U. G. Norman has found his work in life and has rendered his chief service during his residence at Champaign as a building contractor. Some of the principal buildings of the city have been erected by him.
A resident of Champaign County most of his life, he was born in Wayne County, Indiana, April 14, 1867, a son of John Scott and Eunice A. (Stover) Norman. His father was a farmer, and in 1869 removed to Champaign County, locating on a farm ten miles from Urbana, where he was engaged in general farming and in looking after the responsibilities and duties of a good citizen until his death in 1897. The mother died in 1912.
The sixth of his parents’ children, Ulysses G. Norman grew up in the country, attended the local schools, and was at home on the farm until he was twenty-two. Then for a year he farmed and having acquired in the meantime a practical knowledge of carpentry he made his first venture in the building business by the purchase of a plat of land which is now known as the Norman Addition, and on which he built apartments and residences. After this initial success and experience he removed to Champaign in 1889 and now for nearly thirty years has been engaged in business as a contractor and builder. Among the more notable structures he has erected are the Dr. Howard Building, the Gazette Building and a number of the better residences.
Mr. Norman married Miss Minnie Osborne, a native of Champaign County. Mrs. Norman was a teacher in the city schools of Champaign for five years and taught in the country a similar length of time. She is a daughter of Robert and Margaret (Henley) Osborne, her father a native of Ohio and her mother of Tennessee. Both parents are now deceased. Her father was a farmer and building contractor. Mrs. Norman was next to the youngest of the family of six children. To their marriage have been born four children: Louise E., Helen Grant, Margaret A., and Hartwell Osborne. Mr. Norman is independent in matters of politics, and he and his wife are active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is serving as a steward.
