Contra Costa County Biography

ALDEN NATHAN NORCROSS 

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
is one of the highly respected and representative citizens of eastern Contra 
Costa County. Energy, ability, and well-directed ambition, controlled by sound 
judgment, have constituted the foundation upon which Mr. Norcross built his 
success. He was born in Woodbury, Vermont, November 27, 1828, a son of Captain 
James R. Norcross and Eleanor (Blanchard) Norcross, who were from among the 
representative families of their section. Mr. Norcross's parents were both born 
in Vermont. His father was a farmer, and Alden assisted on the home place and 
attended school. At the age of twenty-one Mr. Norcross started out in life for 
himself. He went to Boston, where he engaged in the dray business, and has the 
distinction of building the first low dray in the United States, as far as he 
can ascertain. In 1861 he enlisted for three years, and was assigned to light 
horse artillery in Captain Nim's battery. Mr. Norcross served in the army three 
years, and during this time his brother Joseph carried on the business in 
Boston. In 1864 Mr. Norcross received an honorable discharge and returned to 
Boston, and there was actively engaged in his business for twenty years. Mr. 
Norcross has always been a lover of good horses and always owned the best, and 
it may be related here that while in the army he was selected on several 
occasions by his General and sent on one occasion to New Orleans, where he 
selected and took one hundred and seventy mules and one hundred horses back to 
camp. The General told Mr. Norcross's captain that when he wanted horses to have 
Mr. Norcross get them; that he knew good horses, and could get back in half the 
time required by the commissioned officers. Mr. Norcross spent some years in 
Texas, where he did farming and freighting. In 1890 he removed to California, 
and settled in the sandland section, which is now Oakley, where with Mr. Marsh 
he purchased twenty acres of land and platted the townsite. Soon after laying 
out the town Mr. Norcross and Mr. Marsh severed their business relation, and Mr. 
Norcross gave a half block for school and playgrounds, and presented two lots as 
a site for the Methodist church. In March, 1861, Mr. Norcross was married to 
Julia Langmaid, of Pittsfield, New Hampshire. To this union were born six 
children, of whom two are living, Bert Leland and Florence, the latter making 
her home in Antioch. Mrs. Norcross, wife of our subject, died in Pittsfield, N. 
H., in the early '70s. Politically Mr. Norcross is a Republican. While he has 
taken a keen interest in national affairs, he has never aspired to local office.
 
Source: "The History of Contra Costa County, California," Elms Publ. Co., 1918, 
pp. 437-438