USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. I > Part 12
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ISAAC NORRIS, b. Oct. 3, 1701, d. July 13, 1766; m. Sarah Logan, of whom presently;
Elizabeth Norris, b. Jan. 7, 1703-4, d. Aug. 6, 1779; unm .;
Deborah Norris, b. Oct. 18, 1705, d. May 17, 1767; unm .;
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Thomas Norris, b. Jan. 29, 1706-7, d. Jan. 20, 1727-8; unm .;
John Norris, b. April, 1709, d. August, 1731; unm .;
Prudence Norris, d. inf .;
CHARLES NORRIS, b. May 9, 1712, d. Jan. 13, 1766; m. (first) Margaret Rodman ; (second) Mary Parker ;
Margaret Norris, b. 1713, d. inf .;
Samuel Norris, b. Sept. 12, 1714, d. Jan. 3, 1746-7; unm .; was from early manhood partner of his brother Charles; see forward.
ISAAC NORRIS, second son and sixth child of Isaac Norris, Councillor, and Mary Lloyd, his wife, born in Philadelphia, October 3, 1701, was like his dis- tinguished father, prominent in Colonial affairs, filling the position of Speaker of Assembly of the Province for fifteen years. A sketch of him, written by Dr. George W. Norris, was published in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. i, p. 449, etc.
He was trained for a mercantile career, but nevertheless received a fine classical education, and twice went abroad to travel in Europe. Becoming asso- ciated with his father in mercantile business he continued it after the latter's death until 1743. Prior to the death of his father he resided in the "Slate-roof House", and afterwards at "Fair Hill." In 1727 he was elected to Common Coun- cil of city of Philadelphia, and three years later was advanced to the Board of Aldermen. He was first elected to the Provincial Assembly in October, 1734, from Philadelphia county, and his standing as a merchant made him at once an author- ity on matters of trade, measures for the advancement of which were then being agitated in the law-making bodies of the Province. On October 15, 1734, on the organization of the House, Lieut. Gov. Patrick Gordon communicated to it an inquiry from the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, as to what encouragement was necessary to make the Colonies of America furnish naval stores and other commodities not produced in England. The subject was excit- ing much attention in the mother country, where it was feared that industries would become established in the Colonies for the production of fabrics, of which England could always produce more than was used there, and she would thus lose an important market. Isaac Norris was appointed chairman of committee to draft a reply. His knowledge of trade conditions and natural resources of the Province, enabled him in his report to the Assembly to embody the valuable statement of Pennsylvania's resources to be found in "Votes of Assembly." It declared that hemp, pig-iron, and bar-iron, being staples generally purchased with money by the subjects of Great Britain from the Northern kingdoms, might, on a bounty being given by the home government, be had from some parts of this and other colonies in exchange for the manufactures and products of the Mother Country.
In 1739, four years after his father's death, the younger Norris comes to the front as the leader of the Quaker party. Rather more of a Quaker than his father, much more of a Quaker than James Logan, he is interesting as a statesman who endeavored to keep the policy of the state consistent with Quaker principles. In his day the crucial circumstances arose for carrying out theories as to the unlawfulness of war, which it was a different thing to profess than when the sect was only a few individuals in the great nation of England. It was to be seen what Friends in control of a state would do in case of invasion. In England they occasionally suffered legal penalties; in America they would have to antici-
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pate a conquering army depriving them of the fruits of their toil, their nation- ality, and their chartered liberties. The case did not really present itself to the earlier settlers of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Those colonies were too small either to tempt invasion, or to be looked to for recruits; and a little presence of mind on such occasions as Gov. Evans' scare was all that was called for. But in 1739 war was breaking out with the yet mighty kingdom of Spain, from whose American possessions an armament could be fitted out against the territory with which Raleigh and Gilbert had enriched the British Crown. Indeed it was ex- pected that France, then possessor of Canada, would ally herself with Spain, and, thus flanked, the British colonies must bear a bitter struggle, while their population and natural wealth were now so considerable that their conquest by either of their neighbors would be a sufficient fruit of the war. Under these cir- cumstances, the Assembly of Pennsylvania, with Norris a member, met in Octo- ber, 1739. The Governor suggested that they take measures for the defence of the Province. He also laid before them a communication from the Lords Com- missioners of Trade and Plantations asking for information as to the rates of gold and silver coin and value of gold and silver per oz. in 1700-10-20-30, and the provisions of the acts for issuing bills of credit from 1700 down, the amounts named in them, and the amount outstanding. The statement sent in answer was prepared by a committee of which Thomas Leech was the first named, and Isaac Norris, the second. This work over, the House sent a message on the subject of defence, contending for the rights of the Quakers to obey their conscientious scruples against war. At the same time, it was said, persons of other sects who held no such views were equally entitled to liberty of conscience. Of such there were many, and they could arm, the Governor by the charter to Penn being au- thorized, and no act of Assembly having restrained him, to levy, muster, and train all sorts of men, and to make war, and act as a captain-general. But Gov. Thomas wished them to vote money, and to enact a law relating to military ser- vice. This they would not do; they would not even pass a bill on the subject when the Quakers were exempted from its provisions. The Governor replied that sharing in the expense had been agreed to in Pennsylvania when, in 1710, a sum was granted to Queen Anne for the reduction of Canada, and was always done by persons of their religious persuasion in Britain. Norris was on the com- mittee to draft the rejoinder. It ably states the Quaker argument against the lawfulness of war to Christian men, and recalls the fact that the money voted to Queen Anne was accompanied by an explanation that their principles forbade war, but commanded them to pay tribute and yield obedience to the power God had set over them in all things so far as their religious persuasions would per- mit. The paper further declares an unwillingness to place such instruments of power as a militia and the money for fortifications in the hands of the Governor and his friends. This of course had nothing to do with the religious principle ; at the same time it was cunningly added, and gained for those who wrote it sup- port from the democracy. In the course of time, the non-Quaker population organized seven companies of soldiers, but in these a large number of indentured servants undertook to enlist. Many Quaker masters were thus injured. The Assembly took up the matter, and addressed the Governor ; but the runaways had taken the oath, and a large portion had received the King's subsistence for several weeks, and the Governor declined to dismiss them. Finally, on the 9th
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of August, the Assembly yielded to the importunities for money, and voted 3000l. to Thomas Griffitts, Edward Bradley, John Stamper, Isaac Nor- ris, and Thomas Leech, "for the use of King George II.," provided, however, that no warrant for said sum should issue from the Speaker until all the ser- vants enlisted should be returned to their masters free of all charges. A remon- strance to the King was ordered to be drawn up, Norris being upon the commit- tee to draft it. At the next Assembly, Norris again member, a committee re- ported the number of servants thus eloigned as 262, and compensation was made to the masters.
The various disputes between the Governor and the Quakers, or "Norris party," as the stricter Friends came to be called, brought about contests for office as bitter as in modern times. The re-election of Norris to the Assembly in 1741 could not be prevented; and the Quakers had some vantage ground with Norris and his brother-in-law Griffitts and uncle Preston, as three of the Aldermen of the city. But the Corporation was too important a political factor to be allowed to feel his influence. The adverse party mustered a majority to elect four new Aldermen and five new Councilmen who would further the Governor's plans ; and the prominence of the Lloyd connection, and even the equal footing of the Quakers in the Board, was destroyed forever. It was not so easy to defeat Norris at a popular election. In 1742, after a session in which he had been head of nearly every committee, and in which he had performed lasting services in superintending the completion of portions of the State House, and in purchas- ing a site and devising plans for a Lazaretto, the wealthy Recorder of the city, Mr. Allen contended for his seat in the House. The German settlers had in- variably voted with the Quakers, and it was charged that the "Norris party" had been in possession of the polls, crowded out their opponents, and elected their candidate with the aid of unnaturalized voters. But if the Governor's friends cried "fraud," they were now guilty of "bulldozing." On election day of that year, a party of sailors, strong enough in numbers to make havoc in the little city, marched up from the wharves, applied their clubs, and, wounding several, drove the disciples of peace from the State House. In the hubbub that followed, Allen is reported to have said "They had as good a right to be there as the unnaturalized Dutchmen ;" he took no steps to preserve the peace, and his supposed complicity lost him many votes. Such violence brought a reaction in public feeling; and Norris was returned. A fresh controversy arose from this "Riot of 1742," the new Assembly desiring the Governor to bring the officers of the City Corporation to trial before the Supreme Court, and the Corporation refusing, after which a resolution was passed censuring the officers in question for neglect of duty. The withholding of the Governor's salary was the effective weapon of the Assembly ; and in time induced that officer to attempt a concilia- tory course. Certain bills which had been insisted on, he finally assented to, and the money-voting power granted him his means of subsistence. Gordon in his History says that the triumph of the Assembly was complete they had taken no step of a military character, nor made any gift of money inconsistent with their principles.
In 1745, the Governor appointed Norris, Kinsey, and Lawrence, commissioners to represent Pennsylvania at the conference with the Indians at Albany. Nor- ris had left a diary of his journey, privately printed by one of his brother's
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descendants in 1867. The conference was of little importance to the English ; but in 1755 Norris was again sent to Albany as one of the commissioners from Pennsylvania to treat with the Indians. He and his colleagues at this time effected the purchase of several million acres, comprising the southwestern portion of Pennsylvania.
On the death of John Kinsey, in 1751, Isaac Norris was elected Speaker of the Assembly. It was in that year that the old State House bell was ordered from England, Norris directing the inscription, which turned out to be prophetic, to be placed around it. The bell was cracked by a stroke from the clapper in 1752, was recast with the same inscription, and less than a quarter of a century afterwards actually did "Proclaim liberty throughout the land, unto all the inhab- itants thereof." During the fifteen years of Norris's speakership, was waged the great contest between the populace and the Proprietaries on the subject of taxa- tion and legislative control of the Penn family estates. The Quakers, with Nor- ris at their head, joined the opposers of privilege. In the course of one of the debates in the Assembly, Norris declared "No man shall ever stand upon my grave and say 'Curse him' or 'Here lies he who betrayed the liberties of his Country.'" In 1757, the Assembly resolved to send him and Benjamin Franklin to England to solicit for the removal of grievances occasioned by the Proprie- tary instructions, &c., but Norris declined the appointment on account of ill health, so that Franklin undertook it alone. Opposition to the encroachments of the Penns, however, did not lead Norris into the scheme for converting Pennsylvania into a Royal Province, whereby instead of having to deal with a family who felt some attachment to the people of the soil, whose property lay in the colony, and whose financial interests were generally identical with their own, and for whom in most contests they had proved themselves a match, the people were to be ruled by a Governor responsible only to the British Ministry, and supported by the whole power of the Crown. When, in 1764, a petition to the King to effect this change passed the Assembly despite the remonstrances of Dickinson, Norris's son-in-law, Norris requested that, his sentiments being very different from those of the majority, as his seat in the chair prevented him from entering into the debate, therefore if in consequence of their order his duty should oblige him to sign the petition as Speaker, he might be permitted to offer his sentiments on the subject before he signed, and that they might be entered on the minutes. This request was granted, after which the House adjourned to the following morning. On reassembling, it received a letter from Norris resigning the Speakership. The long sitting and the excitement of the debate had proved too much for his weakened health, and being too unwell to attend, he availed himself of the excuse to be relieved of the unpleasant duty. Benjamin Franklin was chosen his suc- cessor, and signed the petition. At the ensuing popular election, Franklin was not returned to the Assembly. Norris's name, contrary to his wishes, had been placed upon the ticket for Philadelphia county : he was again chosen to the As- sembly, and again became its Speaker. He a second time resigned, October 24, 1764, Joseph Fox being his successor.
Norris had the literary tastes of the Quaker connection to which he belonged, and in the course of his busy life collected a fine library for those days. The principal portion of it, "consisting of about 1,500 volumes upon the most impor- tant subjects," was presented to Dickinson College by the Hon. John Dickinson
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upon the founding of that institution. Norris wrote with ease in French and Latin, and had some knowledge of Hebrew. Among his various public services, he acted for several years as a trustee of the College. He died at "Fair Hill," July 13, 1766. He made no will.
The following extract is taken from the Independent Gazetteer, of November 27, 1787, No. 612: "The late Mr. Isaac Norris, whose memory will be forever revered by every good citizen of Pennsylvania, had served his country with the utmost fidelity for more than twenty years in the character of legislator. His age and increasing weakness of constitution at length obliged him to quit the task of reconciling and directing the various interests and views of his fellow representatives to the good of his country.
Isaac Norris married, in 1739, Sarah, eldest daughter of James Logan, Pro- prietary Secretary of Pennsylvania, member of the Provincial Council for almost a half century, Deputy Governor, Chief Justice, etc. She was born December 9, 1715, died December 13, 1744, soon after the birth of her youngest child, having survived her marriage but little over five years.
Issue of Isaac and Sarah (Logan) Norris :-
Mary Norris, b. July 17, 1740, d. at Wilmington, Del., July 23, 1803; m. July 19, 1770, Hon. John Dickinson, and had issue:
Sally Norris Dickinson, b. 1771, d. unm., Nov. 1, 1855;
MARIA DICKINSON, b. Nov. 6, 1733; d. Feb. 10, 1854; married her cousin, Albanus Charles Logan, son of Dr. George Logan, of "Stenton," by his wife Deborah Norris. daughter of Charles and Mary (Parker) Norris, of whom later;
Isaac Norris, d. inf .;
James Norris, d. inf. ; Sarah Norris, b. 1744, d. s. p. 1769.
CHARLES NORRIS, son of Isaac and Mary (Lloyd) Norris, born in Philadel- phia, May 9, 1712, was a prominent and successful merchant of that city, being for some years associated with his younger brother Samuel. He lived in a fine house, on what was then the outskirts of the city, the present site of the Custom House. He was for many years Trustee of the Loan Office of Pennsylvania, and was one of first Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Hospital. His palatial home with its fine grounds running back to Library street, ornamented with gravelled walks, flowers, rare shrubs and plants, was the scene of much social activity among the aristocratic youth of Philadelphia, after the evacuation of the city by the British, 1778. Deborah Norris, eldest daughter, was the bosom friend and correspondent of Sally Wistar, and one of the charming circle of friends of whom we get a glimpse in "Sallie Wistar's Journal". "During the Revolution- ary War, the Patriots took from the Norris house the heavy leaden spouts and rain gutters to make bullets for the Continental Army."
Charles Norris died January 15, 1766, but seven years after his second mar- riage, and therefore while all his children were yet in tender years. He married (first) Margaret, daughter of Dr. John Rodman, of Bucks county, who died without issue. He married (second) June 21, 1759, Mary, daughter of Joseph Parker, native of Yorkshire, England, who was Deputy Register of Chester county, Clerk of Common Pleas Court there in 1733-4, but later removed to West Jersey. By his wife, Mary Ladd, he had issue Mary (Parker) Norris, who died
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December 4, 1799, and was buried in the Friends' Burying Ground, at Chester. Issue of Isaac and Mary (Parker) Norris :-
Isaac Norris, b. July 18, 1760, d. Oct. 2, 1802; unm .;
Deborah Norris, b. Oct. 19, 1761, d. at Stenton, Feb. 2, 1839; m. Dr. George Logan; Deborah was educated as a child in the school kept by Anthony Benezet, celebrated scholar and philanthropist of Philadelphia, and after her schoolgirl days pursued a regular course of education at home, becoming one of the literary characters of her time. It was through her careful collation of family MSS. and her memoranda of events of which she was an eye-witness, her notes of facts which she had peculiar opportunities of learning, that Watson, the annalist, gained much of the Colonial history which he preserved. She possessed considerable poetic talent, writing many small pieces of verse in her diary; a sketch of her appears in "Worthy Women of our First Century" ( Phila., 1877), and "she is as justly celebrated as any woman whom Philadelphia has produced";
JOSEPH PARKER NORRIS, b. May 5, 1763, d. June 22, 1841; m. Elizabeth Hill Fox, of whom presently ;
Charles Norris, b. July 12, 1765, d. Dec. 24, 1813; resided for some years in Massachu- setts; m. at Nantucket, July 4, 1793, Eunice Gardner ; they had issue :
Mary Norris, m. John Schrack, of Montgomery county, Pa .;
Deborah Logan Norris, d. unm .;
Hepzibah Norris, m. (first) William E. Wells; (second) in 1846, William McCann.
JOSEPH PARKER NORRIS, second son of Charles and Mary (Parker) Norris, born in Philadelphia, May 5, 1763, was a pupil of Robert Proud, the historian, and was an executor of his will. The estates of "Fair Hill" and "Sepviva", having been settled upon him and his brothers, in tail male, with remain- der to the right heirs of Isaac Norris, Speaker, with power in Mrs. Dick- inson, (daughter of Isaac) to determine which son of Charles Norris should be tenant in tail; Joseph Parker Norris purchased the property; John Dick- inson and Mary, his wife, she being sole heiress of Isaac Norris, Speaker, made him a deed dated May 18, 1790, naming him as tenant in tail, and granting him the reversionary interest, also. He then instituted pro- ceedings to destroy the entail, and in the course of a year through the legal legerdemain of common recovery, became seized of these estates in fee simple. They consisted of some six hundred and fifty acres of land in the Northern Liberties, lying between Gunner's Run, later the Aramingo canal, and the Ger- mantown turnpike. This remained the rural seat of the family up to the date of his death, though the time when it became covered with rows of houses was then so near at hand that he must be considered to have left the greatest landed estate of any of his contemporaries in these parts.
Joseph Parker Norris was many years president of the Bank of Pennsylvania. He died June 22, 1841, devising "Fair Hill" to trustees for the children of his sons, and "Sepviva" to trustees for his daughters' children. An Act of Assembly was passed to enable the trustees to sell lots during the lifetime of the testator's children. He married, May 20, 1790, Elizabeth Hill, daughter of Elizabeth Mickle and Joseph Fox, who succeeded Isaac Norris as Speaker of Assembly. Mrs. Norris survived her husband nearly twenty years, dying in January of 1861.
Issue of Joseph Parker and Elizabeth Hill (For) Norris :-
Mary Parker Norris, b. June 19, 1791; m. Nov. 11, 1813, William Fishbourne Emlen, b. May 20, 1787, son of George and Sarah (Fishbourne) Emlen, of Philadelphia ; they had issue :
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George Emlen, b. Sept. 25, 1814, d. June 7, 1853; entered Univ. of Pa., 1828, was valedictorian of class of 1831; studied law and was lifelong member of Phila- delphia Bar; President Law Academy of Philadelphia, 1851; Secretary Board of Trustees of Univ. Pa., 1841-53; President of Controllors Public Schools, etc .; m. Ellen Markoe, May 6, 1840; had issue as shown in sketch of Emlen family; Mrs. Emlen d. Jan. 15, 1900;
Joseph Norris Emlen, b. Sept. 4, 1816, d. Aug. 26, 1882; was a graduate of the Univ. Pa., A. B., 1834, A. M., 1835.
Elizabeth Norris Emlen, b. Jan. 26, 1825; m. Dec. 22, 1847, James Roosevelt, b. June 12, 1825, d. July 15, 1898; had issue :
Mary Emlen Roosevelt, b. Sept. 27, 1848, d. Dec. 19, 1885;
Leila Roosevelt, b. Feb., 1850; m. Edward R. Merritt;
Alfred Roosevelt, b. Apr. 2, 1856, d. July 3, 1891; m. Katharine, dau. of Augustus Lowell, of Boston, Mass., Dec. 5, 1882; had issue;
William Emlen Roosevelt, b. April 30, 1857; m. Oct. 4, 1883, Christine Griffin, dau. of John Kean, of Ursino, N. J., and had issue;
Sarah Emlen, b. June 15, 1832; m. Oct. 15, 1862, James Casey Hale; had issue : Mary Emlen Hale, b. Aug. 9, 1863; m. Oct. 23, 1883, James Lowell, Jr., of Boston, Mass .; was the mother of Mary Emlen Lowell, who Oct. 15, 1904, married Francis Vernon Lloyd.
Charles Norris, b. Feb. 24, 1793, d. June 4, 1868; trustee of the "Fair Hill" estate, etc .; m. 1821, Dorothea, dau. of Louis Clapier; had issue :
Louis Clapier Norris, b. June 10, 1822, d. Feb. 15, 1900; m. Dec. 14, 1847, Jane McKee; no issue;
Joseph Parker Norris, of New York, b. Feb. 15, 1824, d. March 19, 1894; m. Feb. 5, 1857, Frances Ann Stevens; they had issue:
Dorothea Clapier Norris, b. June 1, 1858;
Fanny Norris, b. March 19, 1864;
Gertrude Norris, b. Dec. 15, 1865, d. Oct. 8, 1886;
Charles Norris, M. D., of New York, b. Oct. 23, 1868; graduated at Yale University, ( Ph.B.) 1888, and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine at Columbia University, New York, in 1892; instructor in College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, in Bacteriology, 1896; instructor of Pathology at Cornell University, 1899-1900; director of Laboratories at Bellevue and Allied Hospitals, New York.
Charles Norris, b. Oct. 23, 1828;
JOSEPH PARKER NORRIS (the younger), b. Oct. 20, 1794, d. Jan. 31, 1863; m. Caroline Thompson, of whom presently ;
Samuel Norris, b. April 1, 1796, d. s. p. Dec. 28, 1866; trustee of "Fair Hill" estate, etc .; Elizabeth Fox Norris, b. Sept. 9, 1797, d., Sept. 9, 1874; m. July 1,. 1819, Elihu Spencer Sergeant ; had issue :
Elizabeth Norris Sergeant, b. May I, 1820, d. Oct. 7, 1877; m. June 6, 1853, John Lambert, who d. May 2, 1901; and had issue: John Lambert, artist b. March 10, 1861 ; grad. (A. B.) of the Univ. Pa., 1883; d. Dec. 29, 1907 ;
Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, member of the Philadelphia Bar, and trustee of "Sepviva" Estate; b. March 14, 1822; died. June, 1909.
Margaret Spencer Sergeant, b. Feb. 13, 1824, died. July 27, 1825.
Isaac Norris, b. 1799, d. inf.
Deborah Norris, b. Oct. 2, 1800, d. Feb. 4, 1864; m. July 10, 1823, William Brown, had issue :
Elizabeth Norris Brown, b. April 22, 1824;
Thomas Hamilton Brown, b. Aug. 18, 1826, d. inf .;
Joseph Norris Brown, d. inf .;
Francis Brown, d. inf .;
John Hamilton Brown, d. inf .;
William Richardson Brown, b. April 20, 1830, d. April 5, 1879; m. Caroline Lawson;
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