Lyman Decatur Norris

{{Cleanup MOS|date=March 2019}} thumb|Lyman D. Norris '''Lyman Decatur Norris''' (May 4, 1823 to January 6, 1894) was a lawyer, member of the Michigan Constitutional Convention of 1867, and a State Senator from Washtenaw County, Michigan from 1869 to 1871. He was involved in Dred Scott Case when it was argued in St. Louis Circuit Court.

==Early life== He was born in Covington, New York to Mark Norris (1796–1862), a businessman, mason, and an anti-slavery Whig, and Roccena B. Vaill (1797–1876).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=IOcBAAAAMAAJ&dq=Lucy%20Whittelsey%20Norris&pg=PA279 ''Grand Rapids and Kent County Michigan: Historical Account of Their Progress from First Settlement to the Present Time''], Vol. 2. Edited by Ernest B. Fisher. Chicago, 1918, p. 279</ref> In 1828 Mark Norris relocated his family to Ypsilanti, Michigan. In 1841 Lyman Norris enrolled at the University of Michigan. He transferred to Yale University after three years and received a law degree. Norris read law with Alexander D. Fraser in Detroit and was admitted to the Bar in Michigan in 1847.<ref>[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhlead/umich-bhl-85830?rgn=main;view=text Norris Family Papers: 1815-1960], ''Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan''</ref><ref name="Janice Anschuelz">Janice Anschueltz. [https://aadl.org/ypsigleanings/327824 A Tale of Two River Street Men: Justus and Lyman Decatur Norris], ''Ypsilanti History'', 13 (Spring 2015).</ref>

==Career== In 1848–1853, Lyman Norris practiced law in St. Louis, Missouri, where he became engaged in politics as Democrat. He co-owned and served as political editor of the ''St. Louis Daily Times''.<ref name="Janice Anschuelz" />

In 1849, Norris and Hugh A. Garland represented pro-slavery client in the Missouri's Dred Scott Case, ''Scott v. Emerson, 15 Mo. 576 (1852)''.<ref>Walter Ehrlich. ''They Have No Rights: Dred Scott's Struggle for Freedom''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1979</ref><ref>[https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/africanamerican/scott/scott.asp Missouri's Dred Scott Case, 1846-1857], ''Missouri State Archives''</ref><ref>[https://cite.case.law/mo/15/576/ ''Scott v. Emerson, 15 Mo. 576 (1852)'']</ref> They were successful in arguing that Dred Scott's ''free-soil'' residence did not entitle him to sue for freedom. Oddly, Lyman Norris offered Dred Scott a loan to purchase freedom.<ref name="Janice Anschuelz" />

In 1854, Norris returned to Ypsilanti, Michigan. In 1867 Norris attended the Michigan Constitutional Convention. In 1871 he moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. He ran as a candidate for the Michigan Supreme Court in 1875. He was appointed a Regent of the University of Michigan in 1883.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/cu31924030622553/page/n218 ''History of the University of Michigan''], by Burke Aaron Hinsdale and Isaac Newton Demmon. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1906, pp.200-201.</ref> He died at Grand Rapids on January 6, 1894.

==Family== In 1854 Lyman Norris married Lucy Alsop Whittelsey from Middletown, Connecticut. Mark Norris (1857–1943) and Maria W. Norris (1858–1938) were their surviving children; Mark Norris became a lawyer and Maria Norris became a physician.

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * [https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryofmi00lansuoft/page/494 Early history of Michigan, with biographies of state officers, members of Congress, judges and legislators; published pursuant to Act 59, 1887 (1908), p. 494]

==External links== *{{Find a Grave|16338303}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Lyman}} Category:1823 births Category:1894 deaths Category:19th-century American lawyers Category:People from Genesee County, New York Category:Lawyers from Detroit Category:People from Ypsilanti, Michigan Category:University of Michigan alumni