Atlanta's Norris Candy Company enjoyed sweet success

One of the biggest boons of the Internet, I have said many times, is the speed with which you can reach out to others who are researching the same family lines.

I'm going to have to eat my words on that one. It can take longer ... even longer than snail mail. My cousin Randall Smith just received a response to a message regarding the Norris Candy Company in Atlanta that he left on Genforum nearly two years ago. Now that's slow!

I, myself, have put queries on the boards about this Norris family since Sarah Ann Norris was my GGgrandmother. And this same Norris family was right here in Fayette County more than 100 years ago.

The family's connection to the Norris Candy Company is well known by all relatives. Said to have been started by Sarah's brother, Joel C. Norris (since disproved), it was a huge success in the Atlanta area and lasted nearly 60 years. But, the actual initiator of the company was Arthur Leland "Buddy" Norris. Research done by Randall years ago shows records stating that Arthur, not Joel, started the company in 1905. However, Joel was Arthur's father, and the seed may have been planted there. Joel was a cobbler (shoe maker), according to census and other records.

The roots of this family remain a mystery to us, since all family files at the Georgia Archives have been pulled from public view. There is supposed to be a file there on John "Jethro" Norris, who is the earliest ancestor we've been able to find. He was Joel and Sarah's father and Arthur's grandfather. But when I went there and asked to see it, I was given the bad news that the Georgia Legislature had mandated that all personal "family" files, those left in loose papers by individuals, be kept from public view. I certainly hope they weren't destroyed!

From other records, we have been able to piece together some information on this Norris family.

John "Jethro" Norris was born in South Carolina about 1807. He married Mary (maiden name said to be Johnson) about 1826 and lived in Gwinnett County in 1850 with his large family. Their children were Sarah Ann (b. 1828), James C.H. (b. abt 1831), Joel C. (b. abt 1832), William J. (b. abt 1836), Lucy Ann (b. abt 1838 ... although her grave says 1833), Temperance (b. abt 1839), John (b. abt 1841), Lucinda Matilda (b. 1843), Henry T. (b. abt 1845), Lindsey M. (b. abt 1847), Reuben J. (b. abt 1849) and Mary Catherine (b. 1854).

Sometime before 1860, John and his family moved to Fayette County and are said to have lived in the Fife community, near where Bethany Methodist Church is today. John Norris' grandson, John Fowler, and his wife, Nancy Leah Harper Fowler, are both buried at Bethany.

Sometime before 1870, John moved to the Campbellton District of Campbell County, which was out near the Chattahoochee River.

This is where I first found one-year-old Arthur, living with his parents, John (Joel) and Amelia (King) Norris. Arthur's grandparents, Jethro and Mary Norris, lived next door. The Norris children had married along the way and left home, and I had quite a bit of information on them: Sarah Ann married John Fowler in 1847 in Gwinnett Co.; Joel C. married Amelia King in 1866 in Fayette Co.; Lucy Ann married Zephaniah Fowler in 1853 in Gwinnett Co.; Lucinda Matilda (who was still at home in 1870) married Solomon Cochran in 1871 (thought to be in Coweta Co.); and Mary Catherine (who also was still at home in 1870) married William Christopher White about 1875, probably in Campbell Co. What happened to the others is unknown at this time.

As I found each piece of information, I sent copies of it to Randall and all the other Fowler/Norris researchers, since we were all having such a hard time finding records of this family.

Two days ago, I received an e-mail from Randall with the subject line of, "You're not gonna believe this!" In the e-mail was a forwarded message from Spruill Harder in Brookline, Mass., whose mother was the stepdaughter of Arthur "Buddy" Norris of Norris Candy Company fame. Spruill's grandmother was Ora Cordelia Green Fincher, who married Buddy (as his second wife) about 1939. Buddy was an old man of 70 by this time and Ora Cordelia was about 20 years his junior. The marriage lasted only two years before Buddy died in 1941. But Spruill's mother had told him about the Norrises and she remembered Buddy's children (by his first wife) with "great fondness." They included a son (whose name she cannot recall) and two daughters, Marie, who married a Mr. Letts, and Martha, who married a Mr. Ahearn. Marie Norris Letts had two sons, one who was said to be in the real estate business in Sandy Springs as late as 1969. Martha Norris Ahearn had a son named Jimmy.

The story of the beginning of the candy business, as told by Spruill's mother, was that Buddy sold his mother's candy door to door in the neighborhood when he was a child, and learned to make candy from her. Buddy's company was in the Norris Building on Peachtree St. about a half block from Davison's Department Store. Nunnally Candy company was said to have been their biggest competitor. Later, Buddy is said to have sold half the business to the Lowenstein family, who eventually purchased all the shares Buddy left to his children and stepchildren at his death.

Do you want to hear something weird? Now that I know where it was, I can remember going there as a child. They had all kinds of chocolate goodies in the window and the place smelled delightful. I had no idea the owners were my relatives. Maybe someone told me but I was too young to remember.

Thanks to Ancestry's online Atlanta City Directory, I found Arthur living with his father on Mechanic Street in Atlanta in 1889 and 1890. Arthur was working for the Goldsmith Candy Company as a "candy marker," so it would appear that he learned more about the business before he launched his own. The Norris company wasn't started until 1905.

There is much more to this story but I'll have to save it for another column. If you remember the Norris Candy Company in Atlanta, or anything about the Norris family, I'd love to hear from you.

Got a tale about your Georgia ancestors? Write to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; E-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com.

Until next week, happy hunting!