Click here for the John Martin Family home page. 3rd Generation - Malinda Martin 


Malinda (Martin) Norris, the first-born child of Joseph and Eliza (Sleeper) Martin, was born in Bedford Township, Meigs County, Ohio, probably on 9 April 1833.1  Malinda’s father died when she was 4, after which she, her mother, and her two siblings moved in with her mother’s parents, John and Elizabeth Sleeper (also in Bedford Township).

On 8 April 1851, Malinda married Cornelius Norris in Meigs County.  He had been born 27 November 1827 in Athens County, Ohio, the son of Aaron and Mary (Beck) Norris.  Cornelius and Malinda remained in Meigs County (Bedford Township) until at least 1878, and all their children were born there.  By 1880, they had moved across the Ohio River to Jackson County, West Virginia, where they remained the rest of their days.

Malinda passed away in Jackson County on 27 February 1899 and is buried in Long Hollow Cemetery.  Four months later, Cornelius married Mrs. Rheuamia (Sinclair) Sayre.  He lived on until 23 May 1907 and is buried at Otterbein Church Cemetery.  His tombstone there includes the name of his second wife, Rheuamia, but shows no death date for her.  Most likely, Rheuamia is not there, for she married John H. Board in December 1908.

Malinda and Cornelius were the parents of 11 (or possibly 12)2 children.  The ones we know of are:

  • Mary Norris, 1852–1878 (never married).
  • Cinderella Norris, 1853–1893 (married William Martin Pruden).
  • Malinda Norris, 1854–1938 (married Samuel Gibson Lathey).
  • Louisa Norris, 1856–1937 (married Jeremiah Reeves).
  • Abram Norris, 1857–1935 (married Sarah A. Matlack).
  • Floyd Norris, 1859–1936 (married Geneva H. Boyle).
  • Cornelius Elmer Norris, Jr., 1861–1944 (married Elizabeth Belle Cline).
  • Sinah V. Norris, 1865–1913 (married Leonard S. Hitchcock).3
  • Cansada(?) Norris, 1867–1883 (never married).
  • Riley M. Norris, 1869–1936 (marital status unknown).
  • Viva A. Norris, 1872–1950 (married James Boyd Woodall).

If you can suggest any corrections to the information above or provide any further details about the lives of Malinda, Cornelius, and their descendants, please contact me at the address shown in the image below:

P L Martin C O at G mail dot com

Thanks,      
     —Pete Martin

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Footnotes:

  1. According to Malinda’s tombstone, she was 66 years, 10 months, and 18 days old when she died on 27 February 1899. That works out to a birth date of 9 April 1832. However, in every census from 1850 through 1880, her stated age suggests that she was born in 1833. Had she been born late in the year, a date of 1832 would be consistent with her stated ages in the censuses, but inasmuch as the “10 month” figure on her tombstone suggests a birth date in April, my hunch is that whoever calculated the age on that stone did the math wrong and accidentally added a year to her age.
  2. The obituary of C. E. Norris, Jr., posted on his Find-a-Grave site, states that “He was one of 12 children.” I have been able to identify only the 11 listed here.
  3. Sinah’s first name is erroneously shown as “Nina” on her tombstone.
    4.