Re: TN franklin ... AL lawrence ... TX johnson / somervell ... NM roosevelt ...AR .
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In reply to:
Re: TN franklin ... AL lawrence ... TX johnson / somervell ... NM roosevelt ...AR .
Rufus Buie 3/18/11
Was the family story that James Norton died in Lawrence, AL in 1857 or in Lawrence, KY? I seem to recall that somewhere it was said that he died in Lawrence, AL. Brent Norton says the James story was passed down in his family. Of course, he is a descendant of Jacob Leland Norton also. I have been trying to find a male descendant of Messer Norton 1810-1857 who, as near as I can determine, would have the only possible male descendants of our Edward out there other than the descendants of Jacob Leland....and two males of Jacob's line have already submitted. This Messer 1810-1857 married two daughters of William Norton who was the son of Messer Norton 1750-1800. Descendants of Messer 1810-1857 insisted that their father married sisters who were his cousins. Messer and his second wife moved from AL over to Tippah County, MS in the late 1840's and they were there in 1850. There has been much confusion because when the Tippah Nortons started to work up their family history they couldn't place this Messer. They guessed that he might have been the son of John Huddleston Norton of Tippah, but there is absolutely no evidence for this. They did not know about Edward who was killed by a kick in the head from a horse in 1817 in Franklin, TN. Anyway, I would like to find a male descendant of our Edward and Nellie's Messer 1810-1857 who would be willing to submit DNA. This should clarify whether the Beeson entered at Edward's level or at Jacob Leland Norton's level. Edward and Nellie were in Franklin, TN when the 1813 tax list was made. William Norton, son of Messer 1750-1800, was also there. When Lawrence and Limestone, AL became open to white settlement and land became available, Nellie got land in Lawrence and William got land in Limestone. John H Norton, another son of Messer 1750-1800 was also in one of the TN counties and he later married Mrs. Polly Leatherwood and moved over to Tippah County, MS. So you can see that our Edward seemed to move in tandem with other sons of Messer 1750-1800. There was a family tradition that Messer 1750-1800 had a son named Edward, but no one seemed to be able to find him in any records, so it was supposed that he had died young. If you follow the Messer 1750-1800 line back to PA/MD/VA you will see Beesons living near them and moving to NC and then down to Lincoln/Wayne, KY at the same time. There is a lot of circumstantial evidence that our Edward was raised at least in some proximity to the Messer 1750-1800 Norton family. It is also interesting that our Edward named some of his kids names similar to those in Messer's family 1750-1800. I hope this has not been too confusing..........Pat