Mary (Norton) Kirk (abt. 1713 - 1772)

Born about 1713 in Armagh, Ulster, Ireland [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of Richard Brown — married 24 Oct 1733 in West Nottingham MM, Cecil County, Maryland

Descendants

Died 11 Aug 1772 at about age 59 in Loudoun, Virginia

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Biography

Mary was a Friend (Quaker)

Birth

Mary Norton was born in Ireland about 1710. Her father is identified as Edward Norton, deceased, from the parish of Armagh, County Armagh, Ireland.

Immigration to America

Mary and her brother Edward are recorded as immigrating to Maryland in 1733 in Albert Cook Myers' book, 'List of Certificates of Removal from Ireland Received at the Monthly Meetings of Friends in Pennsylvania, 1682- 1750. An annotation to this collection, however, notes that the arrival date on record may reflect either their arrival at a port, "or the date and location of first mention of [their] residence in the New World."^[1] Regardless the exact timing, the pair were members of the Nottingham Monthly Meeting at Chester County by 1733 as evidenced by both siblings' names appearing on Mary's marriage document there.

Marriage and Children

Mary Norton married Richard Brown on October 24, 1733..^[2] She was his third wife and they had three children.^[3] Only the youngest child, Mercer, survived into adulthood and raised a family.

1. Richard b. 18 Sep 1734, d. 4 Sep 1738
2. Joseph b. 1 Apr 1736, d. 19 May 1751
3. Mercer b. 7 May 1740, d. Nov. 1802

From Pennsylvania to Virginia

About 1738/9, Mary and Richard left Chester County for the Hopewell Quaker Meeting at Frederick County, Virginia, where Mercer (aka Messer) was born in 1740. The couple shared a strong bond with Mary's brother, Edward, and his wife Elizabeth, who also travelled to Virginia, after marrying, to join the Hopewell Meeting. A few years later, in 1744, the families again moved enmasse to the newly formed Fairfax Monthly Meeting at Waterford, Fairfax County (later Loudoun County), Virginia. They were active in their Quaker community.^[4]

Widowed, Mary married William Kirk

Richard Brown died in 1745 naming his heirs as Mary and her unborn child, and five sons, Henry, William, John, Mercer and Joseph. The three elder brothers were Richard's sons from his first marriage. Richard bequeathed Mary their home and business, a Mill. The fate of Mary's pregnancy is unknown but there is no record of the birth of a fourth child. Mary remarried two years later in April, 1747, to the widower William Kirk of Nottingham, Pennsylvania.^[5] Mary and William continued on with the house and Mill until her death when Mercer then inherited the property as per the instructions of Richard's Will. There were no children from Mary's second marriage.

Her Death

Mary died the 11 August 1772 in Virginia and was probably buried in the precinct of her Quaker Meeting, so in the Fairfax Friends Cemetery at Waterford, Loudoun County, Virginia.^{[6] [7]}

Research Notes

The identity of Mary's parents in Ireland is uncertain but there are several family histories that present different theories such as her mother being Mary Rose (nee Grimes) a widow who married an Edward about 1680 in County Armagh. Other theories place her parents in County Carlow, which is much further south than County Armagh, based on the compelling fact that an Edward Norton attended Quaker meetings there. At present though, there is insufficient sourced material to support any definitive conclusion about her parentage apart from her father's name, and that he resided in County Armagh, Ireland, at the time of his death that occurred sometime before 1733.

Sources

1. ↑ Passenger List: "U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s"
   Place: Maryland; Year: 1733; Page Number: 376
   Ancestry Record 7486 #1428211 (accessed 21 December 2023)
   Name: Mary Norton; Arrival Year: 1733; Arrival Place: Maryland; Primary Immigrant: Norton, Mary; Source Publication Code: 5917; Annotation: Date reflects the date the certicate of removal arrived in Pennsylvania or, in a few cases, date and port of arrival or date and location of first mention of residence in the New World. All children born prior to the date cited were assumed to have emigra; Source Bibliography: MYERS, ALBERT COOK. "List of Certificates of Removal from Ireland Received at the Monthly Meetings of Friends in Pennsylvania, 1682-1750; with Genealogical Notes from Friends' Records of Ireland and Pennsylvania, Genealogies, County Histories, and Other Books and Manuscripts." In Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750, with Their Early History in Ireland. Swarthmore, [PA]: Myers, 1902, pp. 277-390. Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore,;
   Household Members (Name):
   Mary Norton.
2. ↑ Mary Norton Marriage to Richard Brown, Ancestry.com, (2014), "U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935", Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; Minutes, 1730-1889; Collection: Baltimore Yearly Meeting Minutes; Call Number: RG2/B/N681 3.3, [database on-line], (https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?viewrecord=1&r=an&db=QuakerMeetMins&indiv=try&h=1107234023),

   "Name: Mary Norton | Marriage Date: 24 Nov 1733 | Marriage Date on Image: 24 Ninth 1733 | Marriage Place: West Nottingham | Father: Edward Norton| Spouse: Richard Brown | Spouse Father: William Brown | Event Type: Marriage | Monthly Meeting: Nottingham Monthly Meeting Historical Type (Orthodox or Hicksite): Pre-Separation/Hicksite | Yearly Meeting: Baltimore Yearly Meeting | Meeting State: Pennsylvania | Meeting County: Chester".

3. ↑ Nottingham Monthly Meeting, Maryland, (1900). Maryland Quaker records: Nottingham Monthly Meeting, Cecil County (original page 23&24. Online image at page 52/380), Contributor: Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center, retrieved from Internet Archive website: (https://archive.org/details/marylandquakerre00nott/page/n51)
4. ↑ This biographical information about Mary and Richard's lives and the lives of their children was sourced from the website, (https://www.geni.com/people/Alexander-Thompson/6000000026214025473), which references a privately published book, "Norton Family History", said to be on file in the Alabama Room of the Anniston Public Library, Anniston, Alabama.
5. ↑ Fairfax Monthly Meeting: "Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy. Vol. VI: (Virginia)"
   Fairfax Monthly Meeting
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Image (accessed 21 December 2023)
6. ↑ Death: "U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935"
   Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2189 #1107386490 (accessed 19 December 2023)
   Mary Kirk death 11 Aug 1772 in Loudoun, Virginia.
7. ↑ Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 16 February 2019), memorial page for Mary Norton Brown (unknown–11 Aug 1772), Find A Grave Memorial no. 128493705, citing Fairfax Friends Cemetery, Waterford, Loudoun County, Virginia, USA ; Maintained by Ralph Brown (contributor 48194949) .