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Compiled by John H. Wheeler Published in 1903 by B. F. Bowen Biography Page 216 - 217 |
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RICHARD C. NORRIS
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Richard C. Norris is a native of the state of Vermont, born at West Derby, March 30, 1843. His parents were Elephalet S. and Susan A. (Alexander) Norris, both natives of the Green Mountain state, where the years of their lives were spent and from whence the spirit of each took its flight into the life hereafter. They were the parents of six children, the youngest of whom is the subject of this review. At the early age of thirty years death claimed the young mother, when her youngest child was a mere infant. The father lived more than the Biblical alottment of three score and ten, being seventy-four years old at the time of his death. The early life of Richard C. Norris was passed in the state of Vermont. The time he spent in the school room was brief, indeed, but inspired with a laudable ambition and imbued with a thirst for knowledge, he availed himself of every opportunity to gain information. Before he attained his majority he had as good a general knowledge of the common branches of education as many a youth who had spent the greater part of the years of his life in the school room. This was done, too, without any of his duties on his father's farm being neglected by him. In September, 1862, Richard C. Norris, realizing that his country needed his services in the suppression of the great Rebellion, enlisted in Company H, Fifteenth Regiment Vermont Volunteer Infantry, this being the regiment of which Senator Proctor was colonel. The term of enlistment was only nine months, and after seeing much service in the battle fields of the South, it was mustered out in June, 1863. Many of its members reenlisted immediately and continued in the difficult and hazardous task of putting down the rebellion. The subject of this review, however, returned home for much-needed rest. In the summer of 1864 he again enlisted, this time in Company I, First Vermont Cavalry, in which regiment he served until the close of the war. After receiving an honorable discharge, he betook himself again to his native state and devoted himself for the next four years to agriculture pursuits. In the summer of 1869 he started out on a tour of the west, with a view of finding a location more congenial and remunerative for the labor expended than the bleak hills of northern Vermont. He traveled through Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, stopping some time at various points in those states, but finding no place which suited him in all particulars. In Indiana he accepted employment on a farm and remained there a few months, then came to Allegan county, Michigan, where he secured employment cutting wood for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad. He was thus employed for about a year when, in the autumn of 1870, he came to Wexford county, settled on a homestead, part of section 28, Selma township. July 3, 1873, in Watson township, Allegan county, Michigan, Richard C. Norris was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Alexander, a native of Michigan, born in Allegan county, February 12, 1850. She is a lady of good education, refined and possessed of many, accomplishments. Her parents were David and Paulina (Rose) Alexander, natives of Vermont who had moved to Michigan soon after their marriage and resided in Allegan county until their deaths. He died at the early age of twenty-seven years, while she survived him many years, being upwards of sixty years of age when she entered eternity. They were the parents of two children, Mrs. Norris being the youngest child of the family. She was reared to womanhood, educated and married in her native county of Allegan. To her and her husband three intelligent, winsome children have been born, viz: Estella P., a most promising girl, who died at the age of thirteen years; Fannie E. is the wife of R. T. Montgomery; Ray C. resides with his parents. After marriage Richard and Sarah Norris took up their abode on his farm in Selma township, where they continued to reside for three years. In 1876 he purchased eighty acres of land in section 23, the same township, to which they moved, and that has been their home up to the present time. Later he purchased eighty acres more, which makes the farm a comfortable one of one hundred and sixty acres. It is nearly all cleared, improved and well cultivated. It was reclaimed from the wilderness almost entirely by the industry of its energetic owner. Notwithstanding the busy life that he has led and the number of matters constantly demanding his attention, Mr. Norris has found a good deal of time to devote to civic affairs. He served nine years as superintendent of the poor of Wexford county, was deputy sheriff two years, was highway commissioner of Selma township five years, served as justice of the peace, township treasurer and was president of the Pioneer Society of the townships of Selma, Haring, Boon, Colfax, Clam Lake and the city of Cadillac. Only three other settlers preceded him in taking up their abode in Selma township. He is a member of Washington Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of Cadillac, is also a member of the Patrons of Husbandry, master of Wexford County Pomona Grange and president of the Patrons Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Wexford, Osceola and Missaukee counties. He is a man whose kindly smile and genial manners readily win friends in any gathering in which he may be found. There are few men in any community more comfortably situated than he is. Possessed of enough of this world's goods to supply every want, blessed with health and strength, with a true and noble wife at his side and surrounded by children who were always noted for their obedience and morality, why need a man seek further for that paradise of which we hear, but of which we know nothing? |