My great-grandfather Ernest John Andrews was, as he put it, bitten
by the genealogical bug in the late 1890s when he was in his 30s. He spent the
next forty years of his life researching and writing about his ancestors. This
article is his delightfully candid expression of what happens when one is happily
researching, still inexperienced, and prone to jump to conclusions in advance of the facts (as Sherlock Holmes would have put it). It is also an eye-opening look into the
difficulties of genealogical research before the Internet, before microfilm
even, when writing letters, going to libraries, and traveling were the only
ways to gather information, and when having contacts in Washington D.C. was
nearly essential for the researcher of early New England ancestry. He wrote this probably in the 1920s.
My Search for Seba
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| Asa Norton in 1851 at the age of 70 |
by Ernest John Andrews
Seba Norton was not one of my
ancestors, but I thought he was. I am writing this for the good of others who
may be searching for ancestors. I did not know that his name was Seba, nor even
that there was such a name. I knew that my mother’s grandfathers were Asa Piper
and Asa Norton, but I knew nothing of their parents until I was stung by the
genealogical bee. I then began my search, not for Seba, but for the parents of
the Asas. In time I found the parents of Asa Piper; but the search for the
Norton parents was more interesting and instructive.
My mother knew that Asa Norton spent most of his life in
Crawford County, Illinois, at Heathville, near the county seat Robinson, and
was in the early days a county judge and a state legislator. She knew that he
came from Norwich, New York, where he was married about 1804 to Mary Bell [the
name turned out to be Belknap, but throughout this article he uses Bell. —MAW] who was from Vermont.
I searched many biographical books, such as The Members of the Bar of Illinois, for
Asa Norton’s name and ancestry. But evidently he was not sufficiently famous,
or his descendants hadn’t offered sufficient inducement, to get his name in the
books.
I also tried the other end and looked up the Norton
genealogies. They ran back to William the Conqueror; but I wasn’t interested in
him—I wasn’t interested in any Englishman as it was highly improbable that
Asa’s parents came from England and settled away off in central New York during
the end of the 18th century. So I turned to the early settlers in
New York. I found many lines of Nortons but no Asas. I couldn’t search for Seba
then; I could search only for Asa Norton of Norwich who married Mary Bell about
1804. It was a losing search at the beginning.
I turned to Norwich. I wrote for a copy of the town records
relating to the Nortons about 1800. But it turned out there were no records
existing of that time, nor until many years after. I wrote to the Clerk of the
Surrogate Court for a copy of any Norton wills from 1790 to 1840. The clerk
replied that there was only one will recorded during that time, that of Cyrus
Norton who had died in 1807. Cyrus then must be my man; my search was ended.
This was but a few years before Asa and his brother and sisters went west.
Probably the mother had died soon after the father; the property was disposed
of and the children went west. My mother knew that two brothers and two
sisters, besides Asa, came west.
I looked over my tables of Nortons and found no Cyrus. I
went to the library and looked up the printed records of the United States
Census of 1790. The census of 1790, unfortunately, is the only census printed.
But what a joy these books are to the genealogist! The first census of the
United States, and all easily available except New Jersey, which was destroyed
before printing. I found that Cyrus of Waterbury, Connecticut then had a wife,
four boys under 16, and two girls. Yes, this was the family: six children. I
knew of five—one probably died. But I sent for a copy of the will; even though
I felt I had reached the end of the search, I would play fair and send the
money to the clerk; besides, it was only a dollar, and there might be data in
the will worth the money. It is sometimes easy to play fair.
Asa’s brothers and sisters I knew to be Lydia, Benjamin, Theodore,
and Sarah. The will came: Cyrus’ wife was Catherine; his children were Ambrose,
Amzi, Milton, Ariel, Leman Green, and Jabis Simon.
So I took up the search again. I had cards printed asking
for information in reference to the parents of Asa Norton and mailed one to
each Norton listed in the Chicago
Telephone Directory.
I had been very successful at this with relation to the
other Asa ancestor, Asa Piper. I knew he had married Margaret Ficklin and that
she had a brother named Joseph. Ficklin was an uncommon name. I looked in the Chicago Telephone Directory and found
Joseph C. Ficklin’s office. This was surely a descendant of Margaret’s brother.
I wrote and asked for information in reference to the family of Margaret
Ficklin of Virginia who married Asa Piper. He sent me the Ficklin genealogy,
referred to page 40, and there it was. It is easy to make a bull’s-eye shot,
however, if the target is all eye. There had been only one other Ficklin in the
directory, and that was Joseph C.’s wife.
There were over a hundred Nortons, and no Asas, nor
Theodores, nor Benjamins. So I sent a card to every Norton in the book. There
were three times as many in the Chicago
City Directory, so I thought I would send a broadside to the houses rather
than to individuals; besides, those having telephones somehow seemed more
likely to have ancestors.
I got a few replies, but nobody seemed to know anything of
value. One professional genealogist called. He wasn’t a Norton, but one of my
cards had been referred to him. He offered some suggestions; I looked on him
with suspicion. I knew professional lawyers and had some reason to be
suspicious of professionals [Note: Ernest John Andrews was himself an attorney]. But this, like much else, depends upon the man and
not the class. He suggested that the census of 1850 gave the state in which
each person was born. It might help to know where Asa was born. I finally asked
him to look up a trifling matter for me. He came into the office about three
months later and began to tell about the trouble he had had in looking for my
information. Cold chills ran up my back. I thought of lawyers’ fees. I would
not pay him. I had not told him to go to all that trouble. But I said nothing.
He concluded by saying that his charge was fifty cents. Silence is sometimes
golden. He would never know that I had expected him to ask for ten dollars!
He has since done other work for me; and for genuine
efficiency in genealogical work I now always recommend a good professional
genealogist unless one’s time is entirely valueless.
I had my lawyer associate in Washington D.C. look up the
census. The government will not allow any employee to do this, but any good
lawyer or genealogist will do it effectively and cheaply. I found by the census
of 1850 that Asa was born in New York State in 1781.
In the meantime I had collected a large amount of data
relating to the early New England Nortons. I had finally obtained access to a
manuscript genealogy of the family made by Lewis Mills Norton of Goshen,
Connecticut, a copy of which was owned by Norman C. Thompson of Rockford, Illinois.
I carefully examined this data after putting it in systematic form, and from
this drew certain conclusions as to Asa’s ancestors, which were expressed at
the time in the following article.
Asa Norton, Husband of Mary
Bell
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Asa Norton was perhaps the
son of Jabez Norton and of his second wife Sarah Buell. This is evidenced by
the following facts.
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- Out of some 300 Nortons, constituting most of
the Nortons living prior to Asa Norton’s birth, I find but one Asa, a doctor.
He was born some fifty years prior to our Asa, and the evidence is much
stronger that our Asa was a son of Jabez than that he was a descendant of Dr.
Asa. There is nothing to raise a presumption that Jabez had a son Asa other
than that the most probable father of Asa is Jabez.
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- Jabez had a daughter Sarah born in 1772, and
Asa had a sister Sarah. But Asa was born in 1781 and was older than his
sister Sarah.
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- Jabez and Asa each had a sister Lydia.
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- Jabez had a second cousin named Theodore born
ten years before Asa’s brother Theodore, and there is no other Theodore known
in the Norton family.
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- Jabez had a second cousin named Benjamin and
Asa had a brother Benjamin, and there is no other known Benjamin in the
Norton family, except cousin Benjamin’s son.
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- Jabez had a cousin named Deborah and a third
cousin named Deborah, and Asa had a daughter named Deborah.
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- Jabez had a niece named Miranda, and Asa had a
daughter and a granddaughter named Mirinda. There is no other known Miranda
or Mirinda in the family. The granddaughter Mirinda was named after the daughter,
and it was her understanding that there was a mistake made in the original
spelling of the name and that it should have been Miranda.
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- Jabez was just about the right age to be Asa’s
father.
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- In 1790 Jabez was living in New York State and
had three boys younger than 16 and one daughter at that time. Asa was 9 years
old and Theodore five, and he had a brother Benjamin younger than 16, but no
known sister at that time. Asa and Theodore were born in New York and were
living there at least some ten years later.
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- Asa had a son named Wellington B. This B may
have stood for Bell, his mother’s maiden name, or it may have stood for
Buell, the maiden name of Jabez’ wife Sarah. (Later it was found that it
stood for Bertolf.)
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- Jabez was born in Goshen, Connecticut, and
while living there married Margaret Beach who lived in Winchester, some eight
miles away. Presumably she died and he married Sarah Buell. Apparently he
went up to New York and settled in Hillsdale and had three sons under 16 and
one daughter in 1790. Now, Asa married Mary Bell of Vermont about 1803, and
the Vermont state line is only about 40 miles away from Hillsdale. Jabez had
a brother Abijah, who lived in Ballstown, Albany County, New York in 1790,
and that is but a few miles from Vermont. Abijah then had four girls, so Asa
might have stopped at his uncle’s on his way to Vermont, or he may have met
Mary at his uncle’s. When Asa married Mary, they went still farther into New
York and for some years were in Norwich, and then they went still farther
into the wilds and landed in Crawford County, Illinois. There were also a
good many Bell families in New York in the neighborhood of Hillsdale.
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- It might be added that in the Buell families,
the names of Deborah, Lydia, and Sarah appear often.
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- Asa is said to have had a very straight,
soldierly bearing. Jabez was in the Revolutionary War for five years, and Asa
was also a soldier though not until he was 30 years of age.
|
We may next consider other
possible candidates.
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The descendants of John
Norton of Farmington show two Sarahs; but so far as I know, no other name
appears in his line which is the same as those known to have been in our
Asa’s family. Hence, as Sarah is such a common name, this line may safely be
eliminated.
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Among the descendants of
George Norton of Salem are several candidates:
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- First is Dr. Asa, who died at Newtown,
Connecticut. We may reasonably assume that our Asa and his brothers were born
between 1780 and 1790. This Asa was born in 1729 and could possibly have been
our Asa’s father at the age of 52 or so; one of Asa’s brothers was born about
1785 when Dr. Asa would have been about 56, and sister Sarah was born about
1800 when Dr. Asa would have been 71, so on the whole it is unlikely. Dr. Asa
had sons Nathaniel and Pilo; Nathaniel was born in 1766. Asa had no such
named brothers, so far as is known. Dr. Asa had a sister named Sarah, but
none of the other names associated with our Asa appear in Dr. Asa’s family.
Hence, it is improbable that Dr. Asa was our Asa’s father.
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- Dr. Asa had a brother named Elijah born in
1741; hence, so far as age is concerned, he is more probable as our Asa’s
father. He had a brother named Asa and a sister named Sarah. But he named his
son Elijah, while our Asa had no such named brother that is known. In the
1790 Census, either Elijah the father was not living, or he had no sons
living with him. Even though he apparently went to New York, he could hardly
have been Asa’s father.
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- Dr. Asa’s brother Aphia is a possible
candidate, but there is no Aphia in the 1790 census.
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- Dr. Asa’s brother Daniel is also a candidate.
He was born in 1751, just the right age, and he was probably in New York in
1790. Ancestor Asa was born there in 1781. One Daniel in New York had no
children with him in 1790, so we can eliminate him; but the other, in
Stillwater, Albany County, New York, had three boys and two girls, which was
just right for our ancestor’s family.
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As the children of the other relatives of Dr.
Asa are known and do not contain an Asa, and as there is no other Asa known
in the line, it is probably safe to eliminate this entire line. It is
possible that some one of these descendants may be the desired ancestors, but
it is hardly probable.
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The most probable members
of the descendants of Thomas Norton of Guilford, collateral to Jabez, are the
sons of Isaac and Mary (Rockwell) Norton of Durham and Bristol. These have
sisters Lydia and Deborah, and a second cousin Benjamin. The candidates are
as follows.
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- Sylvanus, born in 1742, is of the right age
and may be the man, but he does not appear in New York.
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- Aaron is similar: he was born in 1749.
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- Isaac was born in 1747, and there was
apparently an Isaac in New York during the War, and there were two Isaacs in
the 1790 census in New York. But he had only two sons, one named Isaac after
him. Asa had two brothers certainly.
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- Joel, the last son of Isaac and Mary, was in
New York in 1790, but he had no sons then.
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- Of Jabez’s brothers, Samuel’s children are
known; Abijah had no sons in 1790; and Levi was not the head of a family in
1790.
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So far as the records at
hand show, there is no other Norton who even approaches Jabez in the
probability of being Asa’s father.
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Job Norton (possibly
Jabez) was in East Harford in 1764 and 1775. He was among those who marched
from Hartford for the relief of Boston in the Lexington alarm of April 19,
1775. He was in Hartford in 1792 but not in 1790.
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In 1818 Jabez was granted
a pension as a private then residing in New York. Pensions were first granted
in 1818.
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A Jabez Norton is recorded
as having married Ruth Davis in New York on July 29, 1781.
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In the 1790 Census for New
York, Jabez is reported as being the head of a family in Hillsdale, Columbia
County, and apparently has three boys under 16, a daughter, and a wife.
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The Hillsdale History (F851.363-18)
gives no Nortons nor Davises residing there in 1780–1781, and a complete list
of inhabitants is given of that date.
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I cannot account for the
marriage with Ruth Davis. This may have been another Jabez Norton. There is no evidence that our Jabez resided in
Hartford during the latter half of the war, but undoubtedly Colonel Webb’s
regiment was in New York more or less of the time. In 1781 General Washington
was in Hartford and then moved all of his own forces down through New York
into Virginia, leaving the 6000 French soldiers under Rochambeau in Hartford
until July.
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It is supposed that Jabez
resided at Norwich, New York, about the beginning of the 19th
century. Asa the son was born in 1781. He married Mary Bell, was a probate
judge and farmer in Crawford County, Illinois. Asa’s brothers and sisters
were:
- Theodore, born in 1785, became a doctor and
farmer and lived in Crawford County, Illinois, married Lucinda who was born
in Connecticut in 1793, and had sons Ira and George.
- Benjamin, lived in Vincennes, Indiana, and
married before 1800.
- Lydia, younger than Asa, born in 1797, married
a Goodrich in New York and a Grimes in Illinois.
- Sarah, born about 1800, married a Tobey, was
said to be much younger than Asa.
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They were all full
brothers and sisters. Although the children all came west, the parents apparently
remained in New York.
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Jabez’ known children were:
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- Margaret, married a Stannard.
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- Noah, born 1769, married Margaret Patterson.
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- Sarah, born 1772, probably the daughter of
Sarah Buell the second wife.
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- Jabez, an infant, died in 1777.
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These children may have
all been born in Connecticut, and those born in New York were perhaps not
known and may have been the brothers and sisters of Asa given above. The
record of Jabez and his known children was taken from the Goshen History. He left Goshen as
early as 1778 and went to Hartford, Connecticut. He was in East Hartford in
1783 when it separated from Hartford, and our ancestor Asa was born in New
York in 1781.
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The only Norton heads of
families in New York in 1790 that have a possible right number of children
are:
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- Caleb Northeast
Dutchess Co. 2-5-5
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- Daniel Stillwater,
Albany Co. 1-3-3
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- Brion Brockhaven,
Suffolk Co. 1-2-3
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- Jabez Hillsdale,
Columbia Co. 1-3-2
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- James Saratoga,
Saratoga Co. 1-5-5
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- Sarah Saratoga,
Albany Co. 1-5-5
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- George Brookhaven,
Suffolk Co. 2-2-3
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- Thetomattry Brookhaven,
Suffolk Co. 1-2-4
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- George Huntingdon,
Suffolk Co. 2-2-2
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- Samuel Saratoga,
Saratoga Co. 1-2-5
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- Jonathan Pittstown,
Albany Co. 1-2-4
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- Nathaniel Southold,
Suffolk Co. 1-2-5
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- William Harrison,
Westchester Co. 3-5-2
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Although
many doubts are raised in this article, many of them were injected after the
original was written. At the time the article was first written I had no doubt
that Jabez was my Seba. But alas, I learned at last that Jabez had died about
1777 or 1778, several years before Asa was born. Jabez had to be abandoned.
I then sent to Washington D.C.
for the Norwich census returns of 1800 and obtained the following data:
Sebe or Thebe
Norton
1 male under 10 years
1 male 10 – 15 years
1 male 26 – 44 years
2 females under 10 years
1 female 10 – 15 years
1 female 26 – 44 years
This was the family: I had
found Seba. There were Sebe and wife between 26 and 45, Benjamin, Thoda, Sarah,
and Lydia, some strange girl, and only Asa missing. Asa was then 19 and no
doubt was away when the census was taken. I looked over my data and found a “Leba”
Norton of Suffield, son of Abel. The L no doubt should have been read as an S.
In fact, this proved true as I gathered a large amount of information then
relating to Seba.
But finally I obtained the
names of Seba’s children, and alas! not one of them corresponds to Asa or his
brothers’ or sisters’ names.
In 1790 the father of Asa
Norton should have had in his family 1-3-1, as then neither Lydia nor Sarah was
born, and Benjamin was no doubt under 16. [It would not be long before EJA
realized the Naughtons of New York
were a variant spelling of the Nortons
and held the key to finding the right ancestors. —MAW]
And so Seba was not Asa’s
father after all.
