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University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library

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1150 Beal Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2113, USA
bentley.ref@umich.edu

Norris Family Papers, 1815-1960

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Summary

Creator:
Norris family.
Abstract:
Norris family of Ypsilanti and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Papers of Mark Norris, Ypsilanti businessman and postmaster; papers of his wife, Roccena Vaill Norris, local teacher and woman's rights advocate; papers of their son, Lyman, attorney and regent of the University of Michigan, 1883-1884; papers of Lyman's son, Mark Norris, Grand Rapids attorney and Grand Master of the Knights Templar in the United States; papers of Lyman's daughter Maria Norris, Grand Rapids physician; papers of Mark's son, Abbott Norris; and related papers of other family members, notably the Whittelsey family of Connecticut.
Extent:
3 linear feet
1 oversize folder
Language:
English.
Call Number:
85830 Aa 2 Ac
Authors:
Finding aid prepared by: Michigan Historical Collections staff

Background

Scope and Content:

The Norris family papers consists of three linear feet of correspondence, business papers, and scrapbooks. The bulk of the papers are letters among various family members which contain a wealth of information about 19th century daily life, social conditions, business affairs, and local and state politics. This collection is especially useful in researching: women's history; Norris family and kinship interrelationships; early area settlement and local history; university student life at the University of Michigan and elsewhere; 19th century economic conditions and political issues; and 20th century Freemasonry.

Biographical / Historical:

The papers of the Norris family cover four generations, 1815-1960, in the lives of an Ypsilanti and Grand Rapids family. The first member of the family represented in the papers is Mark Norris (1796-1862). Mark Norris was born in Vermont, but by 1820 he was a businessman and postmaster in Covington, New York where he married Roccena B. Vaill (1797-1876). She was the daughter of James and Helen Compton Vaill and taught school in Covington. Mark and Roccena had two children, Elvira (b. 1821), who married Benjamin Follett in 1841; and Lyman Decatur (1823-1894).

Around 1828, largely because of anti-Masonic sentiment, the Norrises moved to the Ypsilanti, Michigan area. Roccena taught school briefly and Mark worked as postmaster while conducting other business interests. When his health failed in the late 1850's, the Norrises' son, Lyman Decatur, took over the family's business affairs.

Lyman D. Norris studied at Marshall College from 1839-1841. He then became the first student to matriculate at the University of Michigan in the fall of 1841. He studied further at Yale from 1844-1845 and graduated in 1845 with degrees from both universities.

Norris read law in Detroit with Alexander Fraser, was admitted to the bar in 1847, and began his practice in St. Louis, Missouri the following year. During the early 1850's he studied and traveled in Europe. In 1852, Norris participated on the state level in the Dred Scott slavery case as counsel for Scott's owner, Dr. John Emerson. Throughout his career in St. Louis, Norris was involved in local Democratic politics. Lyman D. Norris practiced law in Ypsilanti from 1854-1871 and then in Grand Rapids from 1871 until his death in 1894. In his later years he was fairly active in state Democratic politics and University of Michigan affairs, being appointed a regent in 1883.

Lyman D. Norris married Lucy Alsop Whittelsey of Middletown, Connecticut in 1854. They had two living children: Mark Norris (1857-1943) and Maria W. Norris (ca. 1858-1938). The son, Mark Norris studied at the University of Michigan and graduated from the law school in 1882. He practiced law with his father, Lyman D. Norris, for several years in Grand Rapids, and was very active in the Masonic Order being elected Grand Master in 1937. His son, Abbott L. Norris carried on the family law offices. Maria W. Norris was educated in Montreal and Boston. She studied medicine and later became a prominent Grand Rapids physician.

Acquisition Information:
The collection was donated by Margaret Abbott Norris (donor no. 3927) in 1962. Additional materials were transferred from the Graduate Library of the University of Michigan (donor no. 1278 )

Subjects

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Subjects:
Antislavery movements -- United States.
Banks and banking -- Michigan.
Education -- United States.
Elections -- Michigan -- 1875.
Freemasonry -- Michigan.
Physicians -- Michigan -- Grand Rapids.
Railroads -- Michigan.
Social reformers -- Michigan -- Ypsilanti.
Teachers -- Michigan -- Ypsilanti.
Travelers.
Voyages and travels.
Women physicians -- Michigan -- Grand Rapids.
Women social reformers -- Michigan -- Ypsilanti.
Women teachers -- Michigan -- Ypsilanti.
Women's rights -- Michigan.
Women -- Suffrage -- Michigan.
Formats:
Photographs.
Prints.
Scrapbooks.
Names:
First Presbyterian Church (Ypsilanti, Mich.)
Knights Templar (Masonic order)
Marshall College (Marshall, Mich.)
Presbyterian Church -- Michigan -- Ypsilanti.
University of Michigan. Board of Regents.
University of Michigan. School of Dentistry.
University of Michigan -- Students -- Social life and customs -- 1841-1850.
University of Michigan -- Students -- Social life and customs -- 1871-1880.
University of Michigan -- Student notebooks.
Yale University.
Alpha Delta Phi. Peninsular Chapter (University of Michigan)
University of Michigan -- Students -- 1871-1880.
Norris family.
Whittelsey family.
Adams, Charles Kendall, 1835-1902.
Scott, Dred, 1809-1858.
Norris, Lyman, 1823-1894.
Norris, Mark, 1857-1943.
Abbott, James.
Allen, John, 1796-1851.
Angell, James Burrill, 1829-1916.
Biddle, John, 1792-1859.
Brown, Prentiss M. (Prentiss Marsh), 1889-1973.
Burgoyne, John.
Cass, Lewis, 1782-1866.
Clark, Mary H., -1875.
Conant, Shubael, 1783-
Crary, Isaac Edwin, 1804-1854.
Dickinson, Donald McDonald, 1846-1917.
Ferguson, Homer, 1889-1982.
Ferris, Woodbridge N., 1853-1928.
Gray, Fanny, -1911.
Gray, Mary Bury, 1820-1909.
Horsford, M. C. Mrs., -1859.
Jones, J. Elizabeth (Jane Elizabeth), 1813-1896.
Jonkman, Bartel J. (Bartel John), 1884-1955.
Kirkland, Caroline M. (Caroline Matilda), 1801-1864.
Knapp, Andrew B.
Knapp, George.
Lyon, Lucius, 1800-1851.
Mapes, Carl Edgar, 1874-1939.
Norris, Abbott.
Norris, Maria, 1856-1938.
Norris, Mark, 1796-1862.
Norris, Roccena Vaill, 1797-1876.
Norvell, John, 1789-1850.
Palmer, Thomas Witherell, 1830-1913.
Rogers, Abigail C., 1818-1869.
Sheldon, E. M. (Electa Maria), 1817-1902.
Taft, J. (Jonathan), 1820-1903.
Trowbridge, C. C. (Charles Christopher), 1800-1883.
Victor, Frances Fuller, 1826-1902.
Victor, Metta Victoria Fuller, 1831-1885.
Weed, Caroline.
Wheeler, Burton K. (Burton Kendall), 1882-1975.
Woodbridge, William, 1780-1861.
Vandenberg, Arthur H. (Arthur Hendrick), 1884-1951.
Places:
Europe -- Description and travel.
Grand Rapids (Mich.)
Michigan -- Politics and government -- 1837-1950.
Michigan -- Politics and government -- 1866-1876.
Michigan -- Politics and government -- 1877-1898.
Michigan -- Politics and government -- 1939-1945.
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.
United States -- Politics and government -- 1865-1877.
Ypsilanti (Mich.)

Contents

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Info for Visitors

How to Request

Ordering Reproductions

Download PDF Finding Aid
RESTRICTIONS:

The collection is open for research.

USE & PERMISSIONS:

Donor(s) have not transferred any applicable copyright to the Regents of the University of Michigan. Patrons are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials.

PREFERRED CITATION:

item, folder title, box no., Norris Family Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan

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Collection

Norris Family Papers, 1815-1960
Call Number 85830 Aa 2 Ac
Total components 170
Last indexed 2023-12-09