John Norton: Witness for the Prosecution

John Norton, another important witness for the prosecution, seemed to be involved every time there was an Indian "outrage" on the island. He was Portuguese, born in 1823. He arrived at the Vancouver Island Colony in 1859, and his first pre-emption was taken out on Salt Spring Island in 1861. In the early 1870s, Norton married the very young mixed- race daughter of a Black father, Henry Robinson (apparently no relation to William), and his Irish Catholic wife, Margaret. They had 13 children.

It is John Norton who brings to the authorities evidence of the (otherwise unsubstantiated) Indian threats being directed towards settlers at the time of Curtis' death, and it is he who claims to have found one of the most incriminating pieces of evidence against Tshuanahusset: in Tshuanahusset's house he finds, but unfortunately loses, the augur allegedly stolen from Robinson. By 1891, Norton's land is amongst the most valuable on the island, being worth ten dollars per acre, more than twice the island average, and he is one of twenty percent of landowners declaring personal property of any value.