William Norman
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William Norman (abt. 1654 - abt. 1699)

William Norman
Born about in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts Baymap
Ancestors ancestors
Son of and [mother unknown]
[spouse(s) unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died about at about age 45 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusettsmap [uncertain]
Problems/Questions Profile manager: Betty Norman private message [send private message]
Profile last modified | Created 21 Jan 2013
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Contents

Biography

U.S. Southern Colonies Project logo
William Norman was a Carolina colonist.

Birth and Early Years

William was a son of Richard Norman. He was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, around 1648/54. His mother may have been Margaret Flint (1635-1705).[1][2] When still a child, he was apprenticed to William Beale of Marblehead. He ran away in 1665, but was caught at Ipswich, placed in the jail and sentenced to be whipped ten stripes. Beale assigned his interest in Norman to Capt. Thomas Savage,[3] with the approval of the court, at the same session.[2]

Marriage and Family

Around 1669, he married Rebecca (last name unknown), and they had at least three children:[1]

  1. William (1670-1702)
  2. Moses (1672-1702)
  3. Elizabeth (1680-), m. Joshua Orne 23 Nov 1704[2]

Settlement in Colonial Carolina

On 10 Apr 1684, a warrant was issued to William Norman for 320 acres, in Carolina "for ye Arriveall of himselfe, wife, son William two servants & the Rights of one negro assigned him by Mathew English wch is Recorded in the secretaryes office in some Convenient place not yet Laid out or marked to Be Laid out for any other pson or use observeing the Lords instructions beareing Date the 21th septem 1683. And a Certifycate fully specifeying the scituation & bounds thereof you are to Returne to us wth all Convenient speed & for yor soe Doeing this shall be your Warrt Dated the Tenth Day of aprill 1684."[4][5][6]

The Normans settled on that 320 acres, located on the Ashley River, in Berkeley County, developing a plantation that was called Burton (later called Fair Spring).[7][8] For some reason, the grant for this property was not finalized until 8 Sep 1697, by William's son, William, Jr.[9] The property, in Berkeley County, is described as lying at the head of Ashley River, adjoining the property of the Lady Axtell.[10]

Dorchester Congregational Church

William Norman played a key role in the formation of a small colony, or "church," organized in Dorchester, Massachusetts, for the purpose of settling in South Carolina. His name is listed as one of eight men who, together with their pastor Mr. Joseph Lord, on 22 Oct 1695, formed a "most solem Covenant to sett up the ordinances of Jesus Christ ther if the lord caryed them safely thither..." [11] On 5 Dec 1695, the "colony" set sail from Boston aboard the Brigantine Friendship and landed at Carolina on 20 Dec, a voyage of about 14 days. The group of men explored several different possibilities for location of their settlement. One of these was the property adjacent to William Norman, where his neighbor, the Lady Axtell, "kindly received them." After deciding upon the Ashley River location, they met at Mr. (William) Norman's house, where Mr. Lord preached his first sermon.[12]

Death and Burial

William may have traveled north to Massachusetts on other occasions during and after settlement of the Dorchester colony. Certainly his son, William, Jr., did, as he married[13] there and died[14] there, although his residence was in Berkeley County. Most likely, William Sr. died before 1699, when Samuel Walton of Wenham deeded land to his widow, Rebecca.[2] The locations of his death and grave are unknown, although thought to be in Massachusetts.

Research Notes

  • Further research is needed to validate the marriage date of William and Rebecca, as the cited source claims 1680[1], but their children were born before that time.
  • Contemporaries of William Norman and his family in the colonial Carolinas were another Norman family with similar names. This family, whose patriarch was also named William Norman came to the Carolina coast from Yorkshire, England. They too settled in Berkeley County, but in the part of that large county known as Goose Creek, by the Cooper River. They apparently had no connection to the Dorchester/Ashley River Normans.[15]

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Norman Roots
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Browse Norman, of Salem and Marblehead Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis. Vol. III. Neal-Wright.
  3. This is likely the Capt. Thomas Savage to whom William was apprenticed in 1665. Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
  4. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Microfilm ST0353. Warrants for land, 1672-1711. Series S213009, Page 296.
  5. Warrant for 320 Acres. Salley, Alexander Samuel “A. S.”, editor. Warrants for Lands in South Carolina, 1672-1711. Reprint. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1973.
  6. Warrants for lands in South Carolina 1672-1711, p. 153.
  7. "The Ashley River: Its Seats and Settlements", Smith, Henry A.M. The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Volume 20, 1919. p. 168
  8. https://south-carolina-plantations.com/dorchester/burton.html Burton Plantation]
  9. Abstract to grant for 320 acres; Search on Norman, William
  10. Land Grant - Property Description; South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Colonial Land Grants (Copy Series). Microfilm ST0080. Series S213019, Volume 38, Page 337, Item 1.
  11. Narratives of Early Carolina Records of the First Church at Dorchester, New England (1891), p. 13.
  12. Exploring Carolina Smith, Henry A.M., The Town of Dorchester, in South Carolina: A Sketch of Its History. The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Apr., 1905), pp. 62-95 (34 pages); Published by: South Carolina Historical Society
  13. Ancestry Record 2495 #42832055 William Norman, Jr. Marriage
  14. William Norman, Jr. Profile
  15. Normans of Goose Creek The ancestry of Rev. Nathan Grier Parke & his wife Ann Elizabeth ... Parke, N. Grier (Nathan Grier), b. 1884., p. 101

See also:

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Allen Minix for creating WikiTree profile Norman-1022 through the import of wikitree upload norman-2.ged on Jan 22, 2013.





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Comments: 6

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The possiblility deserves to be explored. Norman died in Boston, but his widow left her Marblehead property to their daughter, who married a Marblehead man. For some time, I believed that Norman of Dorchester in the Carolinas had arrived there from England. Eventually I learned there were two William Normans in the Charles Towne area in the same time period. The other settled in Goose Creek, no doubt a far different life than Dorchester William.
posted by Betty (Skelton) Norman
Now that I've explored the family a little more, I'm less skeptical. I was trying to see if I could place Elizabeth Norman) who married John Clark, and deed land to William and Huldah Norman. I don't suppose you have any insight?
posted by M Cole
William and Huldah would have been too young to be her parents, although they did have a daughter Elizabeth. It's probably a family name. Do you have a source for the land deed?
posted by Betty (Skelton) Norman
The deeds are the last two on the profile. [Elizabeth was a second or third wife of John Clark, so it's possible that Norman may have been a married name.]
posted by M Cole
I'm skeptical that William Norman of Marblehead was the same William Norman of Dorchester and Carolina. There was at least one other Norman family in Massachusetts, in the Boston area. That might be a better fit. What evidence is there that ties the Carolina man to the Marblehead family?
posted by M Cole
Shouldn't the work be done to "separate" William of Marblehead, etc. from what seem one or more other men?

For Richard's son, one could begin by following Walter Goodwin Davis, The ancestry of Sarah Stone, wife of James Patten ... (Portland, Me., The Southworth Press, 1930), 52-54, at 52 ; digital images, Hathi Trust.

posted by GeneJ X

Rejected matches › William Norman (abt.1610-)