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Absalom and Elizabeth Autrey and Their Descendants, With a Section on Thomas Norris

by Jeanne McDuff Murphy and Jo Lyon Autrey

Chapter XVIII

The Thomas Norris Family

Thomas Norris was born about 1785 in Lincoln County, Kentucky.  He married Celia Teer 31 July 1808 in Livingston County, Kentucky.  They were married by William Mitchursson.  Celia was born about 1785 in Kentucky.

Thomas Norris served as a Private in the Kentucky Militia in Captain McLean's Company of the 14th Regiment (Mitchisson).  He fought in the War of 1812.  His pay vouchers show that he was paid $8.00 per month.  Family tradition says that he fought in the Battle of New Orleans, but his is unproven.

Thomas and Celia (Teer) Norris lived in Caldwell County, Kentucky in 1810 and in Hopkins County, Kentucky from 1814 to 1817.  On 13 October 1817 they sold one hundred acres of land lying on Richland Creek in Hopkins County.  This land was Celia's dower.

The court documents indicate that William S. Norris was a brother of Thomas Norris.  William S. Norris and his wife, Rebecca, sold 260 acres of land on 9 October 1817 and 140 acres of land 11 October 1817.  Both tracts of land were in Livingston County, Kentucky.

In 1818 soon after a trace opened from western Kentucky to the Alabama Territory, Thomas and Celia Norris and their young family, along with other members of the Norris family, migrated to Dallas County, Alabama.  They joined the large influx of people who moved to Alabama and bought land prior to Alabama becoming a state in 1819.

The 1820 Dallas County, Alabama Census lists Thomas Norris, William S. Norris, John W. Norris, Samuel G. Norris and John B. Norris.

The Orphans Court Records of Perry County, Alabama show that Thomas Norris bought 160 acres of land.

Thomas Norris died in testate 1 December 1826 in Perry County, Alabama.  His nine children were all under the age of twenty-one.  Elizabeth, the oldest daughter, had married Absalom Autrey a few months prior to her father's death.  William Syria Norris, probably Thomas' brother, was the administrator of the estate.  One fifth of the estate of $1,138.11 was left to the widow and the remainder was divided among the unmarried children.

Celia (Teer) Norris continued to live in Perry County, Alabama with or near her children until she moved to Union Parish, Louisiana in the fall of 1848.  She made the journey with the Norris, Autrey and Henry families.  She died after 1852 in Union Parish, Louisiana. 

Thomas and Celia (Teer) Norris had nine children:  Anthony Wayne, Elizabeth H., William Syria, Chloe A., Richard Baker, John Jackson, Celia J., Sarah F. and Thomas W. 


References and Contacts

Alabama Presbyterian Cemetery, Sibley, Louisiana
Calcote Cemetery, Lincoln Parish, Louisiana
Colvin and Allied Families - Baker Colvin
Dallas County, Alabama 1820 U.S. Census
Estate Papers of Richard Baker Norris, Reel 31, Alabama State Archives, Montgomery, Alabama
Estate Papers of Thomas Norris, Reel 31, Alabama State Archives, Montgomery, Alabama
Fellowship Baptist Church Minutes 1848-1863, Book I
Fellowship Cemetery Records
Greenwood Cemetery, Ruston, Texas
Hamilton Memorial Cemetery Records
Henry Cemetery Records
Hopkins County, Kentucky Deed Book 2, Pages 157, 158
Howser, Larry
Kern, Lana
Lineage Chart - Bettye Green
Lincoln Parish History
Lincoln Parish, Louisiana Deed Book M, page 425
Lincoln Parish, Louisiana 1911 Census of Confederate Veterans & Widows
Lincoln Parish, Louisiana Marriage Book B, Pages 37, 197
Lincoln Parish, Louisiana Marriage Book E, pages, 78, 146, 156, 403
Livingston County, Kentucky Marriage Book A, Page 4
Mitchell, Robert
Montgomery County, Alabama 1840 U.S. Census
Norris Line - Mrs. Walter Frank & Bettye Green
Perry County, Alabama 1830, 1840, 1860 U.S. Census
Perry County, Alabama Deed Book C, pages 109, 110
Perry County, Alabama Orphans Court, Book A, Pages 89, 96, 97, 208 - B, Pages 80, 81- C, Page 187
Perry County, Alabama Marriage #840, #1018
Records of Louisiana Confederate Solders & Commands - Andrew Booth
Tombstones - Alabama Presbyterian Cemetery
Union Parish, Louisiana 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 U.S. Census
Union Parish, Louisiana Marriage Book 1, Page 32- Book 2, Page 29- Book 3, Page 23, 24
Vienna Rifles - Mable H. Roberts
War of 1812 Records, Roll #154, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Warren, Bert

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