William Hutchinson Norris (Oglethorpe County, Georgia on September 25, 1800–Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, São Paulo on July 13, 1893) is known for being a founder of the city of Americana, and a significant figure in the history of the Confederados.
Norris was a Mexican-American War veteran and an Alabama senator as well, who left the US for Brazil with 30 Confederate families.
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Norris served in the Alabama State Legislature, both as a Senator and member of the Alabama House of Representatives from Dallas County during the late 1830s and early 1840s. On December 2, 1861 he was elected Grand Master of the Alabama Masonic Lodge.
On December 27, 1865, Norris and his son Robert C. Norris arrived in Rio de Janeiro aboard the ship South America. It is uncertain what his departure point was; probably either New Orleans or Mobile. Norris had left his home at Mount Pleasant in Monroe County. The only member of this immediate family who did not accompany the group to Brazil was his son Francis Johnson Norris.
On January 10, 1867, the rest of the Norris family left New Orleans aboard the Talisman bound for Rio. After a bad storm, with damage to the ship, they wound up in the Cape Verde Islands and did not reach Rio until April 19, 1867.
Norris died at Santa Bárbara d'Oeste on July 13, 1893.
Norris's parents were William Norris b 31 March 1757 in Johnston County, North Carolina and Nancy Watkins b 1772 in Augusta County, Virginia. They married in Wilkes County, Georgia in the late 1780s and their marriage bond was posted in February 1792. In 1793, a portion of Wilkes County became part of the new Oglethorpe County where he was born in 1800. Norris's father, William Norris, served the a North Carolina regiment in the American Revolutionary War. His grave was marked by the Daughters of the American Revolutionary in Cataula, Georgia, at a Baptist Church in the area.
Harry Alexander Davis wrote a long (the typed manuscript, held at the US Library of Congress, is nearly 1,500 pages long) unpublished work about several Norris families. He claims that Norris's parents were William Norris (b. 1758 Maryland) and Sarah Rigdon, the daughter of Alexander Rigdon of Harford County. This claim, like others in the Davis Manuscript, is controversial and unattributed; The Rigdons of Maryland has a well documented entry on Alexander Rigdon and there is no indication that he ever had a daughter named Sarah as stated by Davis, nor is there any indication that a Sarah Rigdon married into the Norris family.
In approximately 1812, the family relocated to Jasper County and shortly before 1820, Norris migrated to Alabama where he remained until he moved forever to Brazil.
Prior to his marriage to Mary Black, Norris was married to Melinda Black who is thought to have been a cousin of Mary.[1]
Norris had 3 sons-in-law: Willie Daniel (married to Nancy Angeline), Edward Townsend and Joseph Whitaker.