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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Albertis P. Norton, owner and publisher of the Fremont Gazette, was born near Koszta, Iowa, August 29, 1867, his parents being Edward H. and Medora (Richardson) Norton, the latter a daughter of John M. Richardson, who is now living at the age of eighty-nine years. Edward H. Norton was born in the state of New York in 1845 and came to Iowa with his parents in 1852. His wife was born in the same state in 1847 and came to Iowa with her parents in 1853. Both have since been continuous residents of Iowa county, this state, and Mr. Norton has followed the occupation of farming as a life work. When their son Albertis was but seven years of age they removed from the farm near Koszta to Marengo, Iowa, where Edwerd H. Norton entered the draying business, in which he continued until 1898, when he had accumulated enough means to purchase a farm. He then invested in property and now resides in peace and contentment upon his farm about four and a half miles south of Ladora and twelve miles from Marengo, the county seat of Iowa county. Unto him and his wife have been born four children. The eldest son, Theren L. Norton, died in Washington, D. C., in 1894. He was a printer by trade and was working in the government printing office at the time of his death. Albertis P. is the second of the family. John A. Norton is a carpenter of Marengo, Iowa, and Lettie Norton was married in 1904 to George P. Byrne, a resident of Genoa Bluff, this state. A. P. Norton of this review pursued his education in the public schools of Marengo, Iowa, passing through the grammar grades, but never entering the high school, as he put aside his text-books in order to help earn a living for the family. He was a boy of steady habits, willing to work, and when but twelve years of age he accepted a position as carder in the woolen mills of Scheuerman Brothers. This was in July, 1879. He continued with that firm until after their removal to Des Moines, Iowa, in April, 1882, going with them to that city, where he remained until the fall of the same year, when he returned to Marengo and spent the winter months in school. In the spring of 1883 he began work in a grocery store, where he was employed until the following October, when he gave up the position and again entered school, working nights, mornings and Saturdays in a printing office, while on the other week days he pursued his studies. In the spring of 1884 he accepted a position with the Marengo Democrat and in June, 1885, was made foreman of that office, a position which he held until July 1, 1902. He then purchased the Fremont Gazette and has since conducted the paper, which under his management has grown in circulation and has been placed upon a paying basis, being now one of the official papers of Mahaska county. It is the only paper published in Fremont and is independent in politics. In his personal views, however, Mr. Norton is a stalward republican, adhering closely to the political faith of his forefathers, all of whom were ardent advocates of the principles embodied in the republican platform. Mr. Norton was married January 7, 1897, at the Episcopal parsonage in Iowa City, Iowa, to Miss Flora M. Wilson, whose father, D. H. Wilson, was a prominent attorney in Marengo, Iowa, and was also a veteran of the Civil war.
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy