Thomas NORRIS & Mary KITTS & Mary MILLER

Table of Contents

Diana, Goddess of the Hunt — for Ancestors!

Every-Name Index

Thomas NORRIS
Mary KITTS
Mary MILLER

Husband: Thomas NORRIS
Birth: 1789/90, NC
Death: 1850-60, presumably in Sullivan Co., IN
Occupation: farmer / farm laborer
Military Service: War of 1812: Pvt., Capt. Samuel RICHARDSON's Co., Col. Samuel BUNCH's Rgmt.
Father possibly: George NORRIS (1760s-1830s)
Mother possibly: Priscilla __?__

Marriage-1: 1 Jun 1817, Grainger Co., TN

Wife-1: Mary KITTS
Birth: ca. 1797/8
Death: ca. 1818
Occupation: homemaker

For Thomas to have remarried in 1819 in Grainger County — where his first marriage was known — either they got divorced or she had to have died. Unless court records of a divorce can be found, it's far more likely she died. If they divorced, she would normally have retained her husband's surname (i.e., she would be Mary NORRIS), especially if she'd had a child. I find no record of a subsequent marriage in Grainger County for a Mary NORRIS.
Bottom Line: even if this is the Mary KITTS (1802/3-1879) who appears to have had children out of wedlock during the 1820s in Grainger County, these children remain born out of wedlock because she was no longer legally married to Thomas NORRIS. However, I see nothing to convince me these are the same woman.

Marriage-2: 4 Feb 1819, Grainger Co., TN

Wife-2: Mary MILLER
Birth: 1800/1, TN
Death: aft. 1870 Census, bef. 1880 Census, prob. in Greene Co., IN
Occupation: homemaker

Children with Mary KITTS:

[The simplest and most common scenario, here, is that Mary KITTS died giving birth to her first child, who may or may not have survived.]

Children with Mary MILLER:

— born in Grainger Co., TN:
1. (Daughter A) NORRIS, b. 1820-25
2. (Daughter B) NORRIS, b. 1820-25
3. (Son A) NORRIS, b. 1825-30
4. (Daughter C) NORRIS, b. 1825-30
5. Elizabeth NORRIS, b. 1830/1
6. (Daughter D) NORRIS, b. 1830-35
7. Louisa NORRIS, b. 1834/5
8. John Calvin NORRIS, b. 1836/7
9. Montgomery NORRIS, b. 1840/1
10. Catharine NORRIS, b. 1840/1

— born in Haddon Twp., Sullivan Co., IN:
11. Matilda G. NORRIS, b. 1843/4
12. Martha Ellen NORRIS, b. 13 Jun 1848; d. 10 Jan 1933, Spencer, Washington Twp., Owen Co., IN; m. Mr. MANORS

Others in Household:

. James H. NORRIS, b. 1878/9, IN — presumed grandchild

Keywords for search engines: genealogy; USA, US, United States, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee

Sources:

1. Jordan R. Dodd, ed. 1993. KY, NC, TN, VA, WV Marriages: Early to 1850. Liahona Research, Orem, UT (Broderbund CD-229):

Norris, Thomas Kitts, Mary Jun 1, 1817 Grainger Co.

Norris, Thomas Miller, Mary Feb 4, 1819 Grainger Co.

2. 1820 U.S. Census Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com): not found, but of the 48 counties existing in Tennessee at the time, the censuses of 22 of them were lost, including Grainger County.

3. 1830 U.S. Census Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com): not found. I would normally do a page-by-page search in case his name was botched by either the enumerator or the indexer, but this enumerator's handwriting is so neat and legible (bless him), it seems Thomas was simply missed in the enumeration. It happens, but we wish it hadn't happened in this case because it was probably our best chance to pick up any child birthed by Mary KITTS.

4. 1840 U.S. Census Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com, Image #32-33 of 109; official enumeration began 1 Jun 1840; extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):-

1840 TN Grainger Co. pp. 103B-104A Ln. 26 Thomas Norris 101 000 010 - 202 201 000 0100000 no slaves

These data indicate:

No. & Sex Age Class Therefore Born Individuals Inferred

1 male 4 or under 1835-1840 = Calvin (b. 1836/7)

1 male 10-14 1825-1830 = Son A

1 male 50-59 1780-1790 = Thomas (b. 1789/90)

2 females 4 or under 1835-1840 = Louisa (b. 1834/5)
= Daughter D

2 females 10-14 1825-1830 = Elizabeth (b. 1830/1)
= Daughter C

2 females 15-19 1820-1825 = Daughter B
= Daughter A

1 female 30-39 1800-1810 = Mary (b. 1800/1)

1 person employed in agriculture

He is the only Thomas NORRIS in Grainger Co., TN.

5. 1850 U.S. Census Every-Name-Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com, Image #64 of 72): Dist. No. 105, Haddon Twp., Sullivan Co., IN, p. 229B, 417/420, enumerated 28 Aug 1850, official enumeration date 1 Jun 1850 (extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):-

Thomas Norris 60 M Laboruer NC

Mary Norris 49 F Tenn

Elizabeth 19 F Tenn

Louisa 15 F Tenn

Calvin 13 M Tenn

Montgomery 9 M Tenn

Catharine 9 F Tenn

Matilda 6 F Ind^a

Martha 3 F Ind^a

He is the only Thomas NORRIS in Indiana old enough to be our subject with a wife named, Mary or Polly, etc., and children born in TN. There are six Thomas NORRIS's in TN, all too young to be our subject. There are 22 Thomas NORRIS's in the USA born between 1780 and 1800, none of whom, except for our subject, have children born in TN. This is our guy.

6. 1860 U.S. Census Every-Name-Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com, Image #19 of 45): Jonesborough P.O., Center Twp., Greene Co., IN, Roll M653_262, p. 677, PN 91, 637/637, enumerated 29 Jun 1860, official enumeration date 1 Jun 1860 (extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):-

Mary Norris 60 F 20 Tenn

Elizabeth " 30 F "

John C    " 22 M Farm Laborer "

Montgomery " 19 M "     " "

Martha E   " 12 F Ind

7. 1870 U.S. Census Every-Name-Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com, Image #7 of 17): Worthington P.O., Smith Twp., Greene Co., IN, Roll M593_318, p. 420A, PN 7, 46/46, enumerated 11 Jul 1870, official enumeration date 1 Jun 1870 (extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):-

Norris Mary 68 F W Keeping house Tennessee

______ Matilda G 26 F W Lives with Mother 50 Indiana

______ James H 1 M W Indiana

James is presumably a grandchild.

8. 1880 U.S. Census Every-Name-Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com): not found.

9. Indiana Death Certificates, 1899-2011 (online at Ancestry.com):

Death Certificate of Widow Martha Ellen Manors, b. 13 Jun 1848 in Indiana; d. 10 Jan 1933 in Spencer, Washington Twp., Owen Co., IN; father: Thomas Norris, b. TN; mother: Mary Miller, b. TN; late husband not named.

10. Find-a-Grave: Entries (online at findagrave.com): not found (as of 17 Feb 2019).

11. Jane Bryant, contributor. 1997. Grainger County, TN Wills, Nov 1833 - May 1852 (online at usgwarchives.net/tn/grainger/wills/grngwill.txt):

Source: Mary E. Reeves, abstractor. Grainger County, TN, Inventories of Estates and Wills, Nov 1833 - May 1852.

NORRIS, George, deceased. Wife Priscilla, son Thomas; son William; son George; Lucinda NORRIS (no relation given) during her widowhood and Calvin and Mahala NORRIS, heirs of Brown NORRIS, deceased. Signed George NORRIS, 30 Nov 1833. Executor: son Thomas. Witnesses: William BAKER, Jarret NORRIS. Recorded 6 Aug 1834, P.S. COCKE, Clerk.

We know of only one Thomas NORRIS in Grainger County. Is this our subject? Are these his parents?
There is a George NORRIS, Sr. (æ 60-70; b. 1760-70) in the 1830 Census of Grainger County; he's listed next to William NORRIS, two lines from George NORRIS, four lines from Brown NORRIS, and five lines from Jarret NORRIS — alas, no Thomas NORRIS found.

12. Betsy West [Mrs. Daniel], transcriber. 1972. "Free Taxable Inhabitants of Grainger County for the Year 1805." Ansearchin' News. Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 16-20. Tenn. Genealog. Soc., Memphis, TN (online as a PDF file at www.tngs.org/Ansearchn-News): We find a George NORRIS, along with William Sr., William Jr., Jeremiah, and a "Janed," who is probably Jarred/Jarret. Typically, males aren't counted unless they are age 16 or over, and a male isn't listed by name, unless he is of age and/or married. In any case, we know George was in Grainger Co. by 1805.

13. Public Member Trees (online at Ancestry.com).

14. WorldConnect (online at wc.rootsweb.com): files there assert Thomas's wife was Mary MONTGOMERY. The Source being used is the following:

15. Harry Alexander Davis. 1941. The Norris Family of Maryland and Virginia: Genealogy of Thomas Norris, 1361-1930. 4 vols, 1453 pp. Typescript, Washington, DC (republished on microfilm by the Library of Congress in 1988; rare and hard to obtain).

Not seen, but it appears to me this writer may be the one who made the unwarranted assumption that, because our subjects had a son named, Montgomery, Mary's maiden name was MONTGOMERY. As usual, it would have been better had the guess not been made because the guess became fact and a source of many following errors. I have found no marriage record between a Thomas NORRIS and a Mary MONTGOMERY, anywhere; and the records clearly show the wife who bore his children was Mary MILLER. I don't believe Mary MONTGOMERY ever existed. Bottom line: if you don't know, don't guess. No data are better than bad data.

Contact Home
Page Table of
Contents DNA
Hub Biddle
DNA Carrico
DNA Corbin
DNA Cupp
DNA Danish
DNA Ely
DNA Lyon(s)
DNA Rasey
DNA Reason
DNA Rose
DNA Straub
DNA Pedigree
Charts Census
Records Every-Name
Indices

Everything I have is online at this web site. I have no further information, so please don't write asking me if I do.
On the other hand, if you feel I've made an error, please don't hesitate to notify me, but in which case,
please include a link to the page you are referencing.
There are over 18,000 pages on this web site, and I simply don't remember every page, much less every person on every page.

"The Cloud" is double-speak for "dumb terminal on a main frame." Been there; done that. Never again.
You are giving away not only your privacy, but control of your data, your apps, and your computer to a corporation. Is that really where you want to go?
The IT guys on the big iron hated the Personal Computer because it gave users freedom and power; now they've conned you into being back under their control.

Table of Contents

Every-Name Index