Peter must have been an interesting person as he was a merchant in Culpeper Courthouse throughout the Civil War. According to his obituary, he had enlisted in the Confederate Army but was discharged because of his health. I am still trying to find his service records.
He was born 13 November 1822. His sister Sarah Ann Clayton Norris was born 5 February 1825 and and their mother died 7 March 1825. According to Harry Alexander Davis's book on the Norrises, Peter's father remarried and another son was born, Robert R. Neither the stepmother or stepbrother are mentioned in Peter's Bibles. Robert and his children are included in the monumental court case the heirs of W. C. Norris vs. St. Stephens Episcopal Church, Culpeper County, VA, 1911. The court file spells out every descendant of the children and siblings of William Calvert Norris and Ann Eliza Norris Norris (yes, she did marry a distant relative).
Peter's bibles are in the Virginia Historical Society's collection, donated by his son John R. Norris's family in 1991, probably by daughter, Sanford McDonald. John R. was Peter's eldest son and very family oriented. He was apparently fairly well off as several reports in the WPA Virginia Historical Inventory mention him restoring graveyards and erecting monuments.
I wish I could put up the images of the actual pages. But the VHS only lets people see photocopies of the pages, and they aren't the best quality. I have sent a question to them because the image of one page is cut off at the edge and you can't read the last number of a date.
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Peter Jeremiah Norris Bible, 1836, a gift from his Aunt Sarah Ann Norris 14 November 1836, The Virginia Historical Society, gift of Mrs. John R. Norris, Fredericksburg, Va., 7 November 1991, MSS 6:4N7997:1; Manuscript/Original Pages; 4 leaves; handwritten; 8 1/2 X 11 in.
Inscription in his handwriting “Presented to Peter J. Norris by his affectionate Aunt S. A. Norris Novembr. 14, 1836.” (S.A. is Sarah Ann, his father's sister. She waited on Lafayette during his triumphal 1825 visit, but that's a story for another time.)
Inscription in his handwriting “Presented to Peter J. Norris by his affectionate Aunt S. A. Norris Novembr. 14, 1836.” (S.A. is Sarah Ann, his father's sister. She waited on Lafayette during his triumphal 1825 visit, but that's a story for another time.)
On a different page in a different handwriting, perhaps his aunt’s, “Peter J. Norris From his affectionate aunt. S. A. Norris”
This poem was written in it, perhaps by Peter J. when he was younger as the handwriting is similar to his adult handwriting, which had lots of flourishes. A longer version is found as Reading Lesson XXXIX. The Bible in Cobb’s New North American Reader, Fifth reading book, page 126. Lyman Cobb wrote school books beginning in 1825, and they were widely adopted by cities such as Baltimore.
“This little book I’d rather own,
Than all the gold and gems
That are in monarch’s coffers shone,
Than all their diadems.
Nay, were the seas one chrysolite
The earth one golden ball
And diamonds all the stars of night
This book were worth them all.
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Ah, no, the soul ne’re found relief
In glittering hoards of wealth
Gems dazzle not the eye of grief
Gold cannot purchase health
But here a blessed balm appears
To heal the deepest woe;
And he that seeks this book in tears,
His tears shall cease to flow.”
P.J.A. Novb. 14th 1836
On another page family birth dates were written in various handwritings.
Richard Norris was born May 30th 1800.
Elizabeth C. Hall was born October 22nd 1779
P. J. Norris was born Novb. 13th 1822
Thomas W. Norris was born March 21st 1824
Sarah Ann C. Norris was born Feby 5th 182(edge torn off)
Departed this life 7th May 1825 Elizabeth C Norris in the 26th year of her age.
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Family Bible of Peter Jeremiah Norris and Cornelia Guinn Norris, American Bible Society 1864; The Virginia Historical Society, gift of Mrs. John R. Norris, Fredericksburg, Va., 7 November 1991, MSS 6:4N7997:2; Manuscript/Original Pages; 4 leaves; handwritten; 8 1/2 X 11 in.
Marriages
Peter J. Norris and Cornelia H. Guinn were married Nov 22nd 1855.
John R. Norris & Mary Mason Green were married July 27th 1886.
Thomas B. Norris & Bertha Lee Willis were married Sept. 1st 1886.
Charles H. McGhee and Laura E. Norris were married Nov. 15th 1887. (My husband's great-grandparents)
Deaths
P. Jarry Norris, son of P. J. &; C. H. Norris departed this life on Friday evening the 24th December 1867 at ten minutes past seven o’clock. Aged 4 years and two days.
Peter Jeremiah Norris son of Richard &; Elizabeth Clayton Norris died at Culpeper Sept 24th at 6 PM in 1893.
Suddenly at the old home in Culpeper Cornelia Helen departed this life on Thursday morning just before nine o’clock April 16th 96. She was laid to rest on Monday at 3;30 P.M. from the M.E. Church. Funeral sermon by Rev. H. P. Mitchell.
Mrs. Mary Guinn departed this life on Monday morning at 5:30 June 25th 1883 age 88 years 6 months and 4 das. “Blessed are they who die in the Lord.”
At Denver, Col on 16th Feb J. R. Norris Jr. age 4 months. In 1893.
Died suddenly at Fredericksburg, Virginia January 19th 1907 Hannon Edwards Norris.
Births
John R. Norris son of Cornelia H. & P. J. Norris was born Sep. 29th 1859.
John R. Norris Jr. son of J.R. & Mary Norris born Oct. 2nd 1892.
Laura E. Norris Born Feby 5th 1861. (My husband's great-grandmother.)
Thomas B. Norris Born July 18th 1863.
P. Jerry Norris Born Decembr 21st 65
Edgar Warren Norris Born May 27th 1868.
Cornelia H. Norris Born March 13th 1870.
Hannon E. Norris. Born May 10th 1872.
Ivan Merle Norris was born January 31st 8176.
Sanford McDonald Norris daughter of J.R. & Mary M. Norris was born Sept. 14th 1887.
Cornelia Lee Norris daughter of T.B. & B. L. Norris was born July 7th 1887.
(Richard Norris through Sarah A. C. Norris were obviously copied from the bible Sarah Ann Norris gave Peter Jeremiah Norris when he was a child.)
Richard Norris born May 30th 1800 Father of P. J. N.
Elizabeth C. Hall born Oct. 22nd 1779.
P. J. Norris Sr. born Nov. 13th 1822.
T. W. Norris born March 21st 1821.
Sarah A. C. Norris born Feb. 5th 1825.
Cornelia Helen Guinn born July 31 1833 wife of P. J. Norris
Hannon Edwards Norris born May 10th 1892
Died Jan 19th 1907
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Now clearly Elizabeth C. Hall could not have been born in 1779 and died at the age of 26 in 1825. She was either born in 1799 or was 46 when she passed away. Her husband, Richard, was born in 1800 and his age is confirmed by census records. Her last child, Sarah Ann, was born 5 February 1825, so Elizabeth died after that date.
In the 1930s the WPA inventoried cemeteries in Virginia. One of those reports (Hall Graveyard Second Report, Culpeper County, Virginia ; J.P. Thompson 30 June 1937; Works Project Admistration of Virginia Historical Inventory; Library of Virginia Call Number /VHI/R/07/0066; digital images online at digital images online here) transcribed this grave marker:
Sacred to the memory of
Elizabeth C. Norris
who departed this life
May 7th, 1825
in the 26th year of her age.
The wording of her epitaph similar to the entry in the Bible Peter's aunt gave him.
