Curtis M. Axell
200 Lakeside Drive #303
Oakland, California 94612-3530
Esther Trosow
871 Alice Street #3
Monterey CA, 93940
Dear Ms. Trosow:
The information I have concerning Mary Edna Burleigh Norton is substantially what you
already have. As you know she was the daughter of Gould Gift Norton, b. 1800 and Mary Hyde
and was named for her mother and also given the names of her great-grandmother, Edna Burleigh.
Her siblings included Orlo W. Norton (1825-1898) Emma (no dates) who apparently married
Ogden Youngs, Henry Brace Norton (1836-1885) and Gould Hyde Norton (d. 1898).
I have a typewritten"Biographical Facts and Notes Concerning Mary Edna Burleigh
Norton" which is unsigned and, as far as I know unpublished. It seemed important that you have
it in its entirety so I have copied it as an attachment.
I know most about Mary E.B.Norton's younger brother, H.B. Norton who married
Marion Goodrich in 1864 or 1865. They had five children, Hyde (Harry) Norton, Daisy (b.
1869)Jessie (b. 1872, d 1961). Mae, and Paul.
Jessie married my uncle, John Albert Axell, in 1911. They had no children but seemed to
provide a haven for various relatives over the nearly fifty years they lived at 273 Page Street in San
Francisco (now a Zen Guest House - which would be quite a surprise to Jessie and Albert.
Jessie's father, as you also know, was educated at the Illinois State Normal School
(graduating in 1861 at a commencement ceremony - only the second for the school - at which he
read or recited"England expects every man to do his duty")., Prof. Norton taught there and later at
the Kansas State Normal School where his sister Maryjoined him in teaching as she later did at
San Jose State Normal Schooh'On the Kansas campus a science building was dedicated to Prof.
Norton some 15 years after his death at which ceremony his poetry was read and the principal
PAV€>
speaker was'Ehenmer Starr Jordan, president, at that time, of Stanford University. I do not know
if Mary or Prof Norton's widow, Marion, attended. Prof. Norton was respected as a scientist. I
have one of his articles published in the Popular Science Monthly of October 1879 entitled The age
of ice which discusses cyclical changes in weather. He was, I believe, working on a study of
California insects, particularly in view of their relevance to damage to crops, at the time of his
death.
* *6'€ 1&44 1, 6,40 02- 64¢6!Ls c* cbkta32 -Ikul,
, OCR Text: Curtis M. Axell
200 Lakeside Drive #303
Oakland, California 94612-3530
Esther Trosow
871 Alice Street #3
Monterey CA, 93940
Dear Ms. Trosow:
The information I have concerning Mary Edna Burleigh Norton is substantially what you
already have. As you know she was the daughter of Gould Gift Norton, b. 1800 and Mary Hyde
and was named for her mother and also given the names of her great-grandmother, Edna Burleigh.
Her siblings included Orlo W. Norton (1825-1898) Emma (no dates) who apparently married
Ogden Youngs, Henry Brace Norton (1836-1885) and Gould Hyde Norton (d. 1898).
I have a typewritten"Biographical Facts and Notes Concerning Mary Edna Burleigh
Norton" which is unsigned and, as far as I know unpublished. It seemed important that you have
it in its entirety so I have copied it as an attachment.
I know most about Mary E.B.Norton's younger brother, H.B. Norton who married
Marion Goodrich in 1864 or 1865. They had five children, Hyde (Harry) Norton, Daisy (b.
1869)Jessie (b. 1872, d 1961). Mae, and Paul.
Jessie married my uncle, John Albert Axell, in 1911. They had no children but seemed to
provide a haven for various relatives over the nearly fifty years they lived at 273 Page Street in San
Francisco (now a Zen Guest House - which would be quite a surprise to Jessie and Albert.
Jessie's father, as you also know, was educated at the Illinois State Normal School
(graduating in 1861 at a commencement ceremony - only the second for the school - at which he
read or recited"England expects every man to do his duty")., Prof. Norton taught there and later at
the Kansas State Normal School where his sister Maryjoined him in teaching as she later did at
San Jose State Normal Schooh'On the Kansas campus a science building was dedicated to Prof.
Norton some 15 years after his death at which ceremony his poetry was read and the principal
PAV€>
speaker was'Ehenmer Starr Jordan, president, at that time, of Stanford University. I do not know
if Mary or Prof Norton's widow, Marion, attended. Prof. Norton was respected as a scientist. I
have one of his articles published in the Popular Science Monthly of October 1879 entitled The age
of ice which discusses cyclical changes in weather. He was, I believe, working on a study of
California insects, particularly in view of their relevance to damage to crops, at the time of his
death.
* *6'€ 1&44 1, 6,40 02- 64¢6!Ls c* cbkta32 -Ikul,
, Heritage Society of Pacific Grove,Historical Collections,Names of People about town,N through P File names,North, H B,NORTH, H.B._010.pdf,NORTH, H.B._010.pdf 1 Page 1, Tags: H.B._010.PDF,NORTH, NORTH, H.B._010.pdf 1 Page 1