History of Rushford, (Allegany County) New York United States of America

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Thomas Herbert Norton, diplomatist and educator, was born in Rushford, N.Y., June 30, 1851; son of the Rev. Robert and Julia Ann Granger (Horsford) Norton; grandson of Lewis Mills and Laura (Foote) Norton, and of the Hon. Jerediah Horsford of Moscow, N.Y., and a descendant of Thomas Norton, who emigrated from Oakley, Surrey, England, to America in 1639, settled at Guilford, Conn., and became the miller of the colony. His grandfather, Lewis Mills Norton, was a noted inventor and genealogist. Thomas Herbert was graduated at Hamilton college, A.B., and valedictorian in 1873, Sc.D. honoris causa, 1875, and at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, Ph.D. in 1875, where he made a specialty of the study of chemistry. He was an assistant in chemistry at the University of Berlin in 1877, and manager of chemical works of the Compagnie G?n?rale des Cyanures, Paris, France, 1878-83. He traveled 12,000 miles on foot through Europe and Asia, engaged in scientific research. He was elected professor of chemistry and librarian of the University of Cincinnati in 1883. He was married, Dec. 27, 1883, to Edith Eliza, daughter of Col. James D. Ames of Lockport, N.Y. In 1900 President McKinley appointed him to establish a U.S. consulate at Harpoot in Asia Minor, where the American college had been destroyed and many Americans massacred. On his arrival in Constantinople the porte asserted that no consul was needed there, and the question was not settled until Oct. 9, 1901, when the exequatur of Consul Norton so long withheld was granted. He became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and served as its secretary in 1893, vice-president in 1894, and librarian in 1897; was councillor of the American Chemical society, 1892-98, a member of the chemical societies of Berlin, St. Petersburg, London and Paris, and of numerous historical, patriotic and hereditary societies. He made important discoveries in the metals of the ceriun group and in organic chemistry, and noteworthy researches and discoveries along the headwaters of the Euphrates, and is the author of scientific papers relating to these researches.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Rushford, (Allegany County) New York

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