William Henry NORRIS
Obituary

William Henry Norris, eldest of the three children of Rev. William Henry Norris and Sarah (Mahan) Norris, was born July 24, 1832 in Hallowell, Maine. His father was converted in a revival of the Methodist Church, and became a circuit preacher, a city pastor and presiding elder, and finally a missionary to South America. He was the son of Thomas Coffin and Eliza (Haynes) Norris, and a lineal descendant of Nicholas Norris, who was of English ancestry and who came to America from Ireland in 1645, settling at Hampton, NH. Sarah Mahan Norris was of Irish descent. Her parents were John and Catherine (Frost) Mahan.

He spent eight years of his childhood in Montevideo and Buenos Aires, returning to Brooklyn, NY, when fifteen years of age and there attending the Dwight High School. In his Sophomore year at Yale he was awarded a third prize in mathematics, in Junior year he received a third prize in English composition, and in Senior year he was given the Berkeley Premium for excellence in Latin composition and a first prize in Latin. He was valedictorian of his class and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

After leaving Yale, he taught for a year at Mamaroneck NY, spent the following year at the Harvard Law School and in June 1856, went to Green Bay, Wis., where he entered the law office of Attorney General James H Howe. He was admitted to the bar in October 1857, and practiced in partnership with Mr Howe from December 1858, until the partnership was dissolved in May, 1862, at which time Mr Howe entered the military service. For the next ten years Mr Norris carried on an independent practice, and was then associated with Thomas B Chynoweth for six years, and afterwards with E. H. Ellis, a former circuit judge. He made a specialty of railroad law, and for twelve years served as attorney for the Green Bay & Minnesota Railroad Company (now the Green Bay, Winona & St. Paul Railroad Company). He was also city clerk for one year and superintendent of schools for two years. In July, 1880 he removed to Minneapolis, Minn, and in January 1882 became solicitor for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul Railroad Company for Minnesota, with advisory and office duties relating to the extension of the company's lines into Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas. This employment precluded all other business until the end of 1888, when he also became attorney for several auxiliary railway corporations, and engaged somewhat in private practice. He continued in active work until October, 1918, when the condition of his health compelled him to retire. He had practiced in all the courts of Wisconsin and Minnesota and also in the U.S. Supreme Court. He had travelled extensively in the United States and Canada.

His death occurred at his home in Minneapolis, November 9, 1919, after an illness of five days due to an acute attack of angina pectoris. He was buried in Lakewood Cemetery in that city.

He was married at Green Bay, January 31, 1859, to Hannah B, daughter of Joab and Hannah (Brown) Harriman, of Waterville, Maine. Her death occurred December 23, 1917. He is survived by a son, Harriman, who studied at the University of Minnesota from 1891 to 1894, and who is at present connected with the Northern Pacific Railway in St Paul, and two daughters, Louise, who was married in December 1889 to Alfred D Rider, of Kansas City, MO., and Georgia, who lives in Minneapolis. A brother, John Mahan Norris, is located in Oroville, Wash.

Source: Yale University Obituary Record of Graduates Deceased During the Year Ending July 1, 1920
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