Their arrival in 1861 was after Mary E. Norris, of Brooklyn Township, married John MacLeod in 1856. [see previous blog] How was she connected? The family story goes that a son was always left at home when the family went on a voyage with their Master Mariner father, but Mary was female; she would not have carried on the family name if the ship had capsized and no one survived.
The situation was that the Joseph Norris family came to Brooklyn Township because Brother James had settled there. Back in Maine, prior to May of 1854 when James migrated to Minnesota, the brothers had adjoining properties in Windsor, Kennebec County. That tidbit is in the Norris genealogy aforementioned, but no connection was made that they were brothers. And James was the father of Mrs.Mary E. (Norris) MacLeod.
When James Norris died in 1870 [M6D3-Q68], his wife, Susan Wright, sold the farm and moved into Minneapolis. Most of the couple's eight children settled in Hennepin County, but not specifically in Brooklyn Township. On the other hand, when Joseph Norris transferred from sea captain to farmer, he died within the year. His wife, Mary Foster, and four of their five children, remained in Brooklyn Township for generations.
Captain Joseph Norris' sons Joseph and Robert married sisters from the Brooklyn Township Longfellow family; his only daughter Mary died at age 25 after marriage to the Brooklyn Township Doten family (and having 2 children), [GDQV-YXW] and son Edward, the oldest offspring and executor of his parent's estate, remained as long as possible albeit his rheumatism, a disability from the civil war, hampered his productivity.[GDQV-BJ6
Edward had served as Lieutenant in William Grant's Company B of the 6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry and had been promoted from Corporal to Sergeant prior to discharge on 17 September 1864. Joseph junior enlisted the month prior to his brother's discharge and served as a Private in Company F of the 11th Minnesota Infantry. [GDQN-YQ7]
Star Tribune 12 Mar 1905, Sun Page 31
The son of Joseph and Mary Norris, who was left behind when the family left on their six year voyage, was the son who did NOT remain in Brooklyn Township. William graduated from West Point, was a Lieutenant in the wild frontier, married and became a judge in Nebraska, and finished his career serving as an attorney for the US Department of Justice in Washington D.C. He retired to California, and died there.
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Thanks for sharing your knowledge of Brooklyn Township, Hennepin, Minnesota.