History of H.S. Norton Company

The year was 1909, William Howard Taft succeeds Theodore Roosevelt as the 27th President of the United States, the U.S. Navy opens a base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, construction begins at the Harland and Wolff Shipyards in Belfast, Ireland on the RMS Titanic, and in Sodus, New York, Henry S. Norton along with his business partner Thomas Mitchell purchase the established Furniture and Undertaking business from James J. Wylie.

The firm name is established as Norton & Mitchell. This partnership continued until 1925, at which time Mr. Mitchell wishing to retire because of ill health, sold his interest back to Henry Norton.

The firm name changed in 1927 to Norton and Nelson, when Henry Norton sold an interest to William Nelson of Sodus. The business name continued until 1935 when Mr. Nelson moved to Honolulu, selling all of his shares of the company back to Henry Norton. The firm name then was changed to the H.S. Norton Company, under which it continues to do business today.

In 1944, Henry’s son Floyd Norton joined his father in the operation of the funeral home.
In a 1959 interview, Henry told the Sodus Record Newspaper that when he purchased the business, Main Street was a dirt road. Electric lights and telephones were far and few between.

After Henry died in 1966, Floyd continued the business with his son James Norton joining the firm in 1968.  James Norton continues today as managing owner, active director and President of H. S. Norton Co. Inc. 

In 1997, the Colvin Funeral Home on West Church Street, Savannah, NY and the Colvin-Robertson Funeral Home on New Hartford Street in Wolcott, NY were purchased from Don and Lynn Colvin. This allowed us to expand our core service area into Eastern Wayne County as well as Western Cayuga and Northern Seneca Counties. In 2011, an application for a name change was submitted to the New York State Department of Health. All three facilities would now operate under the name Norton Funeral Home.

In 2001, second generation owner/director Floyd Norton passed away.  In October 2006, Keith Benjamin joined the firm and continued his service until his retirement in 2016.

Today we continue with James Norton, Stacy Stevens and George Mull serving as licensed funeral directors and managers for each facility. 

As we proudly move forward in our second century of service, we strive to offer dignified, personal and caring service to the families who call upon us during their time of bereavement.