- CAPT. PLINY NORCROSS, attorney-at-law of Janesville, and
a prominent business man of
- that city, was born in the town of Templeton, Worcester Co.,
Mass., on the 16th of November, 1838. His father, Franklin NORCROSS,
was a descendant of Jeremiah NORCROSS, one of four brothers who
emigrated from England and settled at Boston, Mass., in 1636.
His mother, Lydia (POWERS) NORCROSS, is of the seventh generation
from Walter POWERS, who was born near Boston, in 1639.
- Franklin NORCROSS and Lydia POWERS were married at Phillipston,
Mass., on the 17th of
- August, 1836, and in the fall of 1852, left the Bay State,
and with four of their children - Pliny, Frederick, Ellen and
Louisa - settled in La Grange, Walworth County, Wis. The eldest
child, Lauson, joined the family a few years later.
- With the exception as one year spent as a student in Milton
Academy and one at Albion
- Academy, our subject remained on the farm in La Grange, until
the fall of 1853, when he left home and entered Milton Academy,
there continuing for two years. In the fall of 1860 he entered
the State University of Wisconsin, pursuing his studies in that
institution until the 16th of the following April, when he joined
the Governor's Guards, at Madison, in response to the call of
President Lincoln for 75,000 troops to serve three months. He
claims to be the first to enlist from the University, and also
from Rock County, in the War for the Union. In the organization
of the 1st Wisconsin Infantry, the Governor's Guards became Company
K, and were commanded by Capt. Lucius Fairchild. Young NORCROSS
was appointed Corporal in compliance with the request of the
squad of University boys in the company. This regiment saw no
fighting, save at the battle of Falling Waters, Md. Among the
famous battles of the Rebellion this one would hardly be worthy
of mention were it not for the fact that it was there that the
Wisconsin troops were first engaged, and there George Drake,
of Milwaukee, was killed - the first Wisconsin man to lose his
life in the great struggle for National existence. This three
months' service was an exciting, patriotic outburst of loyal
sentiment. It was the poetry of the war; the serious part came
later.
- Mr. NORCROSS returned to the University in the early fall
of 1861, but all attempts to study
- were useless. Livy's brilliant description of Hannibal's
march across the Alps and his contest with the Roman legions
seemed tame indeed, to the actual, living presence of war in
support of the Republic. The whole country was ablaze. The air
was filled with patriotic impulse; thousands were rushing to
the recruiting stations; uniforms were seen at all points; the
red, white and blue were displayed everywhere - on the buildings
and streets, on the tables and in the drawing-rooms. Ladies vied
with each other in wearing the symbolic colors. The press gave
no news except the war; the war! It was impossible to study in
such an atmosphere. Mr. NORCROSS went to Milton, and there raised
the company known in the war records as Company K, 13th Wisconsin
Infantry, of which he was unanimously elected Captain. The 13th
Regiment went into camp in what is now known as the Fair Grounds,
in the city of Janesville, and in January, 1862, left for the
South, remaining in active service until the close of the war.
Capt. NORCROSS was with his company most of the time until the
expiration of his three years' enlistment. Frequently he was
on special duty, being for several weeks detailed upon court
martial at Leavenworth, Kan. In the winter of 1863-64 he was
in command of a special detachment, and had charge of the ordinance
stores in Nashville, having his headquarters in the office of
the absent Mayor. His time of service expiring in November, 1864,
he returned to his home.
- On the 4th of January, 1865, Capt. NORCROSS was married to
Phoebe (AKIN) POOLE, a
- former schoolmate at Milton Academy. She was the only daughter
of John H. and Elizabeth POOLE, residents of the town of Turtle
in Rock County. In the spring of 1865 the newly-married couple
commenced housekeeping on Milton avenue, in Janesville, where
their first child, Fred F., was born, Dec. 4, 1865.
- Mr. NORCROSS commenced the study of law with the late H.
K. WHITON, Esq., and
- subsequently, upon the removal of Mr. WHITON to Chicago,
read in the office of Willard MERRILL, Esq. He was admitted to
the bar Feb. 15, 1866, and in the fall of the same year formed
a partnership with John R. BENNETT, Esq., now Judge of the First
Judicial Circuit. That connection continued until 1873, when
he became a partner of A. A. JACKSON, Esq., remaining with him
a year, after which he practiced law alone until July, 1877,
when the firm of NORCROSS & DUNWIDDIE was established. That
firm continued business until the spring of 1889, when Mr. NORCROSS
relinquished the practice of law, and went to Brooklyn, N.Y.,
where he organized the International Tile Company, of which he
was elected President. The other active members of the company
were J. W. IVERY and Henry BULWER, who came from England for
the purpose of manufacturing encaustic and ornamental tile. A
large factory was erected, mainly with English capital. In August,
1883, Mr. NORCROSS withdrew from the business and returned to
Janesville, purchasing a large part of block No. 174, SMITH,
BAILEY & STONE's addition, including Farmers' Mills to the
foot of Dodge street and erected a Phoebus Block on Milwaukee
street. In the spring of 1885 he put in an electric light plant,
and in the summer of 1857 erected the present library building.
He utilized the water-power of his original purchase by running
the Farmers' Mills, the electric light plant, and by furnishing
power for the shoe shop of RICHARDSON & MARZLUFF in the three-story
building of the NORCROSS Block, also for the Recorder
Printing Company, the steam laundry, the bindery of H. J. LAWRENCE,
the Chronicle, and other purposes. In the fall of 1888,
upon the dissolution of the firm of RICHARDSON & MARZLUFF,
he formed a partnership with Mr. RICHARDSON, and, with him still
continues the manufacture of ladies' fine shoes.
- In the fall of 1866, when in his twenty-eighth year, Mr.
NORCROSS was elected to the
- Legislature from the Janesville District, was an active member
of the body, and was appointed Chairman of the Committee on State
Affairs. He served as District Attorney of Rock County from 1871
to 1875, when he declined again to be a candidate. He was City
Attorney for two terms, during the years 1875 and 1876, was Mayor
of the city in 1877 and 1878, and was also a member of the Board
of Trustees of the Institute for the Blind for several years,
and served on Gov. Smith's staff as aide de camp. In 1885 he
was again a member of the Legislature, and was Chairman of the
Judiciary Committee. The same year, upon the organization of
the Business Men's Association, he was elected as its first President,
and in the year 1877 was one of seven to purchase the property
known as Forest Park, which was then a large pasture ground.
He built his present home thereon in 1889.
- In politics Mr. NORCROSS has always been a Republican. He
is not a member of any church,
- but is a regular attendant upon the Episcopal service. Four
children, Fred Franklin, John Vanderpool, Elizabeth Leavitt and
Edward Powers, with their parents and grandmother, make up the
family.
- Capt. NORCROSS has proved an enterprising, practical business
man, and, in addition to the
- various business concerns before mentioned with which he
is interested, has been identified with many of the industries
and corporations of Janesville. He was one of the original incorporators
of the Merchants' and Mechanics' Savings Bank, the Badger State
Works, the Janesville Pickle Factory, the Janesville Machine
Company, the Cotton Mills and Basket Factory.
- In manner, Capt. NORCROSS is unassuming, affable and courteous,
liberal and broad in his
- views, and ever ready to aid any public enterprise that is
calculated to benefit the city or county where he has made his
home. That he is a man of good executive ability and not lacking
in nerve, the various business enterprises which he has successfully
conducted, testify, while his integrity and high moral character
command the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens.
-
- Taken from "The Portrait and Biographical Album of
Rock County, Wis." (c)1889, pp. 253-255.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|