This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Norton Maciver Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/Qi3.2ACIB/1705 Message Board Post: I am interested in contacting descendants of this Florence Norton/MacIver union, or, her brothers and sisters. If you could advise of any other researcher or contact with this family I would be obliged to you. Florence Norton [b1857] youngest daughter of Daniel Norton. Florence is detailed in her fathers will as wife of Colonel H R H MacIver. The following comes from the "marriages" section of the Times on Friday June 28, 1878 "On the 27th June, at St Dunstan's Church West1, by the Rev. Richard Earle, Brigadier-General MACIVER to FLORENCE, youngest daughter of DANIEL NORTON, Esq. of Northwood Park and the Dell, Bonchurch, I.W." I also have a copy of the actual registration/license. Henry Ronald Hislop Douglas MacIver, a Soldier of Fortune, who served in some18 different armies, was a son of Ronald MacIver (c1815-c1858) Ross-Shire, Scotland and Anna Douglas (c1818-c1859) of Virginia of Scottish descent. . He was described in 'The World, Melbourne, Thursday, May 29, 1884.' as "Tall - say six feet - and erect in bearing, weather-bronzed face, clean shaven, except for military moustache and imperial; brown, grey-tinged hair, close cropped to the well-set head; keen grey eves with quiet resolution stamped on every feature - such in appearance is Brigadier-General MacIver, the soldier who has fought "under fourteen flags," who has won his way from cadetship to command of brigade." There is no mention of MacIver having married in any of the published books on him, his death certificate shows that he was a widower and his obit in the New York Times refers to a surviving daughter in England. Henry Ronald Hislop Douglas MacIver was a soldier of fortune that lived from 1841 to 1907. He was born on board a ship on its way to Virginia on Christmas Day 1841. His father was a Scottish gentleman from Ross-shire called Ronald MacIver. His mother was Anna Douglas, the daughter of a plantation owner in Virginia. MacIver spent the early years of his life in Virginia, learning to ride and shoot, but when he was 10 years old he was sent to Edinburgh to be educated, under the guardianship of a family friend, retired general Donald Graham. Florence Norton was the youngest daughter of Daniel Norton, a wealthy timber merchant who lived near Ruislip, Middlesex. The Norton's also had a home on the Isle of Wight, where MacIver was known to have holidayed after his Serbian campaign, so it is possible that they met there. It appears that Daniel Norton disapproved of the match and so on Florence's 21st Birthday (the earliest she could marry without parental consent) they married in St Dunstan's in the west, a church in Fleet Street, London. MacIver was 36. The incident has parallels with his attempted elopement with a 'Bianca' (see ref books). MacIver retired from active service and settled down to domesticity, fathering three daughters. But it appears that this was not to last. The fact that none of the published accounts of his life mentions his wife and family is strange. Although it was not unusual for the Victorians to virtually ignore women, not to acknowledge them at all is rare, especially after Under Fourtee! n Flags at least mentions some of his earlier liaisons. MacIver's final years were spent in enforced retirement, under difficult financial conditions. He lied about his age, claiming to be five, even ten years younger than he actually was, but it didn't seem to help him. He lived the life of a respectable vagrant, from boarding house to boarding house, but always taking care in his appearance and maintaining a gentlemanly manner. He had no inheritance from his marriage; Daniel Norton had ensured that after his death in 1888, Florence and her children were provided for from the trust [below], which made no allowance for MacIver. None of the nations or people he had fought for provided a pension, and many of the people he worked for were by then dead or deposed, and unable or unwilling to help. He made some money from selling his story to journalists such as Richard Harding Davis. By the turn of the century MacIver was still seeking employment. MacIver died in at his lodging ! house in New York on May 6 1907, and his death certificate makes interesting reading. According to known newspaper reports MacIver died from heart failure. . News of his death in New York was published in the New York Times along with a short resume of his life. It mentions just one daughter living in England. In fact he had three daughters although they may have pre-deceased him as his wife Florence had [as he was described as a widower]. The following passages are from the will of Daniel Norton, brother of William, Uncle of Algernon and the Great Uncle of the compiler of these extracts. Of interest to the foregoing section on Florence Norton, Colonel MacIver and their three children, is the 9th paragraph. Of general interest is Daniels attitude toward Florence's behavior and what provoked him to revisit her legacy. I note that Daniel revisited other behests, by use of codicil, to cut back sums awarded to the only niece he acknowledges. [Paragraph] 9. I bequeath to my trustees and assigns the sum of eight thousand pounds three pounds percent.. the said trust legacy /./herein after called the MacIver trust legacy upon trust to pay one equal moiety or half part of the dividends and income thereof to my daughter Florence MacIver the wife of Colonel MacIver for her life for her separate use independently or her present of any future husband and his debts and control /./for or towards the maintenance education advancement or benefit of all or any one or more ...of the three children of the said Florence MacIver by her present husband .......subject to the life interest of my said daughter Florence MacIver herein) in trust for all and every or any the three children or child of my said daughter Florence MacIver by her present husband who shall survive me and shall be /./the said three children shall live to attain a vested interest under the trusts hereinbefore contained then the MacIver trust legacy /./And I her! eby declare that my said daughter Florence MacIver shall from the day of my decease /./receive the monthly sum of ten pounds out of the income of my residuary estate the first of such monthly sums to accrue and be paid at /./ my decease And I further declare that my trustees shall receive the first half yearly dividend on the MacIver trust legacy when it shall have become due and shall pay to my said daughter Florence MacIver the sum of ten pounds every month until the next half yearly dividend on the said trust legacy shall become payable and such monthly payments shall continue during the life of my daughter Florence MacIver /./ I also hereby and declare and state that in and by my previous will I had appropriated the whole of life interest in the MacIver trust legacy for the benefit of my daughter Florence MacIver but in consequence of her unnatural conduct 2I have thought it my duty to make a great change and I have therefore reduced her interest by one half and made t! he other stipulations and provisions mentioned and referred to in this paragraph of my will' I am interested in contacting descendants of this Florence Norton/MacIver union, or, her brothers and sisters. If you could advise of any other researcher or contact with this family I would be obliged to you.