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Their marriage was blessed with six daughters - Jeanette Mary, Sarah Jane, Persis Angela, Adelaide Hanna, Eva and Josephine. Gershom had a shipyard on the east bank of the Ashtabula River between the years1844 and 1867. John D. Bugbee, J. G. Shaler and Perry White may have been among his master ship carpenters. The following vessels - all schooners - were built at the above mentioned yard: Bennington (1844), Cadet (1845), Sylph (1847), Pilot (1848), Ashtabula (1852), America (1853), E. G. Grey (1854), New Lisbon (1855), Adriatic (1856) with H. C. Ackley, Sioux (1856), Oneida (1857), Boston (1861), Ploughboy (1862) Jessie (1863), Julia Willard (1865), and Amaretta Mosher (1867) with Alfred Mosher. Gershom A. Thayer was also a ship captain. He passed from this life on August 6, 1886 and is buried in Chestnut Grove Cemetery, Ashtabula, Ohio. JOEL RUSSELL NORTON (1802-1879) Joel Russell Norton was born to Daniel and Lois Hill Norton on January 27, 1802 in Madison, Ohio. He joined in marriage with Orpha Foster and their union was blessed with five children: Marvin, Janette, Russell, Oliver and Henry. Norton built vessels at Madison Dock, Ashtabula and Fairport, Ohio. At Madison Dock, he is credited with building the schooner Helen in 1835 for Judson Harper and Mosely, followed by the tug George Mitchell (1845) and schooners Philena Mills (1846) and G. R. Roberts (1847). The scow schooner Forest Chief was built at Ashtabula in 1853. Lawson S. Custin assisted Norton in building the Monticello at Fairport. Built for Colonel D. Russel and the Geauga Iron Company, she was launched on October 29, 1847. The Herald reported on November 3, 1847 that she was said to be "the finest craft of the kind (and the only one up to that time) ever built at the port." Other vessels built by Joel Norton at Fairport were the sidewheeler Columbia (1848), schooners Sarah A. Green (1847), Matt Root (1855) and Calvin Snell (1857); scow schooner Flying Dutchman (1845); and the scows Mirage (1848) and Evaline (1857). Joel Russell Norton passed away on September 15, 1879 at the age of 77 years. ROSWELL HAYES (1816-1897) Shipbuilder Roswell Hayes was born on December 10, 1816 in Burton Station, Geauga County, Ohio, to Ebenezer Hayes and Pauline Ford. According to Richard Wright, Ebenezer came to Burton, Ohio in 1785 from Russell, Massachusetts, and by 1820 had relocated to Fairport, Ohio. 182