Samuel Noyes

Biography

Samuel Noyes helped Abington, a Massachusetts town south of Boston, resist the loss of part of its territory in the 1720s. On September 5, 1726 the town chose him, William Reed, Mathew Pratt and Edward Bates to prepare objections to the Drinkwater district’s petition for separation. Samuel and Pratt were then appointed to carry the answer to court.

The objections were practical. Abington’s statement described a small community struggling to support its public expenses, with widowed households and newly married couples among those least able to contribute. It argued that the petitioners could reach the meetinghouse and that an improved road would cost much less than the town would lose through separation. Samuel was charged with presenting the town's objections.

In April 1727 he was again appointed an agent, this time to meet the General Court’s visiting committee and explain the town’s opposition. Nearby Hanover, Massachusetts, was nevertheless incorporated that year. The episode records Samuel’s active part in a disputed municipal decision, rather than merely attaching a title to his name.

He had come to Abington around 1712 with his older brother Nicholas. Born in Newbury, on the northeastern Massachusetts coast, to John Noyes and Mary Poore, he married Hannah Poor in 1714. Their children included Samuel, Daniel, Mary, John, Benjamin, Abigail and Jacob. He served as selectman in 1719, and Abington’s published clerk list places him as town clerk from 1724 through 1729. He died in November 1729, leaving children who were still young.

The family chronology places Samuel’s birth in 1691, with 1691/92 appearing in derivative accounts.