HUGH NORTON

NORTON, KENNY, WALSH, NOLAN, THOMPSON, TRACEY

Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 4/3/2005 at 13:17:07

HUGH NORTON

In the death of Hugh Norton of Lycurgus, briefly noted in our last, another has been added to the long list of those gone before and Allamakee loses a pioneer settler as well as one of its most venerable and respected citizens.

He was born in County Galway, Ireland about 82 years ago and came to America when a boy of ten, settling in Boston, Mass. Here in 1845 he married Miss Mary Kenny who twenty-six years ago last August preceded him in death. The fruit of this union was three sons and seven daughters, all but one of whom survive him as follows: Thomas of St. Paul, Minn who died suddenly about a year ago; Hugh at home; John, whose whereabout at present is unknown; Mrs John Norton, Sioux Falls, SD; Mrs Mary Walsh, Chicago; Miss Elizabeth, at home; Mrs. J. H. Nolan, Nelson British Columbia; Mrs James Thompson, Johnson, Wash; Mrs. T. Tracey, St. Paul, Minn; Miss Margaret, Chicago.

Mr. Norton had been a resident of this county for over forty years. By industry and frugality he had accumulated sufficient of this world's good to insure him ease and comfort in his declining years, leaving a farm of over 400 acres of the best land in the county in a high state of cultivation. But the old gentleman was not destined long to enjoy the wealth he had so justly earned. A few years ago he was stricken with blindness and to add to this misfortune came the death of his son a year ago last month. These weighed heavily on him and are thought to have had more to do with his falling into dreamless rest on Monday of last week more than anything else. Hugh Norton was a genial, warm-hearted man, and a type of the "fine old Irish Gentleman" that we regret to know is rapidly becoming extinct in this country. He was particularly fond of children and we have often seen him on the streets with a bevy of little ones about him and his coming apparently made them and him happier.

The funeral services were held Thursday morning at Lycurgus church and after a solemn Requim Mass, at which Father Norton was assisted by Fathers Haxmeir and Walsh, the remains were consigned to the tomb in the cemetery adjoining and notwithstanding the almost impassable roads a goodly number of his old time neighbors and friends paid silent but eloquent tribute to his memory by their presence. Peace to his ashes.

Allamakee Journal, 4/3/1901 - contributed by Anne Philiben