David Byron Norton is one of 8 children born to Lauren C. & Urania N. (Ward) Norton. He married Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Gearhart on Feb. 11, 1877 in Ohio. From this union 10 children were born:

1. Daisy Norton (1879-1930) m. David H. Cummins;
2. Earl Iowa Norton (1883-1950) m. Anna M. Cole;
3. Eva Calista Norton (1885-1958) m. Judson J. Dikeman;
4. Clark Beecher Norton (1887-1973) m. Pearl L. Rutledge
5. Lloyd Dallas Norton (1890-1966) m. Elsie C. Hasty;
6. Clara Lavina Norton (1892-1976) m. Mart G. Rockwell;
7. Ralph Wilburn Norton (1894-1958) m. Cecil Jones;
8. Golden M. Norton (1895-1968) m. Ernest C. Cummins;
9. Infant Norton (d. before 1900)
10. Infant Norton (d. before 1900).

~ Written & Researched by Lillian Robinson Norton ~
David went to Kansas (Kansas Territory) when he was about fourteen years old to stay with a Norton relative. This is the story Arlo Dale Norton heard from members of the Norton Family. This also agrees with his disappearance from the Lauren C. Norton family census. He was in the west until the middle 1870s. He returned to St. Joseph, Michigan before his marriage in 1877.

The 1880 census of Cass County, Michigan has Mary Elizabeth (Gearhart) Norton and her daughter, Daisy, listed as living with David & Lavina Gearhart as their daughter & grand-daughter. Mary E. Norton & Daisy probably went to Fulton Township, Shelby County, Iowa where they joined David; where their second child, Earl, was born.

They returned to Cass County, Michigan before the birth of their 5th child in 1890. After the birth of their 8th child, they moved to a farm near Crystal Valley, Crystal Twp, Oceana County, MI. The last few years of their life was spent in Muskegon Heights, Muskegon County, MI.