James Noyes

Biography

James Noyes was the fifth son of the Rev. William Noyes of Cholderton, Wiltshire, and his wife Anne, and was born at Cholderton in 1608. He was the cousin, on his mother's side, of Thomas Parker (1595-1677), who had been left to the education of William Noyes when his father Robert Parker fled into exile in the Netherlands in 1607. Educated under the guidance of his father, and receiving much instruction from Parker, he entered Brasenose College, Oxford in 1627, but did not proceed to a degree. After studying in Dublin, Oxford and Leyden, Parker returned to teach at Newbury in Berkshire, where he was assistant preacher to William Twisse: Parker summoned James to assist him, and under their guidance James found his vocation. In 1633 James married Sarah, eldest daughter of Joseph Brown of Southampton and his wife Sarah Hibbert, and on March 1634 Parker and Noyes, together with his brother Nicholas Noyes and nephew John Woodbridge, and their families, emigrated to New England. They sailed aboard the Mary and John of London, accompanied by the Hercules: the ship was detained in the River Thames where all passengers signed the Oath of Allegiance to the King and the Church before they were allowed to sail from London.

During the voyage Parker and Noyes preached or expounded every day, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon, and were "abundant in prayer". Arriving in May 1634, they made landfall at Nantaskut in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Thomas Parker went with around 100 others to the new plantation at Agawam (Ipswich, Massachusetts) where as Teacher he assisted Nathaniel Ward as Pastor. James Noyes served at first in Medford, the settlement on the north side of the Mystic River laid out for Matthew Cradock. Parker and his company remained at Agawam through the winter, and in the following spring sought permission from the General Court to settle on the Quascacunquen River (now called the Parker River). This was granted in May 1635, only weeks before the revocation of the (Plymouth Council) Great Charter of New England, and the settlement of Newbury, Massachusetts proceeded. A church (the tenth in the Colony) being gathered, Thomas Parker became their Pastor, and James Noyes, though also invited to a ministry at Watertown, preferred to join his dear friend at Newbury as Teacher. Both remained there for the rest of their lives. Noyes and Parker prepared students for Harvard, refusing all compensation for their services: twelve or fourteen pupils at a time were taught at the James Noyes House, where both men lived.

The following portrait of Noyes by Thomas Parker deserves quotation in full:

"He was a man of singular qualifications: in piety excelling, an implacable enemy to all heresy and schism, and a most able warrior against the same. He was of a reaching and ready apprehension, a large invention, a most profound judgement, a rare, tenacious, and comprehensive memory, fixed and unmoveable in his grounded conceptions, sure in words and speech, without rashness, gentle and mild in expression, without all passion or provocative language; and as he was a notable disputant, so he never would provoke his adversary, saving by the short knocks and heavy weight of argument. He was of so loving and compassionate and humble carriage, that I believe never any were acquainted with him, but did desire the continuance of his society and acquaintance. He was resolute for the truth, and in defence thereof, had no respect for any persons. He was a most excellent counsellor in doubts, and could strike at a hair's breadth, like the Benjaminites, and expedite the entangled out of briars. He was courageous in dangers, and still was apt to believe the best, and made fair weather in a storm. He was much honoured and esteemed in the country, and his death was much bewailed. I think he may be reckoned amongst the greatest worthies of his age."

The James Noyes House, built ca. 1646, is a historic First Period house at 7 Parker Street in Newbury, Massachusetts. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.