San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MARION TALMAI NOYES
More than sixty years have passed,
bringing with them wonderful progress and development, since Marion Talmai Noyes took up his residence in San Joaquin
County. A native of Indiana, he was born
on March 24, 1838, the son of Talmai and Nancy Brimhall (Noyes), both natives of that state. Grandfather Noyes was of English descent,
while the maternal grandmother, Lydia Gatteau before
her marriage, was descended from French forebears. When Marion Noyes was two and a half years
old the family removed to Illinois and settled in McHenry County and there he
received his education in the log cabin school and Marengo Collegiate
Institute. When he was eighteen years
old, he took up his residence at Marengo, Illinois.
In 1859 Mr. Noyes came to
California, spending the first year in Placer County, then came to San Joaquin
County, and for a year worked on the Dodge-Cole place of 1700 acres. In the fall of 1860 he went to the Puget
Sound country and was engaged in lumbering; later with Pope &
Talbot. Returning to California he
became interested in the copper mines at Campo Seco. In 1866 he returned to the Dodge ranch, and in partnership with Mr. Dodge, engaged in the
breeding of fine horses. Later Mr. Noyes
bought a ranch of ninety-five acres between Waterloo and the Calaveras River,
which he farmed to grain; an old house which was built on the place in the ‘50s
is still standing. For many years he
made this his home, meeting with good success in his ranching operations.
On December 7, 1870, Mr. Noyes was
married to Miss Phoebe C. Willoughby, a native of Connecticut, the family
tracing their ancestry back to Lord Willoughby of England. In 1905 Mrs. Noyes passed away and three
years later, in 1908, Mr. Noyes was united in marriage with Miss Clara Dodge,
the daughter of that honored pioneer, Jonathan Holt Dodge, whose biography
appears on another page of this history.
Mr. Noyes is a member of the Grange and the Union League Club, and a
Republican in politics. He has always
worked faithfully for the best interests of the community, and has through the
years served as county central committeeman and delegate to county and state
conventions. In 1858 he was privileged
to hear the great Lincoln-Douglas debate at Freeport, Illinois, a
never-to-be-forgotten incident, and one that has influenced his whole life.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
764. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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