History and Genealogy of the Norcross Family
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The History and Genealogy of the Norcross Family January 1st 1882 by Joel Warren Norcross of Lynn, Massachusetts Transcribed, Edited and Revised by Philip Norcross Gross, 2003 and 2005 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Editors Preface - 2005 This document contains a substantial amount of editing and reorganization of Joel Warren Norcross’s original material in his Volumes 1 and 2. This was done to clean up and “modernize” the spelling and grammar to current standards, to add useful information, correct details found to be erroneous, and to provide a more readable format and text. Since the scope of the material is immense, this process will be ongoing. We recognize a copyright for Joel Warren Norcross dating to 1882, the year in which he deposited his manuscript with the New England Historic Genealogical Society for safekeeping. We see occasional added entries which were most likely done by Joel prior to his death in 1900. There are also markings on the original, and notes stuck inside the pages since his death. These have been noted but not necessarily considered as part of the manuscript in this transcription. The Society has taken further precautions to prevent disfigurement of the original. I have been able to work from quality scanned images provided to me at my own cost by the Society. Since this work constitutes a substantial and on-going reworking of the original manuscript, I have placed my own copyright dated 2003 and again in 2005 on these and subsequent versions I create. Please ask for permission to further the process based on my work. It will not be unduly withheld. The Norcross Family Tree has been extended back in time to as early as 1550 and, of course, continues to grow going forward. In addition it is considered that people descended from a Norcross but without that surname (such as myself) are also part of this tree. People who have been legally adopted into this broader family will also be included. Some abbreviations have been used as: b. for date of birth (or baptism) m. for date of marriage (or publication, or banns) d. for date of death (or burial) r. for place of residence o. occupation e. education The term “details follow” is used extensively to replace Joel’s original pages references. It means that there is a section somewhere in the pages following that insertion for this person, their marriage and children. Lastly, I would ask anyone who has information to add to the Norcross Family Tree to contact me at [email protected]. In addition to this manuscript, I have a fast-growing database of the Family Tree which I would be glad to share with others. I am, naturally, focussed on my line of descent from Thomas, the Haberdasher of London through his son Jeremiah and grandson Richard, the Schoolmaster of Watertown in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. However my interest extends beyond that line to the greater Norcross Cousinage (to coin a title) spread across this paltry globe called Earth. We are all “Family”. Prefaces of 1882, edited for the 2005 Edition The original Volume One consisted of six parts. Part One contains a record of the descendents of Jeremiah Norcross who settled in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1638. Part Two contains a record of the descendents of William Norcross who settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1699. Part Three contains a record of the English families of Norcross’s. Part Four is the adopted Norcross record. The information in this Part has been moved into the appropriate location in Part One and Part Four thereby eliminated. Part Five was a recapitulation of all the Norcross families descended from Jeremiah of New England and William of Pennsylvania with the names of their wives the date of their birth and where the Norcross families now reside [in 1882]. This Part has not been included in this 2005 Edition. Part Six was the original Appendix that contained additional record received since the original manuscript was completed in 1882. These have been incorporated into the 2005 Edition and this Part, as such, will not be found here. In the original Appendix was found the Norcross Genealogical Charts and Facsimiles of Norcross autographs and Norcross Twins. These are not included in the 2005 Edition. Volume Two contains a complete history of the Norcross family from 1550 down to the present time 1882, giving their history before their arrival to this country with many biographical sketches. also a complete record of those engaged in the late civil war and all the previous wars that this country has passed through. This material has been collated into the Volume 1 material to provide a comprehensive picture of each individual in context. The Genealogical Charts of the two Norcross branches who had settled in this country have been removed. Those wanting that data are directed to obtain current copies of the database currently supported by Family Tree Maker, a product of MyFamily.com (aka Genealogy.com and Ancestry.com) Copyright 1882, Joel Warren Norcross; Copyright 2003, Philip Norcross Gross Page 1 of 223 Joel’s Introductory Preface About six years since (1876) I commenced the collection of records relating to my own near kindred, with no plan of continuing the work further, but meeting with good success so far as I went, my interest increased and I continued it for the pleasure of it, and being encouraged by several of the leading and prominent members of the family, I pressed on to accomplish my Genealogical mission. Only those who have had experience understand or appreciate the immense labour required to get up a work like this. For the preparation of this history it has required patience and much labour, but my efforts have been crowned with success and I have been able to place before my readers the names of the greater part of those by the name of Norcross that have ever lived in this country. That the records now rescued from oblivion and herein contained will be more and more prized by generations to come, there can be no doubt. The facts are based upon information received from a great variety of sources, sometimes the accounts were conflicting, but I have used my best judgement to select what I thought to be most reliable. Errors may sometimes have crept in, but as a general thing the record will be found nearly correct. Copyright 1882, Joel Warren Norcross; Copyright 2003, Philip Norcross Gross Page 2 of 223 The Norcross Name This is an uncommon name, therefore it is the more easy to trace. It has undergone but one change since 1600, at that time and previous it was spelt with an “e” at the end, thus Norcrosse. It was probably derived from Northcross. In Bowditch Suffolk Surnames it says “Crosses were of old erected in honour of the dead and gave names to residents near them as North Cross”. We are able to trace the name back to the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Our first records of the name are about 1575 both at Ribchester in Lancashire, Eng. and in London. They may have come before this from the Isle of Man in the British Channel which is within 100 miles of Ribchester. There were Northcross’s living on that Isle about that time, and some of whom came to this country and settled in Sussex Co. Va at an early period. There are but a very few families in England at the present time by the name, not one is found in the London Directory which is the largest in the world, and only seven families are living in Lancashire at the present time which formerly was the headquarters of the family two hundred years ago. There are two large branches in this country. The descendents of Jeremiah who came to Watertown, Mass in 1638 will be found in Volume first which has the names of over 1,400 of his descendents who bear the Norcross name besides over 500 who are the children of Norcross daughters, and the descendents of William who came to Bucks Co., Penn in 1699 numbering about 550 who bear the Norcross name. The descendents of William are not as numerous as those of Jeremiah as William came to this country nearly 70 years later than Jeremiah. There is one family in Brooklyn, N.Y. who came over direct from Lancashire. All of the above we can trace back to the same head. There are a few families of Norcross’s who are descended from one who was adopted into the Norcross family and given it’s name, There are one or two Norcross families in Bangor, Maine who have changed their names from Lacroix. Coat of Arms I have not been able yet to find any coat of arms, although some of the older members of the family remember of seeing one and having it talked about in their childhood. There is an impression of a seal on the red wax of Jeremiah Norcross’s will made in 1654, but it is so broken that it is impossible to decipher it. Copyright 1882, Joel Warren Norcross; Copyright 2003, Philip Norcross Gross Page 3 of 223 The Sources from which the information in this book was obtained is as follows. Histories: Bond’s Watertown; Hudson’s Lexington; Jackson’s Newton; Morse’s Hollingston; Russell’s Princeton; Wards Shrewsbury; Stearns Rindge, New Hampshire and Dublin, New Hampshire; North’s Augusta, Maine; Hudson’s Gardiner and Pittston, Maine; Livermore, Maine; Thurston’s Winthrop, Maine; Milford, Massachusetts; New England Genealogical Register, Massachusetts Historical Collections, Maine Historical Collections, New Hampshire Provincial Papers, Worcester Magazine and Historical Journal (published 1826), Strybens Officers and Men of the Revolution in New Jersey.