Several genealogies accept that John Norris (b. 1778) was the SON OF WALTER NORRIS AND Miss (ANN) BALDWIN, though with a different wife - Abigail Davis. I suggest that John's true wife was Mary Hall.

I WELCOME ANY HELP TO PROVE OR DISPROVE THIS THEORY.
Thank you in advance!

Cynthia
*******

A number of published and non-published genealogies have named John Norris, b. 1778, NJ as the son of Walter or Walter Joyce Norris and Ann Baldwin. This John Norris, b. 1778, supposedly married an Abigail Davis at the Presbyterian Church in Morristown, NJ, 1798. They were listed as parents of two children, then presumed to have divorced. It was suggested that Abigail changed back to her maiden name, and lived with her "cousin" Job B. Norris in Sodus, Wayne, NY, per the census of 1860. This has proven incorrect.

The Abigail Davis that was living with Job B. Norris in 1860 was a FOSTER, widow of Benjamin Davis and almost certainly a relative of Job's wife, Pamelia (Foster) Norris. (For additional info see further below, under the heading "History of the Davis family: Being an account of the descendants of John ...")

There was in FACT a marriage between A John Norris and an Abigail Davis at the church in 1798, but their age, parentage, residence, etc. is not listed. What we also know is that more than one John Norris lived in the county and no further record has been found of Abigail (Davis) Norris.

WE DO KNOW, WITH DOCUMENTATION, that John Norris, b 1778 in NJ, married Mary Hall and had 13 children. From the biography of their youngest son, John W. Norris, b. 1824 in Penfield, NY, his mother - Mary (Hall) Norris died about 1834, around the same time that John Norris went to Michigan. We do not know if Mary (Hall) Norris died in NY or MI. Many of their children also moved to Michigan moving around the counties of Wayne, Washtenaw, Ingham, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, and Kent.

The biography of John W. Norris further states that he, John W. Norris (b. 1824 Penfield, NY), lived in Nankin, Wayne Co. and Ingham Counties and that he had gone to Michigan as a child, with his father. That John Norris (b. 1778, NY) died in Michigan in 1862.

Census records lists John Norris, b. 1778 NJ in Nankin, Wayne, MI in 1850 and 1860, married to a woman by the name of Lois (Cole) Norris. She was the widow of Lewis Morris and the daughter of Ezra Cole and Sabra Patchen. They were married before 1850.

THE ONLY JOHN NORRIS, BORN 1778 NJ, LIVING IN MICHIGAN WAS THE ONE IN NANKIN, MARRIED TO LOIS IN 1850 AND 1860.

History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa: Containing a history from the ...
By John H. Keatley, O.L. Baskin & Co
PG 190
JOHN W. NORRIS, huckstering, Neola, was born in Penfield, Monroe Co., N. Y., September 20, 1824. His father, John Norris, was born in New Jersey May 3, 1778. When quite young, he went to New York State, where he was engaged in farming. In the spring of 1834, he moved to Michigan, where he died in 1862. Subject's mother. Mary (Hall) Norris, was born in New York State April 27, 1780, and died about 1834. She was the mother of thirteen children, of whom our subject is the youngest. Mr. Norris was a farmer for seventeen years, and then learned blacksmithing. After serving an apprenticship of three years, he started a shop of his own, in Nankin, Wayne Co., Mich., where he worked at his trade about three years, and then bought a farm, on which he lived till about 1855. He then sold his first place, and bought another near Lansing, Mich., where he remained till 1863, then went to California, remained ten months, and returned to Michigan. In 1864, he sold his property in Michigan, and, coming to Iowa, located at Council Bluffs, and worked at blacksmithing two years; then, after farming in Harrison County for three years, he came to Neola. in September, 1869, his being the first American family to settle in that place. Mr. Norris was married, in Nankin, Wayne Co., Mich., March 18, 1849, to Electa A. Greenman, born in New York State March 29, 1831, daughter, of Hiram and Henrietta (Delong) Greenman; he, born March 23, 1799, died about 1861 ; she, born in New York State September 7, 1802, died in 1842. The children of this marriage are as follows: Hattie, born January 23, 1850, died September 13, 1852; George O., December 10, 1851, died September 13, 1852; Ida J., born July 21, 1853; Eva J., November 11, 1855; and Henrietta, July 12, 1860. After first settling in Neola, Mr. Norris worked at his trade one and a half years, then farmed six years, and, in December, 1878, returned to Neola, where he has since followed huckstering. In politics, he is a Democrat.

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History of the Davis family: Being an account of the descendants of John ...
By Albert Henry Davis
Pg 103

Benjamin Davis (324) was married Sept. 30, 1804, to Abigail Foster, of Southampton, L. I. She was a daughter of David Foster, and was born Jan. 80, 1779, died at Sodus, Wayne Co., N. Y., Feb. 12, 1872. Her husband died at same place Feb. 9, 1859. Benjamin Davis chose teaching as a profession. He taught in the Clinton Academy, at E. Hampton, L. I., and.also taught at one time a private school in the Davis homestead at E. Hampton. He left E. Hampton, Oct. 13, 1804, and was the last male descendant of our ancestor to leave the place where the ancestor had settled, more than a century before that time. He taught in Whitestown, Paris, Pompey, N. Y., and other places adjacent, and in 1824 removed to Rose, Wayne Co., N. Y., where he bought a farm. He removed from Rose to Sodus, in the same County, where he died. They had one child.
423. i. ____ _____ b. at Pompey, d. young.
The following obituary notice was published in a Wayne Co., paper at the time of his death :
" Died, at Sodus, on the 9th instant, Mr. Benjamin Davis. He was born in Stonington, Conn., Feb. 4, 1774. He was one of the most successful school teachers of his time. He experienced religion and joined the Presbyterian Church about sixteen years since. In his early life he sat under the preaching of Dr. Lyman Beecher, then commencing his labor as a minister of the gospel on Long Island. He was distinguished for the strictest morality, integrity and christian character. He hated iniquity and vice in all their forms, but loved the gospel, and especially the doctrine of grace. In his will he did not forget the wants of a dying world. He left the principal part of his fortune, which was not large, to objects of christian benevolence. He has left an aged and pious widow to mourn his departure."


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Steven D. Norris research notes [from 1999??]
1.3533.7. John Norris
b. 1778; d. after 1860. He was married on 15 Dec 1798, in Morris Co NJ, to Abigail Davis (b. 1780; after 1850), from Mendham Township, as he was. They had a son, Jabez, and probably Catherine. John moved to Seneca Township, Ontario Co NY, before 1810, where his father also settled. At that time John and Abigail had five small sons. John and Abigail apparently divorced before 1840. In 1860, Abigail was living at the home of Job Baldwin Norris in Sodus, NY. Job Baldwin Norris was her first cousin by marriage. She apparently decided to take back her maiden name. John Norris moved into Steuben Co NY, just south and west of Seneca Township of Ontario Co. He stayed there until around 1831, when he moved into MI, settling in Wayne Co. On 5 May 1831, John Norris of Steuben Co NY, purchased 158.85 acres of land in Wayne Co MI. He was living with a new wife, Lois ----- (b. 1780; d. after 1860), who was born in CT. They lived in Nankin, Wayne Co MI, near the residence of Walter Henry Norris, the brother of Job Baldwin Norris. A young girl, Mary Cable, was living with them in 1850. The relationship is unknown. The children of John and Abigail Norris were Jabez and Catherine.