Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/576

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NORTON
NORTON

came pastor of the church in Clinton, N. Y.. which charge he retained till November, 1838. He was one of the founders of Hamilton college, and was appointed to deliver the Latin address at the inau- guration of the first president, Azel Backus. He was a member of the corporation of the college from its foundation till 1833, and for forty years exerted an important influence in western New York. In 1819 he received the degree of D. D. from Union college.


NORTON, Augustus Theodore, clergyman, b. in Cornwall, Conn., 28 March, 1808 ; d. in Alton, ill., 29 April, 1884. He was graduated at Yale in 1832, taught at Catskill. N. Y., while studying the- ology, and was licensed by the presbytery of Colum- bia in September, 1834. After preaching in vari- ous churches in Hlinois, and in St. Louis, Mo., where he organized the 2d Presbyterian church, he was installed in February, 1839, as pastor of the 1st Presbyterian church, Alton, 111., and remained there about twenty years. In September, 1859, Mr. Norton was active in mission work. In May, 1845, he established the " Presbytery Reporter," and edited and published it for twenty-three years. He was a corporate member of the American board of com- missioners for foreign missions, and published a valuable •' History of the Presbyterian Church in the State of Illinois " (St. Louis, 1879).


NORTON, Chappie, British soldier, b. in Eng- land in 1746; d. in Wonersh, Surrey, 19 March, 1818. His father was first Lord Grantley. The son entered the army, and was appointed captain in the 19th foot in June, 1763, major in July, 1769, cap- tain and lieutenant-colonel in the Coldstream guards in June, 1774, brevet colonel in November, 1780, and general in April, 1802. He came to New York in August, 1779, served in the Revolutionary war, and received frequent and honorable mention. He represented Guilford in the British parliament for many years, and was governor of Charlemont.


NORTON, Daniel Sheldon, senator, b. in Mount Vernon, Ohio, 12 April, 1829 ; d. in Wash- ington, D. C, 14 July, 1870. He was educated at Kenyon college, and served one year in the war with Mexico in the 2d Ohio regiment. He subsequently studied law, visited California and Nicaragua in 1850-'l, and on his return to Ohio was admitted to the bar in 1852, and began practice. In 1855 he re- moved to Minnesota, and in 1857 was elected to the state senate, and served in both branches of the legislature till 1865. He was elected U. S. senator from Minnesota as a Union-Conservative to suc- ceed Morton S. Wilkinson, and served from 4 March, 1866, till his death. Senator Norton was a delegate to the Philadelphia National union con- vention in 1866, and on most questions of National policy voted with the Democrats.


NORTON, Frank Henry, journalist, b. in Hingham, Mass., 20 March, 1836. His father was for twenty-one years U. S. consul at Pictou, Nova Scotia. The son was educated at private schools, and entered the book business, but in 1855 became assistant librarian, and afterward assistant superin- tendent, in the Astor library, which he left in 1865. He was chief librarian of the Brooklyn mercantile library in 1866-7, and in 1872 entered journalism. He was proprietor and editor of the New York " Era " in 1879-'81, and since 1883 has been con- nected with the •' Herald." He was one of the founders and for several years president of the American numismatic and archaeological society. Mr. Norton has contributed to current literature since 1855. He is the author of " Historical Regis- ter of the Centennial Exhibition, 1876, and the Paris Exposition, 1878 " (New York, 1878) ; " Life of Winfield Scott Hancock." with Rev. David K. Junkin, D. D. (1880); "Life of Alexander H. Stephens " (1883) ; and " Daniel Boone," a romance (1883). He has also written numerous plays, in- cluding " Alhambra," a burlesque produced in New York in 1872 ; " Azrael," a fairy spectacle (1872) ; " Cupid and Psyche," a burlesque played in New Orleans and St. Louis (1873) : and " Leonie," a melodrama, in Albany and Buffalo (1872).


NORTON, Herman, clergyman, b. in New Hartford, N. Y., 2 July, 1799 ; d. there, 20 Nov., 1850. He was graduated at Hamilton college in 1823, and ordained by the presbytery of Oneida, 9 Feb., 1826. He was engaged as a revivalist in 1826-'30, as pastor of churches in New York and Cincinnati, Ohio, till 1838, and then as a supply and evangelist till 1843. He was secretary of' the American Protestant society, and of the American and foreign Christian union in 1843-'50, residing in New York. His published works include " The Christian and Deist in Contrast " ; " Record of Facts Concerning the Persecutions at Madeira " ; " Signs of Danger and Promise " ; and " Startling Facts for American Protestants."


NORTON, John, clergyman, b. in Stortford. Hertfordshire. England, 6 May, 1606 ; d. in Boston, Mass., 5 April. 1663. He was educated at Cam- bridge university and became a curate in his native town. Having embraced the tenets of the Puri- tans he came to Plymouth, Mass., in 1635, and preached there during the winter. Early in 1636 he removed to Boston, and before the close of the year became minister of the church at Ipswich. He was an active member of the convention that formed the " Cambridge platform " in 1648. In 1652 he became colleague of Rev. John Wilson as minister of the First church at Boston, and in 1662 he accompanied Gov. Bradstreet as agent of the colony to present an address to Chardes IT. after his restoration, and to petition in behalf of New England. The king assured them that he would confirm the charter of the colony, but he required that justice should be administered in his name, and attached other conditions that the colonists regarded as arbitrary. Upon the return of the agents to Massachusetts they were regarded with suspicion, and the report was circulated that they had sold the liberties of the country. This greatly affected Mr. Norton's popularity as a preacher, and it is supposed that it hastened his death. The first Latin book that was composed in the colonies, " Responsio ad totum questionum syllogen " (Lon- don, 1648), was by him, and was written in answer to questions relating to church government that were sent to New England from Holland by Apol- lonius. He also wrote " A Discussion on the Sufferings of Christ " ( 1653) ; " The Orthodox Evangelist " (1654) ; "Election Sermon" (1657); "Life of Rev. John Cotton " (1658) ; " The Heart of New England Rent by the Blasphemies of the Present Generation " (1660) ; a letter in Latin to John Dury, a catechism, and other works. He left some writings in an unfinished state, of which the principal one was a large " Body of Divinity," which is preserved in the archives of the Massachusetts historical society. His life was written by Rev. Alexander W. McClure in " Lives of the Chief Fathers of New England " (1850).— His nephew, John, b. in Ipswich, Mass., in 1651 ; d. in 1716, was the son of Rev. William Norton. His mother was the daughter of Emanuel Downing, and the niece of Gov. John Winthrop. He was graduated at Harvard in 1671. and ordained as successor to Rev. Peter Hobart over the First church, in Hingham, Mass., in 1678. In the same year he married, and published