James Nourse & His Descendants

James Nourse & His Descendants

By Maria Catharine Nourse Lyle, Published 1897

            The Nourse family came to America from London and first settled in Berkley, VA.  Descendants moved into various counties in Kentucky in the 1800s, including Daviess County, Jefferson, Logan, Woodford, Henry, etc.

           It appears the family changed the spelling of their surname from Nourse to Norse.

            One descendant was Robert Norse who was born in London and came to America as a child. Robert’s children were James Hervey, Nancy, William Wallace, Joseph Robert, Ralph Erskine, John Newton, and Andrew Jameson. 

            A grandchild of Robert, and daughter of Andrew Jameson, was Artemisia Ann Norse (born 1839), who married William Grandison Abbott from Butler County (born 1835); and the following is a page from the Norse book showing the children and grandchildren of Artemisia and William Abbott (twelve of which have Ohio County connections- see chart below):

       There were several other Norse connections with Ohio County. 

•           Sarah Crozier Gibson, wife of Michael Norse, died in Ohio County 12 Aug 1891.

•           Mary Rebecca Cramer Norse married Judge John Carpenter Townsend, who died in Ohio County 7 May 1894. Rebecca remarried after the Judge’s death, to Mr. Helsley of Muhlenberg County.

•           Gabriel Augusta Norse married William Lewis Brown and they lived in Ohio County, and had three children born in Ohio County: Michael Norse Brown, Samuel Ellsworth Brown, and Halley Ewing Brown – all born in the 1870s.

       I found William L. Brown, the husband of Gabriel A. Norse (the last person listed above) in the 1910 census, age 75, living in Hartford - he is shown as a widower and is living with his son, Halley, and Halley's wife and their son.