Herman Norton

Herman Norton

an American Presbyterian minister of some note, was born in New Hartford, N. Y. July 2, 1799. When about seventeen years old he was converted at Auburn, N. Y., and being poor, he was provided for by friends of the Presbyteria Church which he had joined, and sent to Hamilton College, and afterwards to Auburn Theological Seminary to fit himself for the ministry. As soon as he had entered the ministry he commenced piercing the Gospel, at first as an evangelist, in which capacity his labors were very successful in many places in the State of New York. For several years he was pastor of a Presbyterian Church at the corner of Prince and Crosby Streets, in the city of New York, where God gave him many seals of his ministry. His health failing, he was compelled to seek fields of usefulness in the country. He labored in Trenton, New Jersey, and in other places, with much success. Subsequently he preached at Cincinnati and elsewhere. Wherever he went, his labors were eminently useful to the conversion of sinners, and to the aiding of believers in their spiritual life. In the year 1843 Mr. Norton was chosen corresponding secretary of the American Protestant Society, and thenceforward made New York the home of his family and the center of his labors. His zeal and success in the work of evangelizing the papal population of our country, in connection with that society as its chief officer, are well known. He was at once corresponding secretary, editor of the magazine, and general agent for the collection of funds. When the American Protestant Society, the Foreign Evangelical Society, and the Christian Alliance were united, and became the American and Foreign Christian Union, Mr. Norton was chosen one of the corresponding secretaries. In the discharge of the duties of that office he labored as faithfully as his health permitted, till his death, December, 1851. In the sufferings of the exiles from Madeira he took a very deep interest. It was greatly owing to him that so many of them came to this country. His efforts in their behalf were incessant, from the time of their landing in New York till the last company left for Illinois, in the month of November, 1850. The excellent volume from his pen, entitled Record of Facts concerning the Persecutions at Madeira, in which the history of that suffering people is faithfully given, has been extensively read, and is an enduring monument of his heartfelt interest in their behalf. His remains rest in the same tomb where lie those of two of those excellent people, one of whom was the devoted and greatly beloved Da Silva. Norton also published, Signs of Danger and of Promise: Startling Facts for American Protestants: — The Christian and Deist, an excellent work: — and several Tracts relating to Romanism. published by the society of which he was secretary. See Christian Union, January, 1851.