Early Years
Despite his desire for a federal presence, he came into conflict with the local agents of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. After York County residents elected him to the bureau's local court, the assistant commissioner for Virginia refused to allow him to be seated. The freedmen reelected him even though under instructions from the bureau to select a white representative. After a meeting at which the men unanimously chose Norton a third time, an army officer stopped the proceedings, which broke up with the voters chanting Norton's name and shooting their guns.
Early Political Career
A newspaper reported that on July 4, 1871, a large crowd in Yorktown watched Daniel Norton and Robert Norton lead a two-mile-long Lone Star procession of 7,000 blue-uniformed members of the association. On December 28, 1871, in Muskingum County, Ohio, Norton married Sarah A. "Sadie" Gant. They had one son and one daughter. He and his brother were both prosperous by then as well as politically influential and reportedly owned most of the property in the African American community in York County known as Slabtown, or Uniontown.
In 1872 Norton was temporary chair of the Republican State Convention, but his candidacy for a seat in the House of Representatives against Republican incumbent James Henry Platt Jr. again divided the local party. Defeated in the convention, the Norton delegates walked out and endorsed Daniel Norton as an independent candidate. Republican newspapers endorsed Platt and spread rumors that Norton and his supporters had circulated counterfeit money, a charge published in the high-profile New York Tribune. The campaign generated interest, but Norton received a paltry fifty-five votes when Platt won reelection.
In August 1873 Norton narrowly won the nomination for his Senate of Virginia seat, but the district's Republicans fractured, and a faction supported John Montgomery Dawson, pastor of Williamsburg's First Baptist Church, who easily won the contest. Robert Norton ran for the House of Representatives in 1874 and lost badly in a three-way race in which Platt was the regular Republican nominee. The congressional investigation of the close race included charges that Robert Norton had received campaign assistance from Conservative Party members and that during fights between the rival Republican factions in Yorktown on October 30, Daniel Norton brandished a pistol. The accounts differed about whether he pulled out his pistol in self-defense.
Late Political Career
Supporters of refinancing the debt won majorities in both houses of the General Assembly in 1879, pitting Readjusters and African American Republicans against the white Conservative Funder governor. During that and the subsequent assembly Norton was at the height of his political influence. A member of the Committees on General Laws, on Federal Relations, and on Public Institutions, he supported the Readjuster agenda. He introduced a number of bills, four of which the assembly passed, and he nominated two county judges whom the assembly elected.
The Readjusters refinanced the debt during that session of the assembly, but the participation of African Americans in the party and in the assembly provoked a backlash among white voters. Norton won reelection in the autumn of 1883 with more than 53 percent of the vote against two candidates, including his old foe Dawson, who had been nominated by his brother F. S. Norton as the candidate of the so-called Straightout Republicans who refused to join the Readjusters.
Norton was a strong supporter of Readjuster Party leader William Mahone, who had probably arranged his appointment as an inspector in the Newport News customs house about 1883. He and Robert Norton broke with Mahone about 1886, as did many other supporters of the Readjusters who resented Mahone's heavy-handed style of party leadership. Norton explained his break as the result of Mahone's opposition to a petition submitted by Norton on behalf of his constituents that called for equal rights for blacks in certain public places. In 1887, according to newspaper reports, Mahone engineered Norton's defeat when he sought the Republican Party's nomination for his seat in the state senate. Norton remained a notable opponent of Mahone within the Republican Party.
Later Years
For many years, Norton served as a justice of the peace in Yorktown, holding office at least through 1917. During that time he expanded his property holdings, including purchasing the old customs house in Yorktown. By 1889 he owned sixty-eight acres of land in York County and by 1894 he had acquired fourteen and one-half lots in Yorktown. His personal wealth probably exceeded $2,000 at the beginning of the twentieth century. For unknown reasons, Norton and his family began using the surname McNorton by the 1910 census and later in county records. After several weeks of sickness, McNorton died of interstitial nephritis at a Hampton hospital on November 29, 1918. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Zanesville, Ohio, the hometown of his wife.
Time Line
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Early 1840s - Daniel M. Norton is born enslaved in Williamsburg.
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ca. 1855 - Brothers Daniel M. Norton and Robert Norton escape from slavery in Gloucester County to freedom in Troy, New York.
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January 23, 1860 - Daniel M. Norton and Edmonie, last name unknown, marry in Philadelphia.
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1865 - By this year, brothers Daniel M. Norton and Robert Norton are working as barbers in Springfield, Massachusetts.
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February 1866 - Daniel M. Norton testifies before Congress about conditions for African Americans in Yorktown.
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October 22, 1867 - Daniel M. Norton is elected to represent York and James City counties at the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868.
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April 1868 - Daniel M. Norton unsuccessfully attempts to secure the Republican nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives.
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May 1869 - Daniel M. Norton addresses a convention of African Americans and advocates equality before the law but does not demand social equality.
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July 6, 1869 - Daniel M. Norton loses a second election for the U.S. House of Representatives.
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1870 - Daniel M. Norton runs a third unsuccessful race for the U.S. House of Representatives.
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1871 - Daniel M. Norton is elected to the Senate of Virginia, representing Charles City, Elizabeth City, James City, Warwick, and York counties and the city of Williamsburg.
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July 4, 1871 - In Yorktown, brothers Daniel M. Norton and Robert Norton lead a two-mile-long procession of 7,000 members of Lone Star, a black fraternal organization they founded.
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December 28, 1871 - Daniel M. Norton and Sarah A. "Sadie" Grant marry in Muskingum, Ohio. They will have one son and one daughter.
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1872 - Daniel M. Norton runs a fourth unsuccessful race for the U.S. House of Representatives.
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August 1873 - Daniel M. Norton is not reelected to his seat in the Senate of Virginia.
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October 30, 1874 - During a fight between rival political factions in Yorktown, Daniel M. Norton brandishes a pistol. His brother Robert Norton is also involved in the fight.
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1877 - Daniel M. Norton recaptures his seat in the Senate of Virginia, representing Charles City, Elizabeth City, James City, Warwick, and York counties and the city of Williamsburg.
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November 1879 - Daniel M. Norton is reelected to the Senate of Virginia, representing Charles City, Elizabeth City, James City, Warwick, York, King William, and New Kent counties and the city of Williamsburg.
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March 14, 1881 - Brothers Daniel M. Norton and Robert Norton attend a convention of African American Republicans in Petersburg.
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March 1882–April 1885 - Daniel M. Norton serves on the board of visitors of the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (later Virginia State University).
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April 7, 1882 - Daniel M. Norton presides over the Senate of Virginia.
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ca. 1883 - Daniel M. Norton is appointed an inspector in the Newport News customs house, probably because of his ties with Senator William Mahone.
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Autumn 1883 - Daniel M. Norton wins reelection to the Senate of Virginia.
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ca. 1886 - Brothers Daniel M. Norton and Robert Norton break political ties with the Readjuster leader, Senator William Mahone.
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1887 - Daniel M. Norton loses reelection to the Senate of Virginia, largely because of his political break with the Readjuster leader, Senator William Mahone.
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1889 - By this year Daniel M. Norton owns sixty-eight acres of land in York County.
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1894 - By this year Daniel M. Norton has acquired fourteen and one-half lots in Yorktown.
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1910 - By this year Daniel M. Norton has begun using the surname McNorton.
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November 29, 1918 - Daniel McNorton (formerly Norton) dies at a Hampton Hospital.
References
Further Reading
External Links
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Gottlieb, M. S., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Daniel M. Norton, later Daniel McNorton (d. 1918). (2018, April 19). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Norton_Daniel_M_later_Daniel_McNorton_d_1918.
- MLA Citation:
Gottlieb, Matthew S. and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "Daniel M. Norton, later Daniel McNorton (d. 1918)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 19 Apr. 2018. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: February 13, 2015 | Last modified: April 19, 2018
Contributed by Matthew S. Gottlieb and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Matthew S. Gottlieb is assistant editor of the Dictionary of Virginia Biography at the Library of Virginia.