Mrs. Lincoln's Trunks
William
H. Norton
Old
Lone Pine Road
Post
Office Box 505
Osceola,
Nebraska, 68651
April
10, 1997
Mr.
David G. Marwell
Executive
Director ARRB
600
E. Street Northwest, Second Floor
Washington
D.C. 20530
Re: Harold &
Evelyn Lincoln
Dear Mr. Marwell:
Please let this letter
serve as an acknowledgement of your letter of February 5, 1997, and our recent
telephone conversation with regard to the above named individuals.
As I advised you I
have in my possession three trunks which were shipped to me by Stephen C.
Blakeslee, Jr. I received these trunks in accord with the provisions of the
last wills and testaments of Harold & Evelyn Lincoln.
The trunks remain
unopened, and are presently in the possession of the County Sheriff of Polk
County, Nebraska. They were delivered to him for safe keeping while my wife and
I were vacationing in Mexico. Since returning, I have gone back to active
service as a District Judge in the Fifth Judicial District here in Nebraska. I
am presently filling a temporary vacancy which has occurred in the Fifth
Judicial District.
Because of this fact,
these trunks will probably not be opened and inventoried until later in the
year.
However, I bear in mind your concerns and I will keep you informed if any
materials are located which might bear upon the assassination of President
Kennedy.
Very Truly
Yours, SIGNED William Norton
Can you tell me what became of these items? The documents, the recordings and watch?
William
E. Kelly, Jr.
Browns
Mills, NJ, 08015
National
Archives and Records Administration
JFK
Collection
Archives
II, College Park, Maryland
November
20, 2018
Re:
Mrs. Lincoln’s Trunks and Mrs. Lincoln Project Papers and Recordings
According
to the attached word document and link to same, attorney Mr. Norton had
possession of two trunks that belonged to the late Mrs. Lincoln.
Can
you tell me if the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) made an attempt to
retrieve them? If so what became of them? What were the contents? Are the
contents a part of the JFK Collection at the NARA?
In
addition, it has come to my attention from the recently published book The
Inheritance, that other documents, artifacts and evidence (tape recordings and
watch) were among Mrs. Lincoln’s possessions that were inherited by Mr. Robert
White.
Can you tell me what became of these items? The documents, the recordings and watch?
I
understand that John Kennedy, Jr. obtained the watch at auction and intended to
donate it to the NARA. Do you now possess that Cartier watch?
It
is also been noted that this case was discussed at a ARRB meeting the minutes
of which were kept in the files of ARRB staff member Kim Herd in Box 4, that
inexplicitly went missing. Is Box 4 of Herd’s files still missing?
Can
you tell me if there are any other cases of such missing ARRB boxes from the
files?
Thank
you for your time and interest in these matters,
William
E. Kelly Co-coordinator
of Research Committee (CAPA) Citizens
Against Political Assassinations
Re: [19-09323] Mrs. Lincoln's Trunks and Records
Dec 6, 2018, 9:27 AM
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William E. Kelly:
This is in response to your November 20, 2018,
request for information about the records of the JFK Assassination Records
Collection. Specifically you are seeking information about Assassination
Records Review Board records relating to the trunks, and their contents, willed
by Mrs. Evelyn Lincoln to Mr. William H. Norton, as well as the various items willed
by Mrs. Lincoln to Mr. Robert White. Additionally, you have a question
regarding the location of Box 4 of the Kim Herd Files. We received your request
on November 21, 2018.
We searched the finding aids to the records of the ARRB and
identified the following boxes as containing files on Evelyn Lincoln, Robert
White, or William Norton. We've included series, box number, file name, page
count, and the locations of everything we found.
650L1 68:15:3 means Stack
650L1, Row 68, Compartment 15, Shelf 3.
Series 4: Box 18 Evelyn Lincoln, 49 pages, 650L1
68:15:3
Series 4: Box 68 Robert White, 122 pages, 650L1
68:16:2
Series 4: Box 69 Robert White, estimated 1,000
pages, 650L1 68:16:2
Series 4: Box 70 Robert White, estimated 300 to 500
pages, 650L1 68:16:3
Series 5: Box 29 Norton, 1 page, 650L1 68:18:1
(This is the Norton to Marwell letter you included in your request.)
Series 5: Box 56 Lincoln, 650L1 68:18:4 (newspaper
clippings, probably not relevant, so we didn't do a page count.)
Combs: Box 8 Lincoln Papers, 38 pages, 650L1 67:21:1
(material at JFK Library, probably not relevant),
Gunn: Box 6 Robert White, 173 pages, 650L1 67:22:2
Gunn Box 6 Evelyn Lincoln, 81 pages, 650L1 67:22:2
Herd: Box 4 (not on shelf)
Herd: Box 7 Evelyn Lincoln, estimated 1,000 pages,
650L1 67:23:5
Marr: Box 5 Evelyn Lincoln, 26 pages, 650L1 67:24:2
It appears that in addition to the material willed
to the JFK Library Evelyn Lincoln willed material that may have contained JFK
assassination record material to at least 7 people, including White and Norton.
All of these people were contacted by the ARRB at some point. There are
inventories of the material Lincoln willed to the JFK Library and of the items that
White intended to put up for auction in 1998.
We haven't found an inventory of the contents of the
Norton trunks. Beyond a few mentions, there's nothing much to be found for the
Norton trunks. The ARRB files contain no mention of any follow up on the
contents of the Norton trunks. We cannot say what, if any actions, were taken
to inventory the contents of the trunks, what they contained, or where they
might be now.
As you can see from the above list, there are
extensive records relating to the interaction between Mr. White and the ARRB.
We can make these records available to you at our College Park,
Maryland, facility. We can also arrange to copy them at a
cost of 80 cents per page. We do know that several items were withdrawn from
the planned 1998 auction, but we could not determine the current disposition of
those items.
The JFK wristwatch that was among the items willed
by Mrs. Lincoln to Mr. White. It was not withdrawn from the auction and was
presumably sold. We can find no record that has since been donated to NARA and
it is not part of the JFK Assassination Records Collection, nor does it appear
to be in the custody of the JFK Library.
Box 4 of Kim Herd's files in ARRB records is still
missing, but Box 7 contains a large file on Evelyn Lincoln. We're unaware of
any additional missing records in the ARRB records.
We hope that this information is of assistance to
you. If you have any further questions or would like to be sent an order form
for any or all of the above cited material, please feel free to respond by
return e-mail or by calling (301) 837-1993.
Gene Morris
Archives II Textual Reference Branch (RDT2)
Room 2400
William H. Norton
OBIT
YORK News Times
William H. Norton
Dec 6, 2003
Osceola resident, 77
The Honorable William H. Norton, 77, of Osceola,
died Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003, at the St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in
Lincoln.
He was born at Pierce, to William Wendell Norton and
Catherine (Hayden) Norton. He attended school in Osceola, graduating from
Osceola High School in 1944. He then began serving in the Army Air Corps, after
which he attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln where he was a member
of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He received his law degree in 1951 then returned to
Osceola to practice law with his father at Norton and Norton Law Firm.
He was united in marriage to Nancy Sayer. To this
union, one son and one daughter were born. On Jan. 27, 1973, he was united in
marriage to Margaret Watkins in Osceola. Judge Norton completed his last term
on the bench in 1991, but for the next eight years he was a state/district
judge willing to serve.
Bill was a charter member of Ryan Hill Country Club
and served on the Ryan Hill Board of Directors and was credited for setting up
the Albert Ryan Trust. He and his brother, James, established the W.W. and
Catherine Norton Scholarship fund in Osceola. Bill was also active in numerous
organizations including Osceola Chamber of Commerce, Annie Jeffrey Memorial
County Health Center Board of Directors. He was a member of the First United
Methodist Church where he served on the church board. he was also a member of
the Osceola Masonic Lodge #65 A.F. and A.M., Sestrosis Temple, Forty &
Eight Club, Osceola American Legion William Wolfe Post #91, the Polk County Bar
Association, the Nebraska Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He
was past president of the Nebraska District Judges Association, served as Polk
County Attorney, served as attorney for the Nebraska Rural Electric
Association. Bill was chairman of the Nebraska Power Review Board, and served
on the Osceola Cemetery Board at the time of his death.
Survivors include his wife, Margaret of Osceola; one
son, William Hayden Norton Jr., of Omaha; one daughter, Lisa Dale Norton of Gig
Harbour, Wash. He is also survived by two stepsons, John B. Watkins of
Baltimore, Md. and Laird W. Watkins of Lincoln; three step-grandchildren, Alex
Watkins, Andrew Watkins of Baltimore, and Cody Watkins of Lincoln; as well as
one brother, James M. Norton of Green Valley, Ariz., and Ericson; two nephews;
one niece; and other relatives and a host friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents.
Funeral services will be held Monday, Dec. 8, at 10
a.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Osceola with Rev. Richard Dimond
officiating. Visitation will be Sunday, Dec. 7, from 3-7 p.m. at Roberts-Dubas
Funeral Home in Osceola. Burial will be in the Osceola Cemetery.
Roberts-Dubas Funeral Home is in charge of
arrangements.
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