My Genealogy Hound

Hon. John Dudley Norton, deceased, was one of the best known and most influential of the citizens of Pontiac, Michigan, and to him as much as to any other man is due the great progress and prosperity of the city. He gave his financial support to all public improvements and was always found in support of such measures and enterprises as would be of benefit to the community.

Mr. Norton’s father (Dudley Dorman Norton, Esq.), a native of Hebron, Connecticut, was a descendant of Lucy Norton, sister of Gov. John Winthrop. He removed to Onondaga County, New York, in 1822, where in 1824 he was married to Margaret Fry Farrington, a descendant of General Putnam of Revolutionary fame.

Mr. Norton was born December 18, 1844, at Van Buren, Onondaga County, New York, and was the youngest of four children. He passed the first 12 years of his life on his father’s farm and in 1856 moved with his parents to Baldwinsville, New York, where he attended the village school, after which he received careful academic training in the academies at Elbridge and Cortland, New York. He entered Hamilton College at Clinton, New York, in 1863 and possessing a talent for mathematics won prizes in his class. He was also proficient in Greek and Latin and was an active member of the College secret society known as Chi Psi. He graduated in 1867.

Having finished college, Mr. Norton started west, locating at St. Louis where he engaged in the real estate business for three months after which time he became interested in the pine lands of Western Michigan. He then located at Pontiac where the remainder of his life was spent.

In Pontiac he was one of the charter members of the First National Bank, of which in 1877 he became cashier for a period of 10 years. To him the stockholders are indebted for the successful re-organization of the bank when, as president and one of its heaviest stockholders, the charter having expired, he transferred it January 1, 1893, into the First Commercial Bank. He was an organizer and director of several other banks in the State of Michigan.

Mr. Norton, besides being an active participant and investor in local enterprises, had large and varied interests in Michigan (where he owned considerable real estate) as well as in 12 other States. In 1883 he became treasurer of the Eastern Michigan Asylum and was treasurer of the Michigan Military Academy from 1882 until his death. In the latter institution he was deeply interested and was one of its financial supports. He was one of the organizers and incorporators of the largest manufacturing plant in Pontiac, namely, the Pontiac Knitting Works, and in 1888 served as its secretary and treasurer until his retirement in 1891. He was city treasurer for many years and for some time treasurer of the Agricultural Society. He was a member of the Oak Hill Cemetery board of control and treasurer of the Water Works Board from its inception in 1887 until his death.

Politically, Mr. Norton was always a stanch supporter of Democratic principles and became an active and influential force in the party management in the State. In 1874 he was elected to the Michigan Legislature from the Third District and was re-elected in 1876, serving upon the committees of ways and means, railroads and education. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention held in St. Louis in June, 1876. In 1888 he was nominated for State Treasurer, but with the rest of the ticket went down in defeat.

Fraternally, Mr. Norton was a member of all local Masonic bodies including Pontiac Lodge No. 1, F. & A. M.; Oakland Chapter, No. 5, R. A. M.; Council, R. & S. M.; and Pontiac Commandery, No. 2, K. T. He was also a member of the Knights of Pythias.

On June 9, 1870, Mr. Norton was married to Elizabeth Conklin Flower, daughter of Hon. Theron Andrew Flower (whose life’s record may be found elsewhere in this work), and five children were born to bless their union. The three living are: Hattie Morris, wife of Gilbert Willson Lee, of Detroit; John Dudley, Jr., and Mary Cornelia. Mr. Norton was an indulgent father, being sympathetic in disposition and of charitable impulses. Many were his benefactions of which the public never knew besides his being liberal in his support of charitable organizations. In his death the poor lost a true friend. Mr. Norton died at his home in Pontiac, Michigan, March 18, 1895.