# William Francis Norton (1857-1939) memoir

William Francis Norton (1857-1939) memoir dated 1937 with an introduction and some notes by Gerard F. Norton dated January 12, 1970. No copyright formalities were followed and the memoir lapsed into the public domain. The following entries were deleted at Wikidata and need to be restored Gerard F. Norton and William Naughton and Margaret Feeney and William Francis Norton. At least 6 copies are extant. The original handwritten memoir is in the archive of Joan Lounibos. This scan was made by Mike R. Fenn on January 29, 2021 from a copy in his archive.
The "brief history" which is attached was written by my father about two (2) years before his death. It was found in his effects by my sisters, Margaret and Marie, but I saw it for the first time only a month ago arid offered to edit it for the benefit of any of the family who might be interested.
To make any changes in the original would detract a great deal from my father's personality. So I have not done so. Here and there I have inserted a few comments in parentheses purely for clarity and chronological detail. In addition, I have made marginal references to notes of mine which are appended. My father (whom I shall hereafter refer to as "Pop" as he was always known to his children) never spoke to us very much of his childhood or early days. He was quite reticent on the subject. Possibly it was this fact that motivated him to write his "brief history" before he died. However, he always had a tendency to glamorize certain things in the past and therefore, for accuracy, my notes.
Gerard F. Norton. January 12, 1970.
1. A brief history of the lives of William Naughton and his wife Margaret and their family of twelve children, by their son William Francis. Father and mother were born in Ireland, and all their family were born there also. Father was born in 1807, mother in 1812. After their marriage they lived in the town of Ballyforan, County of Roscommon.
2. Of the twelve children, three died in infancy or very young. The other nine, according to their age, were: Ann, Hugh, Patrick, John, Malachi, James, Margaret, William Francis, and Mary.
3. My father was a very successful farmer in his section of the country and employed a great many men on his farm. He was prosperous for a great many years and raised a large family. Because of the failure of crops and other conditions beyond their control, thousands of families were in bad shape and all the young men were going to other countries. My brother Hugh left Ireland in 1862. He went to Australia with some other young men and remained there all his life. He first went farming in the sheep raising country. I used to see letters from him to my mother when I was a boy. Later he moved to the city of Ballarat, Victoria (about 100 miles from Melbourne). He was successful in business there.
I never heard from him but one of his sons wrote to my brother Malachi in California that there was a family of three boys and three girls. He said his father (Hugh) died in 1907 at the age of 69.
Some of my older brothers were talking of going to America. Father and mother said that rather than let my brothers come to this country along and never see them again, they would sell out all their holdings and all go to America together. My sister Ann had married quite young to a man named Mathias Naughton and she remained in Ireland all her life. The rest of the family, mother, father and seven children, left Ireland in an old sailing ship in May, 1865
The ship took 45 days to cross the Atlantic and arrived in New York on July 6, 1865. Some friends had the family go to Jersey City where they said my brothers could get work. But things were not good in Jersey City and after two (2) months they were advised to go to the country. In the Fall of 1865 the family moved to the small town of West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. My four (4) brothers got work in the iron ore mines at once. A little later my father went to work for the mine company on the surface, the first time he ever worked for anyone. Up to that time all he had ever done was look after his own place in Ireland.
The wages were small and the work hard but in those days a job was a job. Thousands were looking for work and could not find it. The times were very bad. The railroads and highways were crowded with men looking for work and with soldiers coming home from the war that was finished last April.
We settled in a big old farmhouse with a large garden. Five men in the family were working. Margaret and I were going to school. Mary is not old enough to go to school yet. As a boy I had lots of chores to do, before and after school – saw cord wood for the fireplace and carry water from a well a quarter of a mile away, sometimes with snow up to my knees. My mother would tell my brothers to stick together for a while and they would have money in a short time. Five (5) men in the family were working bringing in almost $200 a month. Living was cheap and we raised a great deal in our garden. Mother was saving money and thought America was alright. Things were going along very well for a few years but the boys did not stick together long enough.
There was a lot of talk about great times in California. Steamship companies sent around circulars telling of big wages there and they turned the heads of the young men. Those who went found this wasn't so. Well in 1868 the first break in the family came when my two (2) brothers, Patrick and John, left home and went to California. They had to go by steamship around Cape Horn and it took six (6) weeks to make the trip. I think the wonderful reports of great times in California did not turn out to be true. Of course there was lots of gold there but I guess my brothers were not gold diggers because Patrick only stayed there one (1) year. He came back in 1869 on Union Pacific Railroad that was finished that year.
Patrick stopped at Jersey City on his way back and remained there all his life. He married and had a family. He worked for steamship companies but never got very far ahead. He died in 1908 at the age of 70.
Brother John stayed in California the rest of his life. He went farming and remained at it for a number of years. I have been told he was very successful at it. Finally he gave up farming and moved to San Francisco. He went into City contracting and was quite lucky at it. He raised a large family, some of them living in San Francisco now. The earthquake ruined his holdings and his business. He died in August 1917 at the age of 75.
The next break in the family came in the Spring of 1869 when brother Malachi went to New York and Jersey to work for contractors. He worked there until 1872 when work got slack and he came back to West Stockbridge to work in the mines again. He stayed home with us until 1875 when he and three other young men from the area left for California. He went mining for some time and made good at it. Then he went to San Francisco and got married and bought a home. He was a foreman in the Golden Gate Park for a great many years. He passed away on May 10, 1927 at the age of 80. His wife and two daughters are living in San Francisco now. He left them a fine home on one of the principal streets of the City.
The next and most serious break in the family came on February 11, 1870 when brother James passed away. He was 20 years and 8 months. He was taken down with pneumonia and was only sick a few days. He was a big man 6' 2" tall and built accordingly. He was the biggest man of the family. He was a good natured, happy fellow, liked by everybody. He worked for the mine company on the surface, looking after the horses. He was a hard worker. It was the worst blow that the family ever got.
Sister Margaret, third youngest of the family, left school shortly after James's death and went to work in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, ten miles from West Stockbridge. She was quite a young girl at the time, she made visits home every few months. She continued to work in Pittsfield until she was married in 1882 to Bernard Tansey of West Stockbridge when they moved to Lenox, Massachusetts, six miles from West Stockbridge. They lived there all their lives and were fairly comfortable. Margaret passed away in 1911 at the age of 57. She left a family of four sons and one daughter.
I was the second youngest of the family. I was baptized William and took the name Francis at my confirmation. I went to school until I was thirteen. As a boy going to school I had to work hard mornings and evenings doing chores. Boys now days have a good time compared with what boys had to do in my day. I started to work for the mine company before I was fourteen, doing boy's work at 75 cents a day carrying tools to and from the blacksmith shop to the shafts to be sent down to the miners. After a year at this I was sent helping the stationary engineer in the engine house and working in the pump chambers keeping the big 10" pumps running. This lasted about two (2) years when the mine shut down for good. Some of the horses were sold and the rest sent out to pasture. I took fifteen of them about seven miles away to a farm.
Well I got a job in another mine that remained running. I worked there for three years as a miner 200 feet underground, one week days and one week nights, 10 hours a day. It was very hard work and they kept cutting our pay until we were getting only $1.12 per day. Awful hard times. On August 1, 1879, all hands struck for $1.25 per day. It was refused. On August 4th I drew my pay and left home, never to return to the mines. No wonder that young men left the dirty hole – nothing but slavery and no prospects. I left father and mother and Mary at home but it could not be helped. No young man with any spunk in him could stay there for $1.12 a day.
I came to New York with another young man. We knocked around New York and Jersey City for a month. No work. The other fellow went home but I said that I would never work in the mines again. I picked up odd jobs for a while. Times were awful bad. In the Fall I got a job in a steel mill in Jersey City, small pay but steady. I worked there until the Spring of 1881 when I answered an ad for men to go to work on the construction of a new railroad in Pennsylvania. I went there. We were paid $2.00 per day. It was at Warren, Pennsylvania on the Buffalo, Pittsburgh & Western R.R., 40 miles running from Warren to Salamanca, New York. I was working there about three months when I was made a foreman.
When this work was finished I continued railroading until 1885. We went next to Illinois on the Chicago & Alton Railroad. We built a branch at Alton, Illinois. From there we went to Missouri and constructed a section of the Cuba and Frisco R.R. at Pacific, Missouri. This was not a big job and we finished in six months.
Now we took a big jump to Marquette, Michigan. This was a big job. My boss had 18 miles of road to construct on the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic R.R. from Marquette, Michigan to Ashland, Wisconsin. Very heavy work. We were twenty miles from town in the woods. A dense forest and often on fire. We had a few deaths from fire and smoke. I was getting fair pay as foreman and walking boss over three miles of the work. A horse to ride. The roughest country in the world. There was a great deal of sickness, especially among the Italians, and lots of deaths from swamp fever.
The Winter of 1885 I resigned and came East. I was not long in New York when I hired out with a Jersey City contracting firm, Ferris and Halladay, who were building water works in the New England and Southern States. I was superintendent for them and stayed with them until the late Fall of 1887. During my time with them we built a great many water works in towns and small cities in New England and in the south in the Winter. I finished the last job with this firm in Belfast, Maine. They ran out of Winter work.
I arrived in New York on December 10, 1887. I shipped with another firm on December 15 to Memphis, Tennessee. They had 40 miles of gas pipe to lay. We worked in Memphis until April 30, 1888 and laid the 40 miles of gas mains. We had 200 colored men.
Well, I arrived in New York and put up at my old place for the last six (6) years when I was in New York, the old Mohawk Hotel, corner of Spring and Washington Streets. Well I am here only two (2) days when one (1) of my caulkers who worked for me in Memphis told me a big contractor up town wanted to see me. I went to see them. It was the Crimmins Contracting Company. They wanted to know if I wanted to work in New York. I said that I would not mind trying it. They gave me the price I asked and I started work the next morning, the first week in May, 1888.
I worked for this firm for seven years. It was the firm of J. D. and T. E. Crimmins, the biggest contractors in New York in their day. After the first year with them they gave me full charge. They raised my wages every year and also gave me a good Christmas present. I never lost a day with them. During my time with them I laid many of miles of gas mains in New York, built houses, paved streets, built trolley railroads. I had charge of building all the cable railroads in this city, which lasted about four (4) years. The Broadway road was built in 1890-1891; the Third Avenue in 1892-1893. We had 1800 men on this road from 9th Street to the post office. It was a very difficult line through the narrow streets of the Bowery and Park Row. The Columbus Avenue road was built in 1893-1894 and the Lexington Avenue road was built in 1894. Those four (4) lines were the only cable roads built in New York. I had charge of all four of them. Four (4) years later they were all changed to underground electric or trolley roads. I came near getting the contract but politics beat me out of it. The work was done b another company.
The Spring of 1895 I resigned my position with the Crimmins Brothers and went in the general contracting business for myself. I continued in the general contracting business for thirty-five years, retiring in 1930. During those 35 years I did a great deal of contract work in this city and elsewhere. I laid hundreds of miles of water mains for the Water Department of the City of New York, constructed the first (1) underground electric railroad in this city (Pop had the contract for two (2) large sections of the Broadway Subway, completed in 1904) and laid the first pneumatic tubes in this country for carrying the mail. I laid the tubes in New York, Brooklyn find Philadelphia. I built a half million dollar water works job for the City of Hartford, Connecticut. in 1910-1911 (I think the dates were 1914-1915). I had one million dollars worth of water pipe work in the Bronx, constructed sewers, paved streets, built trolley roads, in fact took a hand at almost every sort of city contract. I also built houses, both private houses and apartments. I was very successful the first fifteen (15) years in business as things ran smooth and we had no trouble or strikes in my line. I made considerable money. I bought real estate. I always lived in my own home and brought my family up in good localities.
But business slowed down. World War I killed it. About five (5) years after the war there was a little spurt for a few years. Then came the depression. So I retired in 1930. It was a good time to do so for there has been no business for the past six years.
5. Sister Mary, the youngest of a family of twelve (12), never left home but always stayed in the old home in West Stockbridge with father and mother. During those twenty-five (25) years or so there had been many good byes with all of the boys leaving home and never returning. There were times when there was great sorrow in the old home such as the passing away of brother James at twenty (20) years of age. This was an awful blow, but the worst of all came, and the final breaking up, when Father passed away on April 14, 1891 at the age of 84. Ten (10) days later the final break-up of the home came when Mother passed away on April 24, 1891. Father had been ailing for some time. Mother caught cold at father's funeral and only lasted a few days. They are laid to rest in Saint Joseph's Catholic Cemetery in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Sister Mary, being the beneficiary of the estate, sold out the homestead and went to live in Pittsfield. She never married. She has done considerable traveling and enjoys herself in the Berkshire Hills. At this writing she is living in Pittsfield.
6. I have told all that I know about the family. I was the second youngest of twelve (12) and many of the older ones had left home before I was very old. However I think I got it very near correct.
A word about my own family before I finish. I married Nellie T. Casey in Port Chester, New York on January 23, 1889. There were nine children in the family. We lived very happily for sixteen (16) years and had a happy home. On November 8, 1904 my wife passed away, a young woman of 40 years and 8 months. At the time there were five (5) young children living, four (4) having died as babies. The five (5) living children were William J., Margaret G., Marie A., Helen E., and Gerard F. Helen passed away on March 23, 1928. A fine young woman. She died of pneumonia. William J. is married and living in New York Gerard F. is married and living in New York. I am living with my second (2) wife (Annie Cullen of Springfield, Massachusetts) whom I married in 1909 and my two (2) daughters, Margaret and Marie, at 790 Riverside Drive, New York City.
William Francis Norton. April 4, 1937.
If I don't have this little history put in book form before my death, I hope some of my children will and make the few corrections. Memories of important happenings and things I have seen in my life time.
As a small boy, I sat with other small boys along side the railroad track near my home to watch the soldiers coming home from the Civil War. They rode on freight trains and on top of the cars. They were going toward Boston on the Boston and Albany Railroad in the Fall of 1865 and the Summer of 1866.
I remember seeing about 40 horses used on horse powered machines sawing wood for the locomotives. There happened to be a wood station in our town. Every locomotive put a big pile of 2' lengths on its tender. It looked like a small stack of hay going up the line. They ran about 25 miles on this pile of wood and then they had to wood-up at another station. All locomotives were wood burners because there wasn't enough coal for the railroads. This lasted until about 1868.
One afternoon in the Fall of 1878 the word was passed around that the new invention of the telephone would be tested and all were invited. It was a half holiday. The test was made at the railroad station. The station master used the telegraph wires to the next station three (3) miles away and the two (2) station masters talked to each other and let others talk also. So the telephone started.
In the year 1869 the air brake was patented and put in use shortly afterwards. I remember before the air brake on railroad trains there were a half dozen brakemen on freight trains. It was very dangerous work. Each man carried a 2' stick to help get a leverage on the brakes. When the engineer whistled for brakes every man ran over the top setting up the brakes until every brake on a train of 30 or 40 cars was set up. The same on passenger trains. Many a time they would run a half-mile past the station. They had small locomotives of 40 or 50 tons which had no grip on the rails. There were many accidents in those days and many brakemen were killed.
* My brother James died February 11, 1870 in West Stockbridge, age 20.
* My sister Ann died December 1887 in Ireland, age 49.
* My father died April 14, 1891 in West Stockbridge, age 84.
* My mother died April 24, 1891 in West Stockbridge, age 79.
* My brother Hugh died 1907 in Australia, age 69.
* My brother Patrick died 1908 in Jersey City, age 68.
* My sister Margaret died 1911 in Lenox, Massachusetts, age 57.
* My brother John died August 1917 in San Francisco, age 73.
* My brother Malachi died May 9, 1927 in San Francisco, age 80.
All of the following died in New York City and are buried in the Norton family plot in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Valhalla, Westchester County, New York.
* Nellie Casey Norton, November 8, 1904, age 40.
* Helen E. Norton, March 23, 1928, age 31.
* William F. Norton, September 30, 1939, age 82.
* Annie Cullen Norton, October 27, 1939.
* Mary Norton, January 14, 1947.
* William J. Norton, July 10, 1958, age 67.
* Anne Norton died October 29, 1885.
* William J. Norton is survived by his widow Agnes (Dolly) living in Riverdale, New York City, daughters Mary (Mrs. James J. White of Riverdale) and Helen (Mrs. Daniel P. White of Poughkeepsie) and a son William P. of Washington, D. C. Margaret Go and Marie A. Norton are both unmarried and are living in New York City. Gerard F. Norton is living with his wife Florence in Bronxville, New York. They have one son Gerard F. Jr. living in Pittsford, New York.
1. Even as a child, I knew that the name was originally Naughton. When we would ask Pop why it was changed to Norton, he would say "Oh, that's the way those New England Yankees spelled it". Which was probably true; they spelled it that way and it was accepted without protest. When was it changed? Probably shortly after the family arrived in West Stockbridge, Pop's father's citizenship papers are dated February 24, 1874 and the name therein is Norton.
2. Of all the children, only Pop had a middle name. Even his younger sister Mary did not have one. When I was quite young my sisters told me that when Pop came to New York he felt he should have a middle initial and assumed as a middle name his mother's maiden name, Feeney. He never used the full name, only the initial F. I never heard of William Francis until I saw his brief history. Possibly, in his late years he became disaffected with Feeney and took a fancy to Francis.
3. Pop rarely talked about his mother and father, and never about their life in Ireland but I have reason to doubt the statement about his father being a farmer. About 1885, Katherine Naughton, the daughter of Pop's sister Ann, came out from Ireland and lived with her grandparents in West Stockbridge until they dies. Katie naturally knew them well and all about them. Katie married (about 1902-1903) Daniel Brown and they lived in Ipswich, Massachusetts until they came to New York about 1915. Our family saw a great deal of them for several years. Katie was an outspoken person and could always be relied upon for facts about the family. According to her, my grandfather kept a pub in Ireland. He signed a note for a friend and the friend defaulted on the note. This, according to Katie, was why they left Ireland. I couldn't understand this and when I asked Katie she said "Oh, it was the shame". This still didn't make sense to me; I thought that the person who defaulted should be the one to feel shame, not the person who made good his debt. But apparently that was the Irish way for Katie seemed to understand perfectly. It was the shame of being hoodwinked. (Katie died in New York on July 24, 1961).
4. I don't think there is any exaggeration whatever in Pop's statements about the work he did. He was eminently successful and highly regarded in his field. The contract for the water main for Hartford, Connecticut was quite unusual at that time. It involved laying steel (not the usual cast iron) water pipe 6 feet in diameter a distance of twelve (12) miles or more over rolling terrain. A prominent full-length article was devoted to it in the McGraw Hill Engineering News Record. It was Pop's last really big job. Unfortunately his ventures in real estate were almost uniformly unsuccessful.
5. I'm afraid Pop's remarks about his sister Mary are a little misleading. Aunt Mary worked hard all her life and never had a home of her own. When my mother died she kept house for us and continued to live with us for some years after Pop remarried. From about 1919 to 1945 she was the housekeeper at Miss Hall's School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She was living with my sisters Margaret and Marie when she died in 1947. Pop's reference to Aunt Mary being the beneficiary of her parent’s estate is a figure of speech; there really wasn't any estate. Aunt Mary's "considerable traveling" consisted of two (2) trips to California – one (1) with Pop in 1898 (my mother couldn't go because Helen was a baby and my mother suggested Pop take Aunt Mary) and another with my sister Marie in 1926.
G.F.N
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was legally published within the United States (or the United Nations Headquarters in New York subject to Section 7 of the United States Headquarters Agreement) between 1930 and 1977 (inclusive) without a copyright notice.
This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse