Rev. James Noyes of Newbury

Biography

James Noyes’s work joined teaching, ministry and writing. Born at Cholderton, in Wiltshire in southern England, in 1608, he entered Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1627. He did not take a degree. Instead, according to the family account preserved by Cotton Mather, Thomas Parker drew him into teaching at the free school in Newbury, Berkshire, in England, while continuing his education.

He married Sarah Browne shortly before their departure for New England in 1634. James, Sarah, his brother Nicholas and Parker traveled with the company associated with the Mary and John. The family testimony describes James and Parker sharing preaching and exposition during the voyage. It attributes his decision to emigrate to his inability to accept the Church of England’s required ceremonies.

After a short period at Medford, James joined the settlement of Newbury, on the northeastern Massachusetts coast, in 1635. Parker became pastor and James teacher of the church. Their partnership continued in the household as well as the meetinghouse. Newbury’s parish history records them living together first near the lower green and later in the house James built when the meetinghouse moved toward the upper green in the 1640s.

His book The Temple Measured addressed the government of the church: its membership, officers, powers and relationship to civil magistrates. Published in London with a 1647 imprint, it was already in the collector George Thomason’s hands in October 1646. James’s ideas were reaching readers beyond his Newbury congregation.

He made his will on October 17, 1656, shortly before his death that month. It gave Sarah control of his property while she remained unmarried and directed her to seek the counsel of Parker, Nicholas Noyes and William Gerrish. James left a household with young children and a body of religious writing. The account preserved by his nephew remembers a learned teacher and a long partnership with Parker; the will shows how closely that partnership also entered his arrangements for his family.

The burial listing associates Rev. James Noyes of Newbury with First Parish Burying Ground, Newbury, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States.