Person:James Noyes (15)

Wikipedia Extract

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Rev. James Noyes (born 1608, Wiltshire, England – died 22 October 1656, Newbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony) was an English clergyman who emigrated to Massachusetts. He was a founder of Newbury, Massachusetts.

Other Materials

Descendants of Reverend William Noyes: James Noyes Rev. Born, 1608, in Cholderton, Wilts, England. Died, 22 Oct 1656, in Newbury, Massachusetts. He married Sarah Brown, daughter of Joseph Brown, 1633. Matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford University, 22 Aug 1627, but was not graduated. In Mar 1633, he and his wife Sarah, brother Nicholas, and cousin Thomas Parker, with others, took the oath of "Supremacy and Allegiance", to pass for New England, in the "Mary and John", of London, Robert Sayres, master.

In 1633-34 he preached in Mystic, now Medford, Massachusetts and was made freeman 3 Sep 1634, was invited to Watertown but declined and with his brother Nicholas and cousin Thomas Parker, was among the first settlers of Newbury, Massachusetts in May 1634 or 35. Rev. Mr. Parker and Rev. Mr. Noyes began, almost immediately, to form a church. The first meeting was on the Sabbath and held in the open air, under a tree. Rev. Mr. Parker was chosen pastor "in the waye of church discipline which he then preached for, the congregational waye" (Newbury, p.17). Mr. James Noyes was, at the same time, chosen teacher of the church and remained so for more than 20 years. Will made 17 Oct 1656, five days before his death, and proved 26 Nov 1656. In it he mentions wife Sara and children, brother Deacon Nicholas Noyes and cousin Rev. Thomas Parker. Inventory of estate amounted to £657, 11 shillings, 4 penney.

Rev. Nicholas Noyes' Account of His Uncle Rev. James Noyes (Mather's "Magnolia")

"Mr. James Noyes was born in 1608, in Choulderton, Wiltshire, of Godly parents. His father was a Minister of the same town - a very learned man, - the school-master of Mr. Robert Parker, and he had much of his education and tutorage under Mr. Thomas Parker.

He was called by him from Brazen Nose College in Oxford, to help him in teaching the Free School at Newbury, where they taught school together til the time they came to New England.

He was converted in his youth by the ministry of Dr. Twiss and Mr. Thomas Parker, and was admired for his piety, and his virtue in his younger years. The reason of his coming to New England was because he could not comply with the ceremonies of the Church of England.

He was married in England to Miss Sarah Brown, of South Hampton, not long before he came to New England, which was in 1634.

Noyes-Gilman: "Soon after being called to teach in the Free School at Newbury, England, Sir Richard Saltonstall, Henry Sewall, Richard and Stephen Drummer and others were organizing a colony for the purpose of stock-raising in New England, and they interested in their enterprise many Wiltshire men. These, with Rev. Thomas Parker as their spiritual guide and teacher, became the nucleus of the colony, and through their cousin, both James, then but twenty-five, and his younger brother Nicholas joined the colony. James married Sarah Brown before emigrating.

In the same ship came Mr. Thomas Parker, Mr. James Noyes, and a younger brother, Nicholas Noyes, who was then a single man; Mr. Parker and Mr. Noyes, and others that came over with them, fasted and prayed together many times before they undertook this voyage; and on the sea Mr. Parker and Mr. Noyes preached or expounded, one in the forenoon, and the other in the afternoon, every day during the voyage, unless some extraordinary thing intervened; and were abundant in prayer.

When they arrived, Mr. Parker was first called to preach at Ipswich, and Mr. Noyes at Mistick, at which places they continued nigh a year. He had a motion made unto him to be minister at Watertown; but Mr. Parker and others of his acquaintance, settling at Newbury, and gathering a tenth of the churches in the colony, and calling Mr. Noyes to be teacher of it, he preferred that place, being loth to be separated from Mr. Parker and brethren that had so often fasted and prayed togetheer, both in England and on the Atlantic sea. So he became the teacher of that church, and continued, painful and successful in that station something above twenty years, without any considerable trouble in the church.

Notwithstanding his principles, as to Dicipline were something differing from many of his brethren, there was such condescension on both parts, that peace and order were not interrupted.

He was much loved and honored in Newbury, - his memory is precious there to this day, and his Catachism (which is a publick and standing testimony of his understanding, and orthodoxy in the principles of religion), is publicly and privately used in that town hitherto. He was very learned in the Tongues, and in the Greek, excelled most. He was much read in the Fathers and the Schoolmen, and much esteemed in the Ministry.

His conversation was so unquestionably Godly, that they who differed from him in the smaller matters as to discipline, held a most amicable correspondence with him, and had an high estimate of him. *** He was as religious at home as abroad, in his family and in secret, as he was publickly; and they that best knew him, most loved and esteemed him. *** He had a long and tedious sickness, which he bore patiently and cheerfully; and he died joyfully, in the forty-eighth year of his age, Oct. 22, 1656. He left six sons and two daughters, all of which lived to be married and have children, though since one son and one dughter be dead. He hath now living, fifty-six children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren; and his brother that came over with him a single man, is, through the mercy of God, yet living, and hath of children; grandchildren and great-grandchildren, above an hundred; which is an instance of divine favor, in making the families of his servants in the wilderness like a Flock."

"Massachusetts & Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis"

He also calls 'Thomas Parker' the cousin of James & William (p. 57):

"James matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford, on Aug. 22, 1627, but did not gradute, having been pursuaded by his cousin, Mr. Thomas Parker, to help him teach the free school at Newbury in Berkshire and to continue his own education with him. When the Mary and John reached Boston in New England in May, 1634, on the voyage from Southampton, these two cousins and several other kinsmen, including James's brother Nicholas, were among the passengers. Parker and Noyes took the Freeman's Oath on Sept. 3, 1634...."

"Mr. [James] Noyes's will, made Oct. 17, 1656, gave to his wife while unmarried the ordering of his substance, she to take counsel of cousin Thomas Parker, brother Nicholas Noyes and William Gerrish." [Essex Probate , I:245]

"Mrs. [James] Noyes cared for Mr. Parker during his years of blindness and his feeble health until his death on April 24, 1677. By his will she was given all his Newbury property, except land in possession of Nicholas Noyes, and all arrears due for his ministry." [Ibid., III:153]

Noyes Pedigree

Among his printed works are "A Catechism for Children", 1641, "The Temple Measured", 1647, "Moses and Aaron", 1661; the last two are at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Hudson and Mohawk Valleys He had a grant of land on which he built a house, about 1645, in which he, his family, and Thomas Parker lived. This house is still standing (1910) and has never known any owner but a Noyes, and is Newbury's proudest showplace.

"Mr. Parker and Mr. Noyes were excellent singers, both of them, and they were extraordinary delighted in singing the psalms. They sang four times a day in the public worship and always just after evening prayers, in the family, where reading the Scriptures, expounding and praying were the other constant exercises."

Legacy

"In his will, dated 17 October 1656 and proved 21 and 26 November 1656, 'James Noies' ordered that 'my wife shall have the rule and ordering with the disposing of all my substance I have, while she keepeth herself in an unmarried condition, and that she will take counsel of my loving friends cousin Thomas Parker, my brother Nicholas Noys & W[illia]m Gerrish, but if she disposeth herself in way of marriage, then my will is, that my friends above mentioned shall have the disposing of all for the portions of my wife and children as they shall see meet' [EPR 1:245; EQC 2:7].

The inventory of the estate of 'Mr. James Noyes, teacher of Newbury, who deceased October 21, 1656,' taken 21 November 1656, totalled £597 11s. 4d. (with debts owing from the estate of £56 10s. and debts owing to the estate of £60), of which £310 was real estate: 'the house and seven acres of land adjoining with the orchard,' £100; 'four acres of upland and four acres of meadow,' £20; 'twelve acres of marsh or meadow,' £30; 'two acres of arable land,' £10; and 'seventy-five acres of upland and meadow,' £150 [EPR 1:246-47; EQC 2:7-8]."^[2]

1.   Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   3:296.

   James Noyes, Newbury, one of the two first min. b. 1608, at Choulderton, in Wilts, near the edge of Hants, betw. Amesbury in W. and Andover in H. s. of Rev. William, who was instit. I find by the registry of that diocese, in 1602 as rector, but in 1621, resign. in favor of Nathan Noyes. His mo. was sis. of Robert Parker a very learned Puritan, driv. to Holland for his heterodoxy a. forms; and he was bred at Brazen Nose, Oxford, as his nephew, Rev. Nicholas in his acco. for Magn. III. cap. 25, Append. writes, and was call. away by his cous. Thomas Parker to assist him at the sch. of Newbury, in Berksh. He m. 1634, Sarah, eldest d. of Mr. Joseph Brown of Southampton, and in Mar. of that yr. emb. for N. E. in co. with his br. Nicholas and cous. Thomas Parker, in the Mary and John of London, preach. some short time at Medford, was freem. 3 Sept. 1634, and invit. to Watertown ch. but in 1635 went to Newbury, and tho younger than his collea. cous. d. first, 22 Oct. 1656. His will, made five days bef. ment. w. Sarah and ch. br. Rev. Nicholas N. and cous. Rev. Thomas Parker; the inv. show. good est. We owe gratitude to Mather for rare modesty in being content with the faithful and judic. contrib. of the Salem kinsman, of wh. in our day Eliot's Biogr. Dict. has well abbrev. the charact.

2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12} James Noyes, in Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (Boston, Massachusetts: NEHGS, 1999-2011)
   V:282-286.

   ORIGIN: Cholderton, Wiltshire [Magnalia 484; NEHGR 149:116-21].
   MIGRATION: 1634 on the Mary & John (on 26 March 1634, “James Noyce” was enrolled at Southampton as a passenger for New England on the Mary & John [Drake’s Founders 71]).
   CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to Ipswich church prior to 3 September 1634 implied by freemanship. Installed as Teacher at Newbury in 1635 [Magnalia 484].
   FREEMAN: 3 September 1634 (as "Mr. James Noise," third in a sequence of four Ipswich men) [MBCR 1:370].
   BIRTH: 1608 Cholderton, Wiltshire [Magnalia 484], son of the Rev. William Noyes of Cholderton, Wiltshire [NEHGR 149:116-21].
   DEATH: Newbury 21 or 22 October 1656 [EPR 1:246; EQC 2:57].
   MARRIAGE: Romsey, Hampshire, 21 March 1633/4 Sarah Browne, daughter of Joseph Browne [Magnalia 484].

3.   Massachusetts, Probate Court (Essex County). The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1916, 1917, 1920)
   I:245-247.

   Citing Essex Co. Quarterly Court Files, vol. 3, leaves 56-57.

4. ↑ Rev James Noyes, in Find A Grave.
5.   James Noyes, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.