CHARLES C. NORTON

NORTON

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/21/2020 at 20:00:04

CHARLES C. NORTON, cashier of the First National Bank of Corning, was born in 1846, at Phelps, Ontario county, New York, a son of S. E. and A. B. (Crane) Norton. His father, also a native of the State of New York, was a business man who came to Iowa in 1873, and is now living in Corning, aged seventy-four years; the mother is aged sixty-eight; and they are living in the serene enjoyment of the fruits of a life of industry and honesty and as members of the Presbyterian Church for half a century.

The subject of this sketch was educated in the excellent public schools of his native town, supplemented by a course in Temple Hill Academy, Geneseo, New York. He began life for himself as a bank clerk. In 1872 he made an extended tour through the Northwest and finally settled in Corning, entering the employ of George W. Frank, banker. In connection with banking they also do a large loan and insurance business; but Mr. Norton had charge of the banking business proper, in which he was eminently successful. July 12, 1883, the First National Bank of Corning was organized with L. E. Darrow, president, and Mr. Norton as cashier; capital stock, $50,000. The building is a beautiful three-story structure, of pressed brick and white trimmings and symmetrical proportions. The interior is artistically finished in oak, and well arranged for the purposes of a bank.

Mr. Norton married Miss Loa McLeod of New York, but she died shortly afterward, in 1873, which event was soon followed by the death of their only daughter, Edna May. For his second wife Mr. Norton married Wilhelmina Frances, formerly of New York, and the names of the children by this matrimonial union are Charles Frances, Emily Crane and William Augustus.

Mr. Norton is widely and favorably known throughout southwestern Iowa. To the bank his name has always been a bulwark of strength. He resides just outside of the town, on a handsome estate, where he makes a specialty of raising the finest strains of purebred shorthorn cattle and Clydesdale horses, and he and his partner, Mr. Joseph T. McFee, are importers of Clydesdale, English Shire and English Hackney horses, their horses being noted for their fine quality, strength of bone and good action coupled with substance.