Noah Norton (April 7, 1786 – January 31, 1877) was a government agent, museum founder, and

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * ''Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ra ...

. He was instrumental in founding the towns of

Adrian, Michigan Adrian is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Lenawee County, Michigan, Lenawee County. The population was 20,645 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Adrian lies in Michigan's 5th congressional district. The c ...

and

Nortonville, California Nortonville is an unincorporated ghost town in Contra Costa County, California. It was located on Kirker Creek north-northeast of Mount Diablo, at an elevation of 801 feet (244 m). Location Nortonville is located on Nortonville Road just outsi ...

Early life

Norton was born in

Greene County, New York Greene County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,931. Its county seat is Catskill. The county's name is in honor of the American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene. The c ...

, on April 7, 1786. As a young man, he moved near

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

and became a government officer having the duty to stop the smuggling of contraband traffic across the US-Canada border.J. P. Munro-Fraser, History of Contra Costa County, California, W. A. Slocum & Co., Publishers, 1882, page 627. When the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

commenced, he volunteered and served as a Lieutenant and participated in the

Battle of Lundy's Lane The Battle of Lundy's Lane, also known as the Battle of Niagara or contemporarily as the Battle of Bridgewater, was fought on 25 July 1814, during the War of 1812, between an invading American army and a British and Canadian army near present-d ...

Life in Michigan

After the war, Norton relocated his family to a wilderness area that would eventually become

. In 1827, the Norton residence was the site of the first church service in Adrian. Norton volunteered during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

(1846–1848) and became a member of the secret service. After the

, he spent a short time back in Adrian, then embarked on a mission to gather specimens and other objects of interest for a museum in

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. He later founded a museum of his own at Adrian.

Life in California

During the California Gold Rush (1848–1855), he disposed of the museum and joined a wagon train for California. He took the so-called "southern route," and was one of the first settlers of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1850. After a few years working in Los Angeles as a farmer, Norton returned to Adrian where his wife soon died. He later remarried and moved back to California, this time settling in

Contra Costa County, California Contra Costa County (; ''Contra Costa'', Spanish for 'Opposite Coast') is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,165,927. Th ...

, where he prospected for coal. In 1855, he founded the town of

, where a large coal mine named the "Black Diamond" was located. Nortonville is now a historic preserve managed by the East Bay Regional Park District. His wife, Sarah Norton, became a locally famous midwife who met a violent death in October, 1879, by a runaway horse pulling her carriage.Her son would later be the person to place his Mother at Rose Hill Cemetery in what is now Black Diamond Regional Park. She is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, at Nortonville, where it is rumored that she periodically presents herself to visitors as a white ghost.

Death and burial

Noah Norton died on January 31, 1877, and is buried in the Webster Family Plot (Plot #1) at the Mountain View Cemetery in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. (The Websters were his grandchildren.)William Holcolm Webster and Rev. Melville Reuben Webster, History and Genealogy of the Gov. John Webster Family of Connecticut, E. R. Andrews Printing Company, 1915, page 641.

References

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External links

Nortonville Ghost Town

Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve
part of the East Bay Regional Park District

1786 births 1877 deaths American city founders American prospectors Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California) History of Contra Costa County, California Museum founders People from Greene County, New York People of the California Gold Rush 19th-century American philanthropists People from Michigan Territory