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Individual Record for: William H. Norman (male)

Notes:

!Notes: William became a cigar maker in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. He left Mineral Point for two or three years to work for J. I. Case Company in Rockford, Illinois, returning to Mineral Point in about 1932, to resume his career as a cigar maker.
!Source: Phyllis Grissom's sources: 43. Cecil Grissom Private Library, kathleen Neumann Graber, A HISTORY OF THE GREBER/GRAEBER/GREBER FAMILY 1680 -1980 (1981 privately published Oshkosh, Wisc). Cit. Date: 21 Jan 2002 44. A HISTORY OF THE GREBER /GRAEBER/ GRABER FAMILY 1680 - 1980, Kathleen Neumann Graber, A HISTORY OF THE GREBER/GRAEBER/ GRABER FAMILY 1680 - 1980 (privately published). Cit. Date: 21 Jan 2002 45. Ibid, p 51. Cit. Date: 21 Jan 2002 46. Norman Research, Rex Hotchkiss Jr ., Norman Research. Cit. Date: 21 Jan 2002 47. Ibid.
!Notes: Willliam Norman appears to be the 1st born child of Catherine Kemmerling and Johannes Normann. Willialm spent most of his life in Mineral Point, Wisc. In the early days, he joined the family members who migrated to Rockford, Ill. William f ound work at the J. I. Case farm implement factory. His younger brother Bernard worked there as well. When the Great Depression struck, William lost his job. The prudent thing for him was to return to Mineral Point and resume his old trade of cig ar making. At one time, William owned or operated a drug store at the foot of the main street in Mineral Point. His life time occupation was the manufacture of fine cigars. Phyllis Norman Grissom recalls that when she was a small child her Uncle W ill raised beautiful yellow canaries. These were song birds. In the olden days canaries were carried into mines with the miners. The birds suffered quicker from bad air than the miners. The suffering of the birds gave warning to the miners to leav e the pits.Since Mineral Point was a mining center, it seems that the canaary business was an important undertaking. William's birds might have been from the Hartz Mountains in Germany. William may have had some contact with family members who we re still living in Germany. A little research may unearth evidence that there was comunication between the two branches of the familly for a much longer space of time than is now known. Spesien, the home village, was located in the Saar basin. T his was and is a mining arena. Raising canaries here would seem pausible. Perhaps William's birds came from a family member back in Spesien

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