Notes to Chapters NOTES TO CHAPTER 1 (pages 1-10) 1. Eugene Holloway Roseboom and Francis Phelps Weisenburger, A Ohio 171. History of (New York, 1934) , p. 2. Eugene Holloway Roseboom, The Civil War Era (1850-1873), Vol. IV of The History of the State of Ohio (Columbus, 1944) , See map, p. 80. 3. Sherwood Anderson, A Story Tellers Story (New York, 1924), pp. 48-49. 4. Since both parents were unable to receive even a rudimentary edu cation (they could scarcely write, though both could read), dates and facts as to their families and background are very vague. See for example, Alfred Lief, Democracy's Norris (New York, 1939), p. 11, where Chauncey Norris is born both in New York and in Connecticut. Norris, how ever, believed that his father was born in Connecticut and moved to Cayuga County after the death of his parents where Chauncey and his sisters were cared for by a German family named Martin. George W. Norris, Fighting Liberal (New York, 1946), p. 3. A pension claim filed by Mary Norris in 1893, as the mother of a deceased soldier under the terms of the Depend ent Pension Act of 1890, stated that Chauncey Norris was born on May 21, 1809, in Cayuga County, New York. I have followed this statement. See John Henry Norris, Pension Claim, War Department Records, National Archives. 5. Norris, op. cit., pp. 4, 14-15. 6. W. Dean Burnham, Presidential Ballots 1836-1892 (Baltimore, 1955), pp. 692-93, 210. 7. Norris, op. cit., p. 32. 8. Basil Meek (ed.), Twentieth Century History of Sandusky County, Ohio (Chicago, 1909), p. 270; John Henry Norris, loc. cit. John Henry Lizzie never had been engaged to a local girl, Tuck, who apparently mar ried. Years later Norris wrote her, "I remember well the last time . I saw you. It was at the old school house at Mt. Carmel, when I was quite a small boy, and I remember yet that I wondered then why you seemed to take such an interest in me, but learned in later years that it was the love you bore for my soldier brother whom I can scarcely remember." George Norris to Miss Tuck, January 15, 1900. George W. Norris Papers, Manu scripts Division, Library of Congress. Hereafter, unless otherwise noted, all manuscript citations are from this collection. See also Norris, op. cit., pp. 27-28. 279 28o GEORGE W. NORRIS his After his mothers death in 1900, Norris received and treasured 1900. brother s watch. See Melissa Lowe to Norris, October 4, 9, Norris, op. tit., pp. 7-8. 10. Ibid., p. 11. 11. Marquis W, Childs, I Write from Washington (New York, 1942), 18-19. pp. 38-39; Norris, op. cit., pp. 12. Norris, op. tit., pp. 12-14. Chief Clerk of Courts, San- 13. Ibid., p. 15. Jeanne Williamson, Deputy 1957. dusky County, Fremont, Ohio, to author, July 13, 14. Childs, op. cit., p. 38. 18. Norris came from an area 15. Norris, op. cit., p. 32; Lief, op. tit., p. Democrats could not to heaven. where some neighbors believed that go Student at Baldwin Uni 16. David Lindsey, "George W. Norris As A Vol No. 1953, 117. Most of versity," Nebraska History, XXXIV, 2, June, p. comes from this my information about this phase of Norris' education article. 17. Ibid., p. 118. 18. Ibid., p. 120. Mrs. Bill 19. Norris to Mrs. W. H. (Cora Hall) Billing, July 29, 1942; ing to Norris, September 5, 1942. in the State 20. Writers' Program of the Works Projects Administration of Indiana, Indiana: A Guide to the Hoosier State (New York, 1941), p. 310. 21. Norris, op. tit., p. 36. 22. Richard L. Neuberger and Stephen B. Kahn, Integrity: The Life of George W. Norris (New York, 1937), p. 17. 23. Norris, op. cit., p. 144. account and 24. See Norris, op. tit., pp. 39-40 for one Lief, op. cit., pp. 29-30 for another. Lief in his account quotes Norris. Norris in these two volumes was dredging his memory, which on the whole was good, to recall these events. Few manuscripts exist for the period of his life prior to his tribute to the residence in Beaver City, Nebraska. For Norris' eloquent L.U.N. see the chapter devoted to it in his autobiography. 25. Lief, op. tit., p. 34. 26. Norris, op. cit., p. 52. NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 (pages 11-19) 1. George W. Norris, Fighting Liberal (New York, 1946), p. 54. 2. Norris to A. M. Webster, August 10, 1889, Letterpress book; Web ster to Norris, August 13, 1889, August 30, 1889. George W. Norris Papers, Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress. Unless otherwise noted, all manuscript citations are from this collection. 3. George Evert Condra, Geography, Agriculture, Industries of Ne braska (Lincoln, 1946) . See map, p. 73. 4. to Norris H. J. Taylor, April 20, 1895. NOTES TO CHAPTERS 281 5. So stated on the stationery of the Beaver City Board of Trade, G. W. Norris, Secretary. 6. Norris to Fletcher W. Merwin, March 26, 1914; Norris to Jesse Had- ley, April 29, 1933; Norris to M. E. Cadwallader, January 17, 1939. 7. Norris to Melissa Lowe, February 12, 1889, Letter-press book. 8. Norris, op. cit., p. 57. 9. Betty Jones to Alfred Lief, October 5, 1937; Norris, op. cit., pp. 79- 80. Norris refused, even in his autobiography, written when he was over eighty years of age, to name the friend who accidentally shot him. 10. cit. Norris, op. y p. 56. 11. W. F. Mappin, "Farm Mortgages and the Small Farmer," Political Science Quarterly, Vol. IV, No. 3, September, 1889, p. 435; Hallie Farmer, "The Economic Background of Frontier Populism," Mississippi Valley His torical Review, Vol. X, No. 4, March, 1924, p. 419. Mortgage companies served as middlemen in the making of loans. They sold their mortgages to other investors, such as insurance companies, savings banks, and individuals. 12. Mappin, op. cit. 13. P. Political Science J. Dunn, Jr., "The Mortgage Evil," Quarterly, Vol. V, No. 1, March, 1890, p. 78. 14. Fred S. James to Norris, April 11, 1889; George H. Smith to Norris, August 26, 1889; Albert Ottaway to Norris, December 16, 1889. 15. Norris to F. L. Wiseman, September 26, 1887, Letterpress book; Norris to Charles M. Sawyer, October 18, 1887, Letter-press book. 16. to Norris J. H. Dibben, October 29, 1887, Letter-press book; Vigilant to Wholesale Creditors' Agency, J. A. Cavanagh, Attorney, Norris, Novem ber 20, 1886. A contemporary writer noted that in western areas it was often difficult to obtain a loan at the high rate of 7& per cent, and that 20 per cent of the entire amount of interest paid during the life of the mort gage would approximate the agent's commission. D. M. Frederiksen, "Mortgage Banking in America," The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. II, March, 1894, pp. 222, 228. Charles Bell 17. H. M. Marquis to Norris, June 8, 1889; J. (Omaha branch manager) to Norris, March 2, 1891; Thurber, Whyland & Company to Norris, March 21, 1889; Credit Guarantee Company to Norris, March 20, 1890; William Deering & Company to Norris, June 6, 1888. 18. Frank B. Stephens to Norris, July 2, 1890; Lamb, Ricketts & Wilson to Norris, April 12, 1890; Marquis to Norris, June 8, 1889. 19. According to the National Banking Act of 1863, national banks were not permitted to make mortgage loans on real estate, therefore this part of the business was handled by Miles separately from the authorized banking aspects. 20. Norris to H. Norris to J. Miles, May 29, 1889, Letter-press book; First National Bank (Rulo, Nebraska), December 5, 1889, Letter-press book. 21. Norris to First National Bank (Rulo), December 22, 1888, Letter- 282, GEORGE W. MORRIS book; Norris Norris to Mrs. Lowe, 9, 1889, Letter-press press book; January book. to Miles, January 12, 1889, Letter-press book; 22. Norris to Miles, March 19, 1889, May 29, 1889, Letter-press book; Norris to Miles, Norris to Mrs. Lowe, January 9, 1889, Letter-press April 5, 1889. book. 23. Norris to Miles, December 6, 1889, Letter-press book; Cun 24 Norris to B. F. Cunningham, April 14, 1890, Letter-press 1890, 18, 1890, July 2, ningham to Norris, April 12, 1890, April 16, April 1890. 25. Miles to Norris, July 1, 1890. both these and cit., 38. Though 26. Norris, op. cit., pp. 81-82 Lief, op. p. Norris' in volumes cite 1890 as the year of the marriage, correspondence C. H. Martin to Norris, dicates that it occurred in 1889. See, for example, Martin Norris and offers him advice June 8, 1889, in which congratulates in the form of trite poetry. NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 (pages 20-26) of Frontier 1. Haffie Farmer, "The Economic Background Populism/' Historical Vol. X, No. 4, March, 1924, pp. 416, Mississippi Valley Review, Nebraska 418. Also see the charts in James C. Olson, History of (Lincoln, 1955), pp. 216,242. 1894. 2. G. W. Norris to Mrs. L. S. (Melissa N.) Lowe, September 28, of Here George W. Norris Papers, Manuscripts Division, Library Congress.^ otherwise are from this col after all manuscript citations, unless noted, lection. 420. 3. Farmer, op. cit., p. 342. The 1890 4. Nebraska Blue Book: 1948 (Lincoln, 1948), pp. 341, farm was census stated that the average debt per Nebraska $1,517.32. value of these "Now it would not be safe to estimate the average farms, an so we can see even when well improved, was above, say, $25, acre, the debt on the farm what a large proportion on the average mortgaged With bears to their total value, being in fact considerably over one-third.