Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/101

 NORRIS

NORRIS

created there the role of Elsa. She was also chosen to open the new Prince Regent opera house in Munich, in Maj', 1901, and re-engaged for the following year for all the Brunhilde roles.

NORRIS, Frank, author, was born in Chicago, 111., March 5, 1870; son of Benjamin Franklin and Gertrude (Doggett) Norris; grandson of Samuel Wales Doggett. He was prepared for college in the high school of San Francisco, Cal., and attended the University of California, 1890- 94, and Harvard, 1894-95. He studied art in Paris, 1887-89, and on his return to the United States settled in San Francisco, and there en- gaged in literary and journalistic work. He was war correspondent of the San Francisco Chronicle in South Africa during the Uitlander insurrec- tion, 1895-96; associate editor of the San Fran- cisco Wave, 1896-97, and war correspondent for McClure's Magazine in Cuba during the Spanish- American war, 1898. He settled in New York city in 1899, and was married, Feb. 12, 1900, to Jeanette, daughter of R. M. Black of San Fran- cisco. He is the author of: Moran of the Lady Letty (1898); McTeague (1899); Blix (1899); A Man's Woman (1900); The Octopus, an Epic of the Wheat (1901); The Pit (1903), and he was gathering material for The Wolf, the last of the wheat trilogy, at the time of his death, which oc- curred at San Francisco, Cal., Oct. 25, 1902.

NORRIS, Isaac, merchant, was born in London, England, July 26, 1671; son of Thomas and Mary (Moore) Norris or Norrice, who with their family removed to Port Royal, Jamaica, W.I., 1678. In 1690 he was sent by his father to Philadelphia to secure a home for the family. On returning to Port Royal, he found that the earthquake of June 7, 1692, had destroyed the lives and property of his family, and he saved from the wreck bare- ly £100. He returned alone to Philadelphia in 1693, and engaged in merchandising. He was married, March 7, 1694, to Mary, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Jones) Lloyd, natives of Shropshire, London, who were converts to the faith of George Fox. He went to England about 1706-8, when he visited his wife's relatives, and while in England he persuaded the Fords to discontinue their persecution of William Penn. On his return to Philadelphia in August, 1708, he again took an active part in governmental affairs, having already been a member of the assembly for five years, and he was a member of the governor's council, 1709, and of the assembly for nine terms, being speaker for two terms. He was not a lawyer by profession, but was appointed a justice of Philadelphia county in 1717, and serv- ed for several years. On the organization of the High Court of Chancery he was made a master to hear cases with the lieutenant-governor. He was mayor of Philadelphia in 1724, and declined the

appointment as chief justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, as successor to David Lloyd, deceased. He was a trustee under William Penn's will, and attorney for Hannah Penn. He died at Stanton, Pa., June 4, 1735.

NORRIS, Isaac, party leader, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 3, 1707; son of Isaac and Mary (Lloyd) Norris. He engaged in the business of merchandising, principally with Great Britain, first as clerk for his father, then in partnership until his father's deatli, in 1735. He was a member of the Philadelphia common council, 1727-30; alderman, 1730-34, and member of the assembly with few interruptions, 1734-64, He was married in 1739, to Sarah, daughter of James Logan. He assumed the leadership of the peace party, which became known as the Norris party. When the assembly met in October, 1739, the measures for defence against threatened in- vasion by the French and Spanish troops recom- mended by Governor Thomas, were opposed by the Norris party as representatives of the Quakers, who conscientiously refrained from bearing arms or engaging in strife. The governor objected to the demands of the Quakers for compensation for the services of their indentured servants who were serving in the army, and Norris obtained from the assembly compensation to the masters for .such service. In 1742 his seat in the assembly was unsuccessfully contested by Mr. Allen, the wealthy recorder of Philadelphia; but the contest called out a bitter controversy and charges of "fraud" and " bulldozing," and a riot in the streets which the recorder took no means to suppress. He was appointed by the governor in 1745, and again in 1755, to treat with the Indians at Albany, who were the owners of the large area of lands in southwestern Pennsylvania, and he secured several million acres by purchase. He succeeded John Kinsey, deceased, as speaker of the assembly in 1751. In the same year the bell for the state house was ordered from England, and Norris directed the inscription; "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the in- habitants thereof," to be placed around it, and when the bell was cracked in 1752, it was recast with the same inscription, and became the his- toric liberty bell that proclaimed the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. The pretty story, often repeated, to the effect that an aged sexton waited impatiently in the belfry for the announcement that the Declaratioji was signed, and that at last a little boy, instructed for the purpose, came out to the sidewalk and, clap- ping his hands, shouted " Ring! ring! " is purely imaginative. He resigned tiie speakership in 1764, when he found himself powerless to pre- vent the passage of a petition to transfer the government of the province from the