William Norris III (abt. 1741 - 1802)

Born about 1741 in England

Husband of Hannah (Bell) Norris — married 1759 (to 11 May 1796) in Lancaster County, Virginia

Descendants

Died 24 Jan 1802 at about age 61 in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Zane Darland [send private message]

Biography

Lieutenant William Norris III served with Fauquier County Militia, Virginia Militia during the American Revolution.

William Norris was born about 1741 in England. He migrated to America with his two brothers prior to 1760. His brothers settled, one in Maryland, the other in Pennsylvania; he settled in Fauquier County, Virginia,^[1] the only known child of William and Susannah Unknown Norris.

Alternate birth information: About 1730, Virginia.

Alternate birth information: About 1731, England.^[2]

Alternate birth information: "As far as I can find William was born in 1730 in Virginia. The family had emigrated several generations prior."^[3]

In 1759, when he was in his late twenties, he married Hannah Bell. She bore him eleven children, four sons and seven daughters, including the following:

1. Ann Norris
2. John Norris
3. Elizabeth Norris^[4]
4. William Norris.

In the Revolutionary War, he served as a 1st lieutenant (commissioned in the Fauquier Militia, Capt. Attwell's Company, November 1777, and again on 24 March 1778.).

The Norrises are thought to have moved to Freeman's Creek in Harrison (now Lewis) County, Virginia, about 15 miles west of Jane Lew in 1800.^[5] A Richard Norris settled on the south bank of the creek about one half mile above the lower bridge across the stream, and John Norris became the first settler on Millstone Run. William Norris sold his place in Fauquier County, and came to Broad Run District, bought 500 acres on Hacker's Creek from John Powers and moved there. He died in 1802. His daughter Nancy (also called Ann), who married Minter Bailey, Sr., in 1789, is buried on the old home place (later owned by Ruth Hays White).

Alternate year of move: After 1767.^[6]

In October 1790, Monongalia County Legislative Petitions,^[7] William Norris, a native of Virginiaa, moved to Maryland and about 1779 moved back, bringing five slaves with him. He was ignorant of the law which required him to record them. Found reasonable.

In his will, dated 1 December 1801, William named his children: John, James, Samuel, William, Elizabeth, Hannah, Ellen, Sarah, Catharine, Nancy (mentioned as the wife of Minter Bailey), and Susannah (who married Elijah Robinson).^[8]

On 24 January 1802, when he was about sixty, William died, probably on Hackers Creek of unknown causes.

Sources

1. ↑ McWhorter, Minnie, comp. “Norris Genealogy,” McWhorter Genealogies (West Virginia & Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Library, Morgantown, WV. Used 1998, I think. Norris Family- !-Wm. Norris.
2. ↑ McWhorter, Minnie, comp. “Norris Genealogy,” McWhorter Genealogies (West Virginia & Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Library, Morgantown, WV. Used 1998, I think. Norris Family- !-Wm. Norris.
3. ↑ Zane Darland.
4. ↑ The profile that had been attached as daughter Elizabeth - Norris-43 - represented the Elizabeth Norris born c1771 in Maryland and married George Baker. Her father was William Norris (1728-1817) of Baltimore, not the Virginia William Norris who married Hannah Bell. The father of Norris-43 was changed to Norris-274 on 20 December 2023 (and the profile for Hannah was detached as her mother).
5. ↑ Smith, Lewis Co., WV, p144.
6. ↑ McWhorter, Minnie, comp. “Norris Genealogy,” McWhorter Genealogies (West Virginia & Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Library, Morgantown, WV. Used 1998, I think. Norris Family- !-Wm. Norris.
7. ↑ Library of Virginia Archives.
8. ↑ McWhorter, Minnie, comp. “Norris Genealogy,” McWhorter Genealogies (West Virginia & Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Library, Morgantown, WV. Used 1998, I think. Norris Family- !-Wm. Norris.

• Hall, Judy. "Ancestors Of Maggie Bingley Atkins" (McCook, NE: 1995)

• McWhorter, Minnie, Compiler, Genealogies (West Virginia & Regional History Collection, Morgantown, WV) (unpublished manuscript)

• Smith, Edward Conrad, History of Lewis County, WVA (Weston[, WV]: The Author, 1920)., p 144

• SAR Application #85119 of Frank Bailey dated 8 Nov 1959:

• Family Papers in possession of Christine Jackson White (Jane Lew, WV), 7 Sep 2000.

• Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., (Provo, UT), 2004. See Source number: 1751.056; Source type: Family group sheet, FGSE, listed as parents; Number of Pages: 1.

Acknowledgments

• Benjamin Roberts imported the data for William Norris III (abt.1741-1802) from Roberts-Bischoff Family Tree.ged on 31 Aug 2010.