Charles Davis Norton

Charles Davis Norton

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/114423191/charles-davis-norton

Norton was born on November 20, 1820, in Hartford, Connecticut. He was the son of Lucretia (Huntington) Horton and Captain Joseph Gaston. Norton was a well-known shipping merchant from Hartford, Connecticut.

His maternal grandfather was the Rev. Dr. Joseph Huntington, a Congregationalist minister of Coventry, Connecticut. His grandfather was the brother of Samuel Huntington, a Governor of Connecticut and signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. His uncle, Samuel Huntington Jr., served as the 3rd Governor of Ohio before becoming Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court.

After preparing for college under private tutors, he attended Union College in Schenectady, New York, where he graduated with honors in 1840.

Career

In 1827, he moved to Black Rock, New York, where his father had a dry-goods business with Judah Bliss known as Norton & Bliss. In 1830, they moved to nearby Buffalo. In 1839, he entered the law office of Horatio Shumway, with whom he continued his legal studies until 1841. He was admitted to the bar in 1843.

An ardent Whig, he supported the presidential prospects of Henry Clay. In 1849, he was elected City Attorney of Buffalo and in 1851 he was elected Surrogate of Erie County. In 1865, President Andrew Johnson appointed him Collector of the Port of Buffalo to succeed Christian Metz Jr., who had been appointed during the Lincoln administration. Norton served in this role until his death in 1867 after which Joseph K. Tyler was appointed to succeed him.

In 1865, Norton published The Old Ferry at the Black Rock, a book of the history of the ferry that crossed the Niagara River from the "black rock" near the foot of Fort Street to the Canadian shore from the time of the American Revolution.

Personal Life

In October 1851, Norton was married to Jeannette Phelps, a daughter of Oliver Phelps (grandson of U.S. Representative Oliver Phelps) and Laura (née Chapin) Phelps of Canandaigua, New York. Her grandmother, Elizabeth "Betsy" Law (née Sherman) Phelps, was the granddaughter of founding father Roger Sherman. Together, they were the parents of two sons:

• Porter Norton (1853–1918), a lawyer who married Jennie H. Watson, daughter of Stephen Van Rensselaer Watson and Charlotte (née Sherman) Watson of Buffalo.
• Charles Phelps Norton (1858–1923), a lawyer who became the 6th Chancellor of the University of Buffalo.

Norton died on April 11, 1867, in Buffalo. After a funeral at the First Presbyterian Church of Buffalo, he was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo. His widow lived until September 10, 1889.

Descendants

Through his eldest son Porter, he was a grandfather of Porter Huntington Norton (who married Gilbertine Love Coakley) and Gertrude Van Dolfson Norton (who married Daniel Willard Streeter).
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CHARLES DAVIS NORTON, father of the subject of this sketch, was identified with the highest walks of the legal profession of Western New York. Notable as an example of the scholarly type of lawyer, the elder Norton was also an eminent advocate and a powerful orator both in forensic and other fields. Few men of his time were of similar prominence in the civil administration and the social life of Erie County.

Charles Davis Norton was born at Hartford, Connecticut, November 20th, 1820. He was the son of Joseph Gaston Norton, a well-known shipping merchant of Hartford. The mother of Charles Davis Norton was Lucretia Norton (Huntington), daughter of Dr. Joseph Huntington, a Congregationalist minister of Coventry, Conn, and niece of Samuel Huntington, Governor of Connecticut and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. A brother of Mrs. Norton was Samuel Huntington, who became second Governor of Ohio and afterward Chief Justice of that State.

In 1827 Charles Davis Norton accompanied his family to Black Rock, where his father engaged in the dry goods business with Judah Bliss. Three years afterward the family removed to Buffalo, where Joseph Gaston Norton died in 1844. Charles Davis Norton was prepared for college under private tutors and schools and graduated from Union College with honors in 1840. In 1839 he entered the law office of Horatio Shumway, with whom he continued his legal studies until 1841. In October, 1842, he sailed for Florida, seeking rest and a milder climate. He returned to Buffalo in 1843, and resuming his law studies was admitted to the bar that year.
Mr. Norton was an ardent Whig. He earnestly espoused the Presidential candidacy of Clay. His power and eloquence on the rostrum were among the noteworthy facts of his time and continue to be living traditions in our day.

In 1849 Mr. Norton was elected City Attorney of Buffalo. In 1851 he was elected Surrogate of Erie County. In 1865 President Johnson appointed Mr. Norton Collector of Customs for the port of Buffalo, an honor which fell to him without solicitation and wholly in recognition of his fitness for the place, and he continued to fill the position until his death, April 11, 1867. Mr. Norton was one of the most active members of the Young Men's Association, and in 1851 was chosen its President. Among its founders, he was also the first Recording Secretary of the Buffalo Historical Society.

The wife of Mr. Norton was Jeanette Phelps, whom he married in October, 1851, and who was a daughter of Oliver Phelps, of Canandaigua, New York. Two sons, Porter and Charles, were the issue of the union.

Porter Norton was born in Buffalo, on the 9th of July, 1854. His elementary education was received in private schools. Later he graduated from Prof. Briggs' Classical School. After leaving school he entered the employment of Martin Taylor, a well-known book dealer. At the age of seventeen he became a law student in the office of E. Carlton Sprague and George Gorham. In 1875 Mr. Norton was admitted to the bar, shortly after he assumed the position of managing clerk in the offices of the Hon. Loran L. Lewis and William H. Gurney. With the firm of Lewis & Gurney he remained from two to three years, and then began practicing alone. Early in 1880 he formed an association with Henry W. Box, under the firm style of Box & Norton. With changes in the personnel, this connection continued until 1891, the successors of the firm of Box & Norton being Box, Hatch & Norton, and Box, Norton & Bushnell. In the summer of 1891 Mr. Norton formed with Thomas Penney and Charles B. Sears the still existing co-partnership of Norton, Penney & Sears. As a lawyer Mr. Norton is at once erudite and practical.

Since 1901 he has acted as counsel for the Bell Telephone Company of Buffalo. His present firm and its predecessors have for more than twenty- five years been counsel for the International Railway Company, Mr. Norton being the only lawyer who has served continuously as the Company's counsel during that period. Messrs. Norton, Penney & Bears are also local counsel for various leading corporations, industrial and otherwise.

Mr. Norton is a director of the Crosstown Street Railway, the Bell Telephone Company of Buffalo and the Niagara Falls Electric Railway. He is a director of the Fresh Air Mission, a Trustee of De Veaux College of Niagara Falls, a member of New York State Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, and of the Society of Colonial Wars. He also belongs to the Buffalo, Ellicott and Country Clubs, and is a vestryman of Trinity Church. On the 9th of July, 1878, Mr. Norton married Miss Jennie H. Watson, a daughter of the late Stephen Van Rensselaer Watson and Charlotte A. (Sherman) Watson of Buffalo. The children are: Porter Huntington Norton and Gertrude V. D. Norton.