FAMILY HISTORY: NORRIS
THE LIFE OF ROBERT NORRIS
| Robert, the eighth child of John and Ellen Norris, was born in Croston on 16 October 1804 and was baptized on 28 October 1804 at
St Michael and All Angel's Parish Church in Croston. He was only 3 years old when his mother died in 1807, and 9 years old when his father remarried in 1814. After his father's death in 1830, Robert continued to live at the family farm, Mill House End in Croston, with his elder brother Hugh. According to both the 1841 and 1851 census returns, Hugh was the head of household - farming 53 acres - and Robert was a farm labourer. By the time Robert wrote his Will in 1868, he was referred to as a "Yeoman" which in days past meant someone who owned and cultivated their own land. This leads me to believe that Robert eventually acquired a small farm of his own. This may have come about upon the death of his father's brother Thomas Norris Esq. of Howick, on 15 March 1852. His uncle left him £7000, and left the above mentioned Mill House End estate and several other parcels of land to his brother Hugh. Robert may have used part of his inheritance to purchase one of the properties from his brother, or another farm property in the Croston area. However, at the time of the 1871 Census, the last Census taken before his death, Robert was living with his widowed sister Ann "Nanny" Dobson in Croston, and is described as an Annuitant - so seems to have been living off of his inheritance. Robert Norris died in Croston on 10 August 1872, aged 68 years, and was buried with his eldest sister Ann (Nanny) Dobson in the graveyard across the river from St. Michael and All Angels Parish Church, in Croston. He never married and had no known children. |
| NOTE: | |
| 1: | The above information is taken from Baptism, Census and Burial records held at the Lancashire Record Office in Preston, and from the memorial inscription at Croston Parish Church. |