this property, Ralph Bazill, also owed him 12,000 pounds of tobacco.[2]
There is a strong possibility Ralph Bazill was married to one of the daughters of Thomas Parsons and thus related to John Norris via this marriage. Norris added to his holdings when he paid 5,500 pounds of tobacco to purchase another 210 acres bounding his property from Benjamin Hooker in 1691. This tract was called Hooker’s Addition.[3] Much later he patented two additional parcels on his own account to increase the size of his plantation to about 350 acres.[4]
As his children grew to adulthood and needed to set up their own households, John Norris purchased large tracts of land in the relative wilderness of Baltimore County for them. His sons, Benjamin and Thomas (the second son with this name as the first one died young) were set up on a tract located on a creek called Winter’s Run in the county known today as Harford. The year Benjamin turned twenty, John Norris purchased 362 acres called Everly Hill and passed it to his son by a deed in 1724.[5] Another tract on Winter’s Run called The Prospect was purchased for his son, Edward, in 1716. This 243 acre tract was deeded to Edward on the same day Benjamin received his land.[6] These tracts are also mentioned in his will along with another parcel he purchased in Baltimore County for his youngest daughter and her husband, John Metcalf, called Spring Garden.[7] By the time John Norris died in his eighties his younger children were set up with large farms he purchased for them, and his eldest son inherited his home plantation in the Swamp.
John Norris was definitely married twice and, most likely, was married three times. None of his marriages are recorded . This author believes he was married to an unknown first wife who was the mother of his first son, Thomas. This idea comes from the parish register of St. James which was created in Herring Creek Hundred in 1692. The baptisms of Susannah, John, Hannah, and Benjamin Norris are all entered on the same day 18 AUG 1700 by their parents, John and Elizabeth Norris.[8] The birthdays of these four children are also noted. Thomas is known to be the eldest son of John Norris, because he left a will when he died in 1711 mentioning his father, John Norris and his brother, Joseph. Thomas Norris is not mentioned in the baptism, so one assumes Elizabeth was not his mother.
This researcher believes John’s wife, Elizabeth was the daughter of Thomas Parsons. The rational for this theory is spelled out on her profile. Her death is recorded in the St. James Parish register and was also the cause of her husband getting in some trouble with the local authorities. In 1715 he submitted a petition to have a fine of 500 pounds of tobacco waived for not attending as a juror for a court. His petition states that his “wife lay very sick and dyed that he did not neglect his duty out of any contempt but was purely induced by his affection to and care of his wife.”[9] His fine was remitted. Most of John’s children were teenagers when Elizabeth died, but he still had two little ones under fifteen. He soon married a widow named Mary Newman on 3 APR 1716. The births and baptisms of his children are recorded in the St. James Parish register:
John Norris lived to about age eighty-five at a time when most people died in their 40s or 50s. He outlived three of his known children as they are not left legacies in his will. His will is mostly concerned with dividing his real property amongst his children. However, he also mentions legacies of personal property. To his son, Thomas, he leaves one negro boy named Abraham, 1 feather bed and furniture, 2 cows and calves, 2 sows and pigs. To his daughter, Mary Metcalf, he leaves a negro boy called Daniel, 2 cows and calves and 2 sows and pigs. His wife, Mary, is left the full enjoyment of all his lands in the Swamp during her life. After the death of his wife, the whole estate not previously mentioned is to be divided equally among his seven living children: John, Benjamin, Edward, Joseph, Thomas, Susannah and Mary.[11]
More interesting than his will, which reveals little about his life, is the inventory of goods owned by John Norris when he died. The value of this inventory taken in 1740 was over £829. This was a fairly large sum during this time period. The most valuable item on his inventory were the eleven slaves of various ages. Many of them were young boys. After the slaves his cattle were a high value item. He had a herd of over 30 cattle valued at more than £48, plus 3 horses. John Norris seems to have lived a rather elegant life for the time period. He owned 4 feather beds and linen, 7 tablecloths, wearing apparel valued over £15, a mare’s saddle and bridle and a total of 15 chairs. Two of the most unusual items on his inventory were a parcel of Persian Silk valued at £3 pounds, and 440 gallons of cider. Norris also had some cash money at a time when this was a fairly scarce item. His inventory lists over £6 in gold coins and £50 in paper money, as well as over 6,400 pounds of tobacco.[12]
John Norris, Jr. and his wife, Clare Wells appear to have stayed on the plantation in the Swamp, but the rest of his children relocated north of Anne Arundel to the county carved out of northern Baltimore County in 1774 called Harford County.
The problem with tracing John Norris’ ancestry is the repeated presence of the name in colonial Maryland. The legal records prove there were two men named John Norris of a similar age living in Maryland at the same time. One was deposed in a legal case in 1702 in St. Mary’s County and stated his age as 60 years and the age of his son, John Jr., as 22 years. This is very similar to the John Norris living in Anne Arundel County who also had a son named John. However, parish records prove the age of the son of the John Norris living in Anne Arundel County was only eleven in 1702. This gives concrete proof of two different John Norrises about ten years apart in age living in Maryland at the same time.[13] There is no documentation that connects these two families.
Geoffrey Edward Norris (abt.1639-abt.1695) and Mary (Freeman) Norris (1639-1678) have been linked as John's parents as well as the unsourced profile of William Norris (abt.1661-1715), who was linked as his brother. No sources for any of these relations have been found other than unsourced trees.
If you put the name of John Norris into several of the available genealogy sites to be found online, you will find many who state his father was a man named Thomas Norris who supposedly married Ann Hynson of Nansemond, Va. A careful research of primary and secondary sources in Maryland cannot confirm this ancestry. The first source one examines when researching early Marylanders is the patent files. These files contain documentation of early claims for land grants in the colony. There are several entries for Thomas Norris, but there is only one patent record with the name John Norris on it. This claim lists the name John “Norres” among twenty-five other servants brought into the colony by a sea captain in 1675 and 1677 who sold his rights to claim land to another man.[14] If this was John Norris of Anne Arundel county he would have the right to 50 acres of land when he had finished serving his indenture. There is no record of a John Norris receiving such a grant of land, so this patent record is likely not connected to John Norris of AA Co. He may have been born in Maryland, but there is no documentation to prove this fact.
A search for the claimed father of John Norris reveals there were also several men named Thomas Norris. One was definitely living in Talbot Co., Maryland as early as 1663. In that year he served on a jury of the Talbot County Court. Others serving with him included Daniel Glover, Thomas Hynson, Sr. and Jr., and John Boules.[15] The only documented relationship this Thomas Norris has to Ann Hynson in Maryland is a record in the Talbot County Land Records in which Ann Hynson gives him a letter of attorney to complete a land transaction.[16] A man named Thomas Norris patented 3 large tracts of land in Talbot and Kent counties. A thorough search of the land records revealed that some of these patents were vacated and some were sold by Daniel Norris. In his will of 1706 Daniel Norris mentions three tracts of land taken up by my brother, Thomas and left me. [17] There is no will for this Thomas Norris, but there is an administration of the estate which names Daniel Norris as the next-of-kin and there are no children mentioned for this Thomas Norris of Talbot County.[18]
Thomas and Daniel Norris may have been related to John Norris of Anne Arundel, but the will of Daniel Norris proves neither one was his father. These Norris men seem to be of the same generation. There are several other Norris men of this generation found in the Maryland records. There was another Thomas who lived in Baltimore County who was born about 1651 and had a son named John. This man may well be the brother of John Norris of Anne Arundel, but there is no proof. There were also two men named Edward Norris. One of them lived in Baltimore County and the other in Calvert. Neither one of these Edwards had children and there are no documents connecting them to John Norris.[19] The one who died in Baltimore County in 1698 without children was likely the brother of John and Thomas since both men named sons Edward.
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John is 24 degrees from Herbert Adair, 21 degrees from Richard Adams, 17 degrees from Mel Blanc, 25 degrees from Dick Bruna, 17 degrees from Bunny DeBarge, 30 degrees from Peter Dinklage, 13 degrees from Sam Edwards, 15 degrees from Ginnifer Goodwin, 16 degrees from Marty Krofft, 14 degrees from Junius Matthews, 15 degrees from Rachel Mellon and 16 degrees from Harold Warstler on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
That said, Seely's contributions are very well researched and coherent, and improving on them would be difficult.
edited by Jack Day
Perhaps she'd be amenable to changing it to an acknowledgment section? I thought the WT terms of use were such that contributors retained ownership but were licensing their content to be used collaboratively on WikiTree or something. The "5. Ownership and Use of Content" section under https://www.wikitree.com/about/terms.html
edited by Nathan Kennedy
Please continue to manage normally, and review US Southern Colonies Project Editing Guidance before editing.
Those parents are a source of a lot of spurious connections through noble and ancient ancestry. This appears to be a case of wishful interpolation until shown otherwise by some modicum of real sourcing.
edited by Nathan Kennedy
Thanks, Tony