Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/111

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NORTON


NORTON


a delegate to the Democratic national convention in 1888, and auditor of Seneca county, 1885-92. He was commissioner of railroads and telegraphs in Ohio during Gov. James E. Campbell's admin- istration, liaviug been appointed as successor to William S. Cappeller, removed, April, 1890, and lield the office during a part of Gov. "William McKinley's term, resigning in 1892, He was a Democratic? representative from the thirteenth Ohio district in the 55th, 56th and 57tbcongresses, 1897-1903.

NORTON, Jesse O., representative, was born in Bennington, Vt., Dec. 25, 1813; son of Col. Martin Norton, a soldier in the war of 1812. He was graduated at Williams college, A. B., 1835; taught a school in Wheeling, Va., and in Potosi, Mo. He was married Dec. 25, 1837, to Phoebe Ann Sheldon, of Potosi. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1840, and settled in practice in Joliet. He was city attorney ; county judge, 1846-50 ; a member of the state con- stitutional convention, 1848 ; a representative in the state legislature, 1851-52 ; a Republican representative from the sixth district in the 33d, 34th and 38th congresses, 1853-57 and 1863-65, and judge of the eleventh judicial dis- trict of Illinois, 1857-62. He was district attor- ney of the northern district of Illinois, 1866-69, and in 1869 removed to Chicago, where he prac- ticed law in partnership with J. R. Doolittle until 1871. He died in Chicago, 111., Aug. 3, 1875.

NORTON, John, clergyman, was born in Star- ford. Hertfordshire, England, May 6, 1606. He attended Cambridge university ; took orders in the Church of England, and became a curate in Starford. He joined the Puritans and came to Plymouth, Mass., in 1635, where he engaged in preaching. He removed to Boston in 1636, and became pastor of the Church at Ipswich during the same year. He took part in forming the " Cambridge Platform " in 1648; became colleague of the Rev. John Wilson, first minister of the First Church at Boston in 1652, and in 1662 he returned to England with Governor Bradstreet as agent to present to the king a petition in be- half of the New England colonies. He was as- sured of the confirmation of the charter of the colony by Charles II., but the conditions attached were regarded by the colonists as arbitrary, and the agents were accused of having laid the foundation of ruin of the liberties of the colon- ists. Norton's popularity greatly decreased and the charge was believed to have hastened his death. The following estimate of Mr. Norton's work appears in Dr. Thomas Fuller's "Church History of Britain," book II, section 51 : " Of all the authors I have perused concerning the opin- ions of these dissenting brethren, none to me was more informative than Mr. John Norton (one of no

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less learning than modesty), minister in New England, in his answer to Apollonius." He com- posed tlie first Latin book in the colonies, Respon- sio ad Totum Qiicestionum Syllogen a Guilielmo Apollonio propositam adcomponendas C'ontrover- sias . . . in Anglia (London, 1648), and he was also the author of : A Discussion on the Sufferings of Christ (1653); The Orthodox Evangelist (1654); Election Sermon (1657); Life of Rev. John Cotton (1658); TJie Heart of New England Rent hy the Blasphemies of the Present Generation (1660), a catechism, and some writings in an unfinished state, including Body of Divinity. He died in Boston, Mass., April 5, 1663.

NORTON, John Nicholas, clergyman, was born in Waterloo, N.Y. (or at Allen's Hill, Rich- mond, Va.), in 1820; son of the Rev. George Hatley and Catherine (Bush) Norton, of Win- chester, Va. He was graduated at Hobart col- lege, Geneva, N.Y., A.B., 1842, A.M., 1845, and at the General Theological seminary. New York city, in 1845. He was ordained deacon in Trinity church, Geneva, N.Y., July 20. 1845, and priest in St. Paul's cliurch, Rochester, N.Y., Aug. 24, 1846, by Bishop Delancey. He was assistant rector of St. Luke's church, Rochester, N.Y., and a mis- sionary in western New York, 1845-46. He was rector of Ascension church in Frankfort, Ky., 1846-70, professor at the Kentucky Military institute, and rector of Christ church at Louisville, Ky., 1870-81. He was a member of the standing committee of the diocese of Ken- tucky ; a deputy to the general convention of the Protestant Episcopal church for nine years, and a trustee of the Theological Seminary of Ken- tucky. He received the degree S.T.D. from Ho- bart college in 1862 ; was vice-president of the Association of Alumni of Hobart, and a bene- factor of the college library. He is the author of nearly forty books, including : Tlie Boy u'ho icas Trained up to he a Clergyman (1854); Full Proof of the Ministry (1855) ; Lives of the Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church, beginning itnth Bishop niiite (1857) ; followed by Bishop Seahury and fifteen others (1857-59); Life of Bishop He- ber (1858); Life of George Washington (1860); Life of Benjamin Franklin (1861); Life of Arch- bishop Cranmer {\8^'i) Life of Archbishop Laud (1864); Short Sermons (1858); Sketches, Literary and Theological (1872); TJie King's Ferry-Boat, sermons (1876), and Old Paths, sermons (1880). He died in Louisville, Ky., Jan. 18, 1881.

NORTON, Sidney Augustus, educator, was born in Bloomfield, Ohio, Jan. 11, 1835; son of Charles Hull and Caroline Brayton (Cornell) Norton ; grandson of Dr. Herman and Sally (Gibbs) Norton, and of Benjamin Clarke Cor- nell ; great-grandson of Zenas Gibbs and of John Brayton, and a descendant of John Norton, one of