Philetus Walter Norris, founder of the village of Pioneer, was born near Palmyra, N.Y. P.W. Norris was one of Williams County’s early movers and shakers. He emigrated to Bridgewater Township in 1838. Mr. Norris was appointed the first postmaster of the Pioneer post office when it was established on April 16, 1851. On October 13, 1853, Norris had the village of Pioneer surveyed. In 1861 Norris served as a scout for the 14th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Civil War Regiment. Just prior to the Civil War Norris helped create the Williams County Pioneers Association. In 1877 he was appointed the second administrator of Yellowstone National Park. Norris also founded the village of Norris, now part of Detroit, and published a book, “The Calumet of the Coteau,” in 1883. After leaving Yellowstone in 1882, Norris worked for the government ethnology department. He died while excavating for artifacts in Rocky Hill, Ky., on January 14, 1885. This vintage Norris family portrait is believed to have been taken circa 1860. The vintage image is from the 1978 history of Williams County published by the Williams County Historical Society.
