George G. S. Norris
(1835-1879)
Civil War Veteran
1st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Co. I
George G. S. Norris was born about 1835. The 1860 City of Chelsea (MA) Census lists him as a 25-year-old carpenter, living in the household of Francis Cushing. Also living in the residence was a boarder, Daniel Means. The occupation of both Francis Cushing and Daniel Means is listed as, "paperhanger". It is possible that George, Francis and Daniel may have worked in the construction business together.
By the time of the 1870 Census, George had moved to Lowell, MA. He is listed in the City of Lowell's records with a wife and two children. This would indicate that not long after the 1860 Census was taken, George had married Julia Ann Kennedy. Their first child, Annie M. (my great grandmother), was born in October of 1861. Four years later, in September 1865, a son, George, was born.
George G. S. Norris does not appear on the 1880 City of Lowell Census. Julia is listed as a "widow", meaning that sometime between 1860 and 1870 George had died. Not much information about ancestors has been passed along in this family, but one critical piece of information did reach the fourth generation: Grandfather Norris was in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The Index to Military Pensions for the War of 1861-1865 does indeed list George G. S. Norris. In April of 1879, his widow, Julia, filed for his pension benefits. While not much more is listed, there was enough information to provide an explanation of what happened to George. The pension index also listed his unit in the Union Army, the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Co. "I". A search for that unit was to yield some very important information to the research.
According to Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War, George enlisted in the Union Army on December 26, 1861. This was surely a very difficult decision for George to make. He must have felt very strongly that the Union was worth preserving to leave his wife of one year with a 2-month-old child, not knowing when (or if) he would return.
March of 1862, finds George in Virginia with the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division of the 3rd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac under the command of General George McLellan . His company was to see some of the fiercest fighting of the entire War with the 1st Massachusetts. Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Richmond, Malvern Hill, Kettle Run, Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Spotsylvania and the Wilderness...all are battles in which the 1st Massachusetts participated.
When George was mustered out of the Union Army on December 6, 1864, with a "medical certificate" it was just 20 days before his enlistment was up. His discharge papers indicate that George had received an injury to his hand which developed gangrene, resulting in partial loss of a digit. The injury was severe enough for him to be designated as "Not a subject for the Vet Res Corps" (V.R.C.)
The compiled military service file does not clearly indicate whether he qualified for a pension, as there is a charge of "desertion" in the records. However, the desertion charge appears to have been reviewed and dismissed. It will require additional research to determine the true course of events.
There is a known (although misplaced) photograph of his wife, Julia Ann (Kennedy) Norris, but none has been located of George, himself.
Grandfather Norris" was virtually unknown to his descendents until recently. His story is still being researched, but what is known makes him an ancestor of whom all the "grandchildren" can be proud.