- NORCROSS, Pliny, lawyer and merchant, b. in Templeton, Mass.,
16 Nov., 1838; d. in
- Janesville, Wis., 11 July, 1915, son of Franklin and Lydia
(POWERS) NORCROSS. His father was a farmer. On his paternal side
he is a descendant from Jeremiah NORCROSS, one of four brothers,
who emigrated to this country from England in 1636, settling
in Boston, Mass. On his maternal side he is a descendant from
Puritan stock of early Colonial origin. One of his ancestors,
Daniel NORCROSS, served as corporal of the "Minute Men"
at Concord and Lexington, during the Revolutionary War. Franklin
NORCROSS removed with his family to La Grange, Wis., in 1855,
where he engaged in farming. His son, Pliny, was educated in
the public schools of his native town, and at the Milton Academy
in Southern Wisconsin, remaining there two years. In 1860 he
entered the Wisconsin State University, but his student days
were abruptly ended in the following spring by the outbreak of
the Civil War. He was the first university student to respond
to the call for volunteers, and enlisted 16 April, 1861, in Company
K, of the First Wisconsin Infantry under Capt. (afterward Gen.)
Lucius Fairchild. He was appointed corporal at the request of
his fellow students and participated in the battle of Falling
Waters. At the expiration of his term, he re-enlisted in Milton,
Wis., and became captain of Company K, of the Thirteenth Wisconsin
Infantry, in which he served three years. Two of his brothers
served with him, and one died at the front. In the winter of
1863-64 he commanded a special detachment in charge of ordnance
stores at Nashville, Tenn. At the close of the war he settled
in Janesville, Wis., where he engaged in the practice of law
in February, 1866, in partnership with the late Judge John R.
BENNETT, and for a short time with the late Hon. A. A. JACKSON.
Subsequently he formed the law firm of NORCROSS and DUNWIDDIE,
having as a partner the late Judge B. F. DUNWIDDIE. They established
a large and lucrative clientele in the succeeding years, and
in 1883, Mr. NORCROSS retired from the firm to engage in commercial
pursuits. His first venture was the organization of the International
Tile Company, located at Brooklyn, N.Y., of which he was president
for a short time. In August, 1883, he sold out his interest in
that company and returned to Janesville, Wis., where he purchased
land and erected the buildings known as the Phoebus Block and
the NORCROSS Block, and established the first electric light
plant in Janesville, furnishing light for the streets and private
buildings. In 1888 he engaged in the manufacture of ladies' shoes
in partnership with Alexander RICHARDSON under the firm name
of RICHARDSON and NORCROSS, a connection which continued until
Mr. NORCROSS withdrew from the firm in 1896. In 1892 he purchased
the mills and water-power plants at Fulton and Indian Ford, a
few miles above Janesville, and employed them in the extension
of his operations for supplying electric light and power. During
the later years of his life, Captain NORCROSS disposed of his
principal business interests in Janesville, and thereafter spent
the winter months in Florida, making his home in the city of
Orlando. While visiting Janesville, Wis., he met an accidental
death by drowning in the raceway near the electric plant. Upon
his death, memorial resolutions were spread upon the records
of the State assembly and of the Rock County Bar Association.
Captain NORCROSS was a member of the assembly in 1867, 1885,
1905, and 1907, and was always a recognized leader in this body,
both in committee and on the floor. During the last two sessions
he maintained a home in Madison, and both he and his wife were
social favorites in that city. Captain NORCROSS served his city
as mayor for two terms, and also as city attorney. In his earlier
career at the bar he was twice elected district attorney. In
June, 1904, he was elected department commander of the Wisconsin
Department of the Grand Army of the Republic. This position was
attractive to him, and he derived much pleasure in going about
the State, attending camp fires and meeting the old veterans
in the agreeable social relations of the order. Governor Davidson
appointed him a member of the board of regents of the Wisconsin
State University, and he served actively in this capacity for
several years. All of his contemporaries at the Rock County bar,
of whom a few are still in practice, attributed to him unusual
qualities as an advocate. His early life, the normal period of
preparation for a professional career, was quite broken up by
his service in the army, and it was said that he never acquired
the habits of a close student; but his natural gifts as an orator,
his keen business judgment, his intellectual activity, his sound
integrity, and above all his tireless industry, were such that
he was enabled to succeed where even greater lawyers failed.
His career at the bar, therefore, was most worthy, useful, and
honorable. Captain NORCROSS was a man of winning personality,
and of eloquent speech. In every activity in which he engaged
his efforts were marked by the sincerity of his efforts, the
steadfastness of his purpose, and by indomitable courage. He
was a public-spirited citizen, a faithful public servant, a devoted
family man, and a cherished friend and neighbor. While in the
legislature, he was a faithful attendant, and kept himself so
well informed on all pending legislation that he was always ready
for, and equal to, any emergency of debate upon the floor or
in committee. His genial and cordial manners toward the younger
men of the legislature especially endeared him to them. Upon
the organizationof the Janesville Business Men's Association,
he was chosen one of its first presidents. He served also as
trustee for the State Institution for the Education of the Blind
and as aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Smith. In politics
he was an active Republican. He had a wide acquaintance with
public men of the State. Captain NORCROSS was reared in the communion
of the Congregational denomination, and he died in the membership
of the First Congregational Church of Janesville. The funeral
was held in that church, and was largely attended. The local
Post of the G.A.R., of which he was a devoted member, had general
charge of the services. On 4 Jan., 1865, he married Phoebe A.
POOLE, of Beloit, Wis. They had four children: Frederic F. and
John V. NORCROSS, who are successful lawyers in Chicago; Elizabeth
L., who married George A. MASON, a Chicago lawyer., and Edward
P. NORCROSS, a physician, of Chicago. Mrs. NORCROSS died in Janesville,
Wis., 28 Dec., 1900. Later, Captain NORCROSS married Mrs. Frances
SPAULDING REDINGTON, of Troy, Pa., who survived him.
-
- [Taken from "The Cyclopaedia of American Biography,
Vol. VIII" edited by James Homans; (c)1918 The Press Association
Compilers, Inc., New York; pp. 352-353]
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