Historical Society Celebrates the Noyes Family

A presentation by the Sudbury Historical Society on Sunday paid homage to one of Sudbury’s founding families – the Noyeses.

To a full audience at , the Society’s curator, Lee Swanson, described the life and times of Peter Noyes, for whom one of the four elementary schools in town is named.

In 1638, at the age of 47, Noyes first journeyed from England to Massachusetts with his eldest son with the intention of establishing a new life for his family in America. Several years later, Noyes made a round trip back across the pond to retrieve additional members of his household. The family settled near North Cemetery in Wayland, which was then a part of Sudbury.   

As Swanson explained, the Sudbury River Valley was a prime location for founding a town. Because the area had been settled by Native Americans 10,000 to 12,000 years earlier, much of the land was already cleared, making it conducive to planting crops. The river was full of fish and the area’s expansive meadows contained an abundance of grouse and turkeys.

“However, he must have feared the wilderness and the heathen, he must have been excited about the possibilities,” said Swanson, citing the 1964 Pulitzer-prize-winning book, Puritan Village, about Sudbury, in which Noyes is featured.

Noyes went on to serve the fledgling town of Sudbury in many capacities. As one of the chief town officers of his day, he was responsible for levying taxes, distributing land, appointing town officials, and managing relations with neighboring communities and the Native Americans.

He was granted land to build a mill for town use which once stood at the site of the current Mill Village shopping center, so named to honor the spot’s history. Before the construction of the bridge that allowed some Sudbury residents to settle within the current boundaries of the town, Noyes’s son, Thomas, operated the rope ferry that carried passengers from the Wayland side to the Sudbury side of the river.

Around the same time that Peter Noyes settled in Sudbury, another Noyes, the Reverend James Noyes, also arrived. In attendance at Sunday’s event were several decedents of James, including Amy Bowker Noyes, who shared more details about her family tree and memories of growing up on what was once the family’s dairy farm on Peakham Road, and Robert Noyes, who led the town for 35 years. Robert’s father, Alvin, had led the DPW before him, and another ancestor, Fred, was the town’s first mail carrier.

Last to take the stage was Paul Weiss, who portrayed Peter Noyes in “Town Meeting Tonight,” a play about Sudbury’s history that was staged in 1989. Dressed in colonial garb, Weiss led society members in singing several songs from the play.

“In England,” said Weiss, “you were what you were born to be. What people like Peter Noyes brought over was a whole new way of thinking about life and liberty that had nothing to do with your birthright. Everyone had the opportunity and the responsibility to shape the town.”

As a final note from the family, Amy Bowker Noyes introduced her 8-year-old nephew, Nicholas, who suffers from a rare genetic illness called Batten Disease. Family members, who have set up a foundation called Our Promise to Nicholas to help support research into the disorder, explained that the genealogical records of families with well-documented histories like the Noyeses could be vital to science in finding a cure. They highlighted they fact that towns like Sudbury can play an important role through maintaining and sharing historical records.

The next scheduled event of the Sudbury Historical Society will be a walking tour of Sudbury’s town center on Oct. 2.