RG 074:029, Lewis Mills Norton Genealogical Papers

Inventory

Finding aid prepared by Connecticut State Library staff.

Copyright © 2009 by the Connecticut State Library

Biographical Note

Lewis Mills Norton was born in Goshen, Conn. on December 22, 1783. In May, 1800, he left home to learn the carpenter and joiner trade from his brother Theodore. He married Laura Foote of Canton, Conn. October 10, 1805. They joined the Congregational church in 1807 in which Norton was a deacon for twenty-five years.

In 1808 he began to experiment in making pineapple cheese and patented a cheese vat in 1810. In 1814 he became a partner in Walter, Cobb & Co., manufacturers of woolen cloth. During his time here he invented a power loom. He stayed with the firm until 1826. Norton also experimented with raising teasels used for dressing cloth, making pyroligneous acid for curing hams, and raising woad, a blue dyestuff. He started a cheese factory in 1844. He operated the business known as Lewis M. Norton & Sons, with his sons Edward and Robert, from 1847 to 1850. In 1850 Robert moved to western New York but Edward remained a partner with his father until his father's death in 1860. Norton served as county surveyor for forty years and during the latter part of this time was associated with his son Henry.

In 1842 Norton began work on a two volume manuscript of 600 pages each entitled "Goshen Statistics and Family History."

Source: A.C. Hibbard, History of the town of Goshen, Connecticut, (Hartford, Conn.: Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co, 1897), 8-11.

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Scope and Content

Genealogies of George and John Norton, correspondence, and genealogical notes.

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

These records are stored at an off-site facility and therefore may not be available on a same-day basis.

See the Rules and Procedures for Researchers Using Archival Records and Secured Collections policy.

Restrictions on Use

See the Reproduction and Publications of State Library Collections policy.

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Related Material

Norton family : History and Genealogy Unit Special Genealogical File, 1816-1977 [CSL call number StLib History Reference Spec.Gen.File Norton]

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Index Terms

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Administrative Information

Provenance

Donated by Anna Norton Decker, granddaughter of Lewis Mills Norton, in 1944.

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