100 Years Ago: Madison County Historian Dies, Leave Behind Book Still Used Today
ALTON - Wilbur Theodore Norton, three-term postmaster of Alton, Alton Board of Education member, historical researcher and author, and previous owner and editor of the Alton Evening Telegraph, died on January 8, 1925. Wil bur T. Norton was born in Alton on September 10, 1844, to Reverend Augustus T. Norton and Eliza Rogers Norton. Augustus T. Norton served as one of the first pastors of the First Presbyterian Church in Alton from 1839 to 1858 and edited the Presbytery, the newspaper of the Presbyterian Church in Illinois. His book “History of the Presbyterian Church, in the State of Illinois,” published in 1879, is considered “an authoritative work that is the only record of the church in the early days in the state and finds a place in most libraries dealing with history of the church.” There is a copy available at the Hayner Genealogy & Local History Library (call number IR 285 NOR) and a digital copy available online: https://archive.org/details/historyofpresb00nort/