Daniel Keating Norris

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Colonel Daniel Keating Norris, born November 1, 1846 in Lower St. Matthews, Orangeburg County, South Carolina, was the founder of the Norris Cotton Mill. He was a member of the Clemson Board of Trustees from 1888 to 1905. Norris Hall is named for him.

His father was George Norris, a farmer and planter. His mother was Amelia Avinger Norris, (January 24, 1812 - March 29 1883). His mother is buried in his family plot in Pendleton. His father is not buried there.

His grandfather was Patrick Nash who came to Fairfield County, South Carolina from Ireland and served in the Revolutionary War.

D. K. Norris served in Company F, Second Regiment, S.C. Heavy Artillery, rank of Private, and was badly wounded at the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, fought March 19-March 21, 1865.

His brother, George Manly Norris, born 1848, served as a Confederate Soldier for six months as a second Lieutenant of Company F, of the Second Regiment of the S.C. Junior Troops. (he was only 16 years old). After the war G. M. Norris was a planter in Vance, South Carolina. D. K. Norris also had another brother, J. F. Norris, of Charleston, South Carolina.

D. K. Norris died at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, on January 23, 1905. He had been ill for some time and went to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment. He is buried in the family plot at the First Baptist Church in Pendleton, South Carolina.

There is a large gravestone but there is no indication that D. K. Norris was a Confederate Veteran. He was given a military funeral.

Colonel Norris was a wealthy cotton planter of upper Anderson County as the nineteenth century began drawing to a close. In 1877, Colonel Norris moved to the upstate from Vance, in the South Carolina low country. As time went on, Colonel Norris began to focus on building a manufacturing plant in which to produce cotton cloth. Colonel Norris interested his two brothers along with others to invest in this new venture. This cotton mill was the first for Pickens County and construction began in 1895 with the construction of a dam on the Twelve Mile River. The community that sprang from this new mill construction was affectionately called Cateechee. Cateechee was the name of the legendary Indian maiden who had ridden from Keowee Town above Six Mile all the way to Ninety Six, South Carolina, to warn settlers there of an impending attack by the Cherokee. Her lover was one of the settlers. Colonel Norris named the mill after himself, and the Norris Cotton Mill was established in Cateechee.

The community of Cateechee became the town of Norris, South Carolina.

Col. Norris had the first telephone in the area which connected his home with his two mills.

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