This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Norton, Burke Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/Qi3.2ACIB/1908 Message Board Post: Thomas Patrick Norton I (1891-1968) Railroad Yardmaster at Delaware, Lackawana & Western (DL&W) Railroad Company, Hoboken, NJ (b. February 28, 1891, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, USA - d. January 12, 1968, Paul Kimball Hospital, 600 River Avenue, Lakewood, Ocean County, New Jersey, 08701-5281, USA) Military Service Number 1760271 and Social Security Number 71407571. Thomas was born on February 28, 1891 to Patrick J. Norton (c1858-1905) and Sarah Jane Carr (c1865-1950). On Sunday, November 08, 1891 he was baptised at Saint Bridget's Parish in Jersey City, NJ and his godparents were Matthew Norton, his uncle and Ellen Hogan, a cousin of his mother. In 1905 Tom’s father died and Tom took a job with the railroad in August of 1906 as a messenger at age 15. He was promoted to weightmaster in October and worked in that position until April of 1907 when he became a clerk. in April of 1912 he was promoted to a switchman. He then served as an ambulance driver in W! orld War I in the Lightning Division, as part of Company 310. He was in the battle of St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne. On Tuesday, November 12, 1918, the last day of the War he wrote to Mary Burke: “My dear sweetheart, little one, now that the war is over, it won't be long now when I will be back in God's Country with you, dear heart. Have been out of the lines a few days now, thank God, for it sure is hell there. Don't think the ground taken by American's was not paid for by good American lives. Picked up this card in the Argonne Forrest in a German dugout. I am well and hope you are the same.” He was discharged on June 02, 1919 and returned home to marry and go back to work at the railroad. He took the job as yardmaster and stayed in that position until he retired on February 28, 1956. On Saturday, September 27, 1919 Tom married Mary Margaret Burke (1890-1949) at Saint John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Jersey City. His witnesses were his brother James! Joseph Norton I (1892-1961), and Mary’s half sister, Bertha Burke (1902-1971). Mary was the only child of John Joseph Burke and Nora Finn. They moved into 112-114 Romaine Avenue and then bought the two family house at 603 Garfield Avenue in Jersey City. Tom and Mary had 5 children, and three lived to adulthood. The children were Thomas Patrick Norton II (1920- ), Vincent Girard Norton (1923- ), John Burke Norton (1927), James Joseph Norton II (1929- ) and Catherine Finn Norton (1930-1934). Catherine might have had an inherited metabolic disorder, she never grew properly and finally died of pneumonia. At the railroad, Tom worked 12 hour days , 28 days a month, he only received two Sundays off each month. At one time he won a brand new Oldsmobile in a raffle, but he was such a terrible driver, his wife made him sell the car. In 1949, his wife died of appendicitis. She was in pain for several days, and finally his daughterinlaw, Selma Norton dropped by on a suprise v! isit, found her sick and called an ambulance. She lived a few more days. On July 29, 1950 Tom married Josephine (May) Veronica Burke (1907-1995) at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Romam Catholic Church in Morton, Pennsylvania. May was the half sister of his first wife. He retired from the railroad on February 28, 1956 and moved to Ocean County, New Jersey. Tom suffered a heart attack while watching a football game on TV while living at 17 Pine Street in his Jackson, NJ home. The game was between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys for the National Football League Championship on New Years Eve, Sunday, December 31, 1967. It was Tom Landry and his Dallas Cowboys versus Vince Lombardi and his two-time defending champion Green Bay Packers. Tom was a big fan of Vince Lombardi. He died 13 days later at Paul Kimball Hospital in Lakewood , NJ and he is buried in Holy Name Cemetery with his wife and her mother’s family. Tom died with all his teeth, except one that was kno! cked out in a fight and was replaced with a gold one.