Micajah Bullock Chapter, NSDAR

 Raleigh, NC

William Norris Sr. and William Norris Jr.

There was often confusion on the revolutionary war battlefields, and family members sometimes were separated. However the Norris men, senior and junior, once separated, were never reunited.

William Norris Sr. was appointed First Lieutenant under Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia. First Lieutenant Norris served under Captain Frances Atwell in the First Regiment of Virginia.

He was in the Battle of Eutaw Springs, SC, on September 8, 1781, with two of his sons. One of the sons was William Norris Jr. When Norris Jr. fell from a wound in the leg, his father and brother were near him, but they went on. William Norris Sr. and William Norris Jr. never saw each other again. Each one assumed the other had been killed.

William Norris Sr. was born about 1730 in England. He died December 15, 1801, at Lewis County, WV. He married Hannah Bell. Hannah was born in 1736 in England and died in Fauquier County, VA. on May 11, 1796. They were the parents of 12 children. 

For his part, William Norris Jr. enlisted as a private at Winchester, VA, in October 1780. He served in the Virginia Line under Captain Oldham, Colonel Campbell's Regiment, for eighteen months. The first engagement was the Battle of Camden, SC, August 16, 1780. The second was the Battle of Guilford Court House, NC, March 15, 1781; his regiment in both battles was under the command of General Green. Norris Jr. was in the siege of Fort Ninety-Six, SC, May 22 to June 19, 1781. At the Battle of Eutaw Springs, SC, September 8, 1781, he received a severe wound in the leg just above the ankle bone, and he was sent to a hospital in Charlotte, NC. He was then sent to Camden, SC, until he was discharged June 3, 1782.

The wound in the leg caused William Norris Jr. to be crippled for life. He applied for a pension May 18, 1818, which was allowed under claim S.4621 at the rate of $8.00 per month. However the money was never paid to him in his lifetime. His widow Sarah Norris filed a petition for the money in 1836, but it was still not paid. In 1850 the heirs of Sarah Norris were still attempting to receive the money due to William Norris' Revolutionary War service.

William Norris Jr. was born June 1, 1762, in Virginia. He died July 12, 1833, in Coshocton County, Ohio. He married Sarah Ann Graves in 1784 in Warrenton, Virginia. Sarah Ann was born September 18, 1763, in Virginia and died April 20, 1842, in Coshocton County, Ohio. They were the parents of 8 children.