Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Norris, Isaac
NORRIS, ISAAC (1671–1735), mayor of Philadelphia, was born in London on 21 July 1671. His father, Thomas Norris, emigrated to Jamaica in 1678. In 1690 Isaac was sent to Philadelphia to arrange for the settlement of the family there, but on his return to Jamaica found that they had all perished in the great earthquake at Port Royal. He then went back to Philadelphia, entered into business, and became one of the wealthiest proprietors in the province. During a visit to England in 1706 he assisted William Penn in his difficulties. On his return in 1708 he was elected to the governor's council. He sat in the assembly for many years, was speaker of the house in 1712, justice for Philadelphia county in 1717, and, on the establishment of the high court of chancery, became a master to hear cases with the lieutenant-governor. In 1724 he was elected mayor of Philadelphia, and in 1731 was unanimously chosen justice of the supreme court, but declined the office. It is recorded of him that ‘although a strict quaker, he lived in great luxury for that age, and drove a four-horse coach, on which was emblazoned a coat of arms.’ He owned the ‘slate-roofed house’ in which Penn resided during his second visit to Pennsylvania. His house on Fair Hill, ‘one of the handsomest buildings of the day,’ was burnt by the British during the revolution. For many years Norris was one of the chief representatives of the proprietaries, and by the will of Penn he was named a trustee of the province of Pennsylvania. He died in Philadelphia on 4 June 1735. In 1694 he married Mary, daughter of Thomas Lloyd, governor of Pennsylvania. Their son, Isaac Norris (1701–1766), was a prominent statesman in America.
[J. Parker Norris's Genealog. Record of the Norris Family (1865); Hepworth Dixon's William Penn (1851), p. 410; Appleton's Cyclop. of Amer. Biogr.]