Surname Saturday: Family of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and Rebecca Monk

Joseph Madison Carroll Norman
b. 8 Jun 1833, Alabama
d. 1 Apr 1901, Arkansas
& Rebecca Monk
b. 1837, Alabama
m. 4 Dec 1851, Talladega, Alabama
|--Cyntha Ann Norman
|----b. 1856, Alabama
|--William Henry “Jack” Norman
|----b. 15 Mar 1858, Alabama
|----d. 19 Dec 1939, Leonard, Fannin County, Texas
|---& Sarah Jane Sisson
|----b. 14 Feb 1855, Alabama
|----d. 25 Apr 1937, Fannin County, Texas
|----m. 1879
|--Leatha L. Norman
|----b. 3 Sep 1859, Alabama
|----d. 27 Sep 1909
|---& Thomas Wiley Huff
|----b. 29 Mar 1861, Alabama
|----d. 21 May 1931
|----m. 12 May 1879, Cave Springs, GA
|--Josephus James “J. J.”/”Joe”/”Jode” Norman
|----b. 1 May 1861, Alabama
|----d. 12 Jun 1924, Lamasco, Fannin, Texas
|---& Martha King
|----b. 5 Sep 1865, Arkansas
|----d. 3 Jun 1949, Bonham, Fannin Co., TX
|--Thomas Frank Norman
|----b. 1862, Alabama
|----d. ca 1912, Texas
|---& Letha/Lillie Brown
|----b. Oct 1873, Texas
|----d. ca 1906, Texas
|--Betsy Norman
|--Infant Norman

This is the family of my great-great grandparents, Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and Rebecca Monk, Joseph’s first wife. The list of children is based on Inez Cline’s History of the Norman Family (which is based on extensive interviews of family members as well as document-based research) and censuses. Betsy and a child who died in infancy do not appear on the censuses. I believe my great-grandfather William Henry Norman’s date of birth is given incorrectly on a number of sources and that he was likely born in 1858, rather than 1859 as many sources indicate. The 1860 census shows him as being two years old and he is listed before his sister Letha (who is often listed as the older child).

I do not know what happened to Cyntha Ann. She may be the “Nancy” listed in Inez Cline’s History. She appears as “E.” (age 4) on the 1860 census (which would seem more likely to be Betsy) and as “Cyntha Ann” (age 14) on the 1870 census.

The 1850 census for Talladega County, Alabama lists Rebecca’s parents as Silas Monk (age 40, born in Georgia, Primitive Baptist Minister) and Nance Monk (age 41, born North Carolina). Rebecca Monk died sometime between 1862, when her youngest child Thomas Frank was born, and 1864, when Joseph Norman married his second wife, Mary Patterson.

Joseph Norman, his third wife Mary Frances Karr Norman, and a number of the children moved to Pike County, Arkansas in the early 1880s (based on the state of birth of the children), from there to Grayson and Fannin Counties Texas, and then back to Arkansas, this time Garland County, by 1895. All four of Joseph and Rebecca’s surviving children appear to have remained in Texas.

I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can contact me at my e-mail address, which can be found by going to my profile page (there is a link to that page in the About Me section to the left).