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Norton Henry Ferris
Born on December 23, 1861 in Millersport, Town
of Clarence, Erie County, NY, Norton Ferris was the son of William
Ferris and Martha Utley. His father was a canal-man who raised horses
and mules for the canal boats. From the towpaths alongside the canal
the mules in teams of three pulled on the lines which were attached to
the boats. It was a long and hard job to haul boats. With the
introduction of steam powered tugs in 1870, and fewer mules and horses
needed, the family decided to move to The Rapids, Niagara County, where
Norton spent many years on a farm growing produce for sale to the
public.
At age 22 he married Miss Clemmie Gassaway, Christmas day
in 1883 and lived at the Rapids farm until 1885. They moved to
Lockport that year when Clemmie was pregnant with their first child. A
daughter, Arlene Ferris was born on July 27, 1885. She would prove to
be a great blessing to him in his older years.
Horsecars
appeared for the first time on January 1st of that year in Lockport.
They were streetcars pulled by horses and the wheels of the cars were on
rails. Norton loved the prospects of living in this rising city and so
started his livery business that year. He handled a horse-drawn hack
or carriage rig for a few years before taking his family back to The
Rapids to return to farming.
After saving enough money to buy a
house, he returned to Lockport in 1892 to make home at 82 Beattie
avenue near Grant. He continued with his horse-drawn rig until sometime
around 1918 when he bought an automobile and became one of the first to
drive a gasoline powered taxi. During the early years after the turn
of the century, Clemmie gave birth to two boys. Franklin was born on
January 8th 1903 and Ernest was born on April 7th 1907. For the years
leading up to 1929 he continued in the taxi business and only gave that
up for a period of about 6 years after 1929 when he operated a circus.
In
1927 the Miller Brothers Carnival Company played at the Niagara County
Fair. When they packed up and left the fairground they left four red
and gold wagons that they did not care to transport to their winter
quarters. Norton bought these wagons with the initial thought of
reselling them to make a profit. Instead of selling them they stayed at
his home on Beattie avenue in Lockport. The lure of circus life caught
him and he began to read books on the subject. It soon occurred to him
that he would like to organize a tented show just like the famed Sig
Sautelle. Sig Sautelle, well known along the length of the Erie canal,
owned a very large circus with many boats and wagons that toured towns
on either side of the canal. The only difference between Sig and Norton
was that Norton would hook his wagons up to trucks and travel by road.
His circus would be smaller because he would not have the customary
Wild West show or any other after-show. In the spring of 1929 he
started to organize the circus, buying up animals, food, equipment, more
wagons and the tent. He hired an advance agent and on July 1st he took
to the road. He started with two monkeys, a badger and a wildcat which
in his circus was really a cross between a wildcat and a mountain lion.
He added other animals and a number of first class circus acts before
leaving.
His circus was known by the names “Norton H. Ferris Circus” or “Ferris Motorized Circus”
Lockport
was the home for the show and each spring a show was held there before
going on the road. Children would often come over to his home to visit
the caged animals and play with the monkeys. This was particularly
dangerous in those days because the animals weren't always so docile.
One monkey reportedly bit off a finger of one of the children. The
wildcat was recently captured, was untamed and needed extra supervision
by Norton.
His first tour was through towns and villages in
Niagara, Orleans and Erie counties from July 1st to July 17th , 1929. A
successful tour in 1929 was followed by tours that covered several
months in the following years. He disbanded at the close of the
carnival season in 1935 because the business was becoming too much to
handle in his later years. He returned to his taxi business for a short
period of time. He retired in 1938 from poor eyesight, because he did
not want to risk the safety of his passengers.
His health
continued to decline and at age 80, May 11, 1942, he passed away at the
Convalescent Home at 146 Caledonia street due to a long illness. In
one of his obituaries it was stated that he was one of the last of the
“grand old men of the carnivals”.