"An Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties."  Interstate
Publishing Company, 1906.  p. 726.
 
JAMES M. NORRIS

     after a number of years of construction work in connection with the
establishment of two of the transcontinental railway systems, has settled
down to the life of a farmer on the outskirts of Burlington. He was born
near Belleville, Hastings county, Ontario, September 29, 1864. His father
was a native of New Foundland, born in 1821. Matthew Norris spent many
years of his early life as a sailor on the great lakes, but eventually
settled down in the province of Ontario, where he died in 1885. His wife,
Rhoda (Frederick) Norris, was born in Ontario in 1825, where she is still
living. She is the mother of ten children, of whom James M. is the
youngest. Young Norris left home when he was twenty-two years of age and
engaged in the work of constructing snowsheds for the Canadian Pacific
railway. This work ultimately brought him to Donald, British Columbia,
where he built warehouses and helped put up snowsheds in the Selkirk
mountains. The fall of 1886 found him in Ashland, Wisconsin, where he went
to work for the Lake Shore railroad. He continued with this company until
the following July, when he engaged with another road, with which company
he had charge of the construction of bridges for more than a year.  Mr.
Norris then spent some time at Escanaba, Michigan, in the employ of the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul road. A few months later he went to
Minneapolis, Minnesota, and there engaged himself to the Great Northern
road, the scene of his operations being at Minot, North Dakota. He was
transferred to Teton, Montana, and remained with the Great Northern for two
years. A little later he was in Spokane, Washington, and assisted in the
erection of the Auditorium theater, at that time the largest structure in
that city. He next went to Portland, Oregon, and after a short time to
Seattle, where he made his headquarters for a number of months, during
which he was connected with the San Francisco Bridge Company. He then came
to Skagit county and Burlington, where he bought five acres of land which
to-day constitute a part of his home farm. He worked for a time for the
Great Northern on the portion of the road between Everett and Spokane. Mr.
Norris was attacked by the Alaskan fever and put in two and a half years
there, doing fairly well. In the days of 1896, when Rossland, British
Columbia, was booming, Mr. Norris went there and engaged in timbering the
property of the C. & K Mining Company. Upon the completion of that work, he
spent some time in the Cariboo mining country, returning home to Burlington
in 1900. He made a purchase of land adjoining his former holding and has
now forty-five acres of cleared land, with five acres of orchard and
considerable meadow. Mr. Norris does a dairying business, thirty-five head
of Durham cattle constituting his present supply. He has horses and raises
pigs, also paying attention to poultry, having black Minorcas and buff
Leghorns in his chicken yards.
     November 19, 1884, Mr. Norris married Miss Mary A. Stewart, a native of the
province of Ontario.  Her father, Alexander Stewart, died during the year
of her birth, 1863.  Mrs. Eliza (Crosby) Stewart was born in county Down,
Ireland, December 26, 1836, but in childhood went to Ontario, where she
still lives. Mr. and Mrs. Norris have six children: Murny E., Grace B.,
Stewart M., Pearl R., Guy J. and Ross H.  Mrs. Norris is a member of the
Ladies of the Maccabees and of the Rebekahs.  Mr. Norris is a Democrat in
politics. The family is affiliated with the Presbyterian church. The Norris
home is one of the pleasant ones of Skagit county, having all modern
conveniences to be seen in any suburban farmhouse. Mr. Norris is making a
success of life and is well esteemed by all his associates.

     
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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in January 2007 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.