The Norton Genealogy

The English family name of "Norton" is a toponymic surname, indicating a family from a village or town called Norton (Anglo-Saxon Northtun, "north settlement"). There are numerous towns and villages in England bearing that name. British History Online website features four English parishes called Norton -- in Kent, Durham, Hertford, and Wiltshire. There are also places called Norton in Yorkshire and Norfolk. There is no way to tell which Norton was the place from which our Norton ancestors took their name, and in fact we have scant information about our Norton family -- even the identity of our Norton immigrant from England is unknown to us.

1. JOSEPH NORTON, ancestry unknown, born circa 1664 reportedly in Rye, Westchester, New York. In the Historical and Genealogical Record, Dutchess and Putnam Counties, New York, 1912 - Part 2, page 453, "Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Norton" is identified as the wife of our ancestor Daniel Haight. Various online family trees say Joseph was born in 1664 in Rye, Westchester County, New York, which is where his son-in-law DANIEL HAIGHT was born and lived.

Unfortunately next to nothing is known of Joseph Norton. Several Joseph Nortons are known to have lived in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts during the latter 1600s and early 1700s (such as in the Norton family of Martha's Vineyard), but it is clear that most of them could not be our Joseph Norton. However, he may possibly be the Joseph Norton who is said to have been born circa 1665 in Guilford, New Haven County, Connecticut, date and place of death unknown, eldest child of John and Hannah (Stone) Norton -- John Norton was born in Bedfordshire, England, in 1634. Migration of Connecticut families to Rye (which was originally in Connecticut) are well documented -- the Haight family was one of those Connecticut families, and the Nortons could have been as well.

     2.  ELIZABETH NORTON, born circa 1690 probably in Rye, Westchester County, New York.

2. ELIZABETH NORTON, daughter of Joseph Norton, born circa 1690 perhaps in Rye, Westchester County, New York. Some online family trees claim Elizabeth was born 29 Sept. 1687, but that is a spurious date created by a genealogist who misidentified our Elizabeth with an Elizabeth Norton who was born 29 Sept. 1657 in Brigart-Leeds, Yorkshire, England, and baptised there 9 Oct. 1657, daughter of Joseph Norton and Bridget Sikes. Obviously an Elizabeth Norton born in 1657 would be far too old to marry Daniel Haight who was born in 1688, so a genealogist decided to change "1657" to "1687" to make things "fit." Based on the date of birth of her husband, our Elizabeth was probably born circa 1690, though for all we known she may have been born closer to 1700.

Elizabeth married circa 1711 to DANIEL HAIGHT, born circa 1688 in Rye, Westchester County, New York, died 1772 in Yorktown, Westchester County, New York, son of John and Elizabeth Haight. The Historical and Genealogical Record, Dutchess and Putnam Counties, New York, 1912 - Part 2, page 453, provides this biography of Daniel Haight:

"Daniel Haight, fifth child of John and Elizabeth Haight, was born at Rye, N.Y., in 1688, and died at Yorktown, N.Y., in 1772. He purchased in 1748 a tract of land on the water lot of the Philips patent in what was at that time a part of Dutchess County. He married in 1718 (sic) Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Norton, and had nine children . . . ."

The nine children of Daniel and Elizabeth are as follows:

     --  JOSEPH HAIGHT, born 1712.
     --  JAMES HAIGHT
     --  WILLIAM HAIGHT
     --  DANIEL HAIGHT
     --  JONATHAN HAIGHT
     --  RACHEL HAIGHT
     --  JEMIMAH HAIGHT
     --  ELIZABETH HAIGHT
     --  CHARITY HAIGHT

Norton Genealogy Resources:

Find-A-Grave memorial of Elizabeth (Norton) Haight, with link to her husband.
The New England Mathers, including Joseph Norton of Guilford, Connecticut.
The Joseph Norton Family, from Dr. Charles Banks' The History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol. III, Family Genealogies, pages 357-374.

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