1502, discovering on the return voyage the island of St. Helena, which at that time was uninhabited. He reached Lisbon in July, 1502, and years afterward went to India with Francisco de Almeida.
NOWELL, Increase, colonist, b. in England in 1590; d. in Boston, Mass., 1 Nov., 1655. He was chosen an "assistant" in 1629, and arrived in this country in the "Arbella" with John Winthrop in 1630. He was appointed ruling elder in August of that year, but, becoming convinced of the impropriety of the union of church and state in that office, he resigned in 1632, was dismissed from the Boston pastorate, and became a founder of the church in Charlestown. He was a commissioner of military affairs in 1634, and secretary of Massachusetts colony in 1644-'9. At the latter date he entered an a8ssociation against wearing the long hair that was at that time a mark of "dignified office and estate," and wrote and spoke with much vehemence on that subject. He died in poverty, but the colony granted 1,000 acres of land in Cocheco county, N. H., to his widow, in acknowledgment of his services to the state. — His son, Samuel, treasurer of Harvard, b. in Boston, 12 Nov., 1634; d. in London, England, in September, 1688, was graduated at Harvard in 1653, and was chaplain under Gen. Josiah Winslow in the Indian battle of 19 Dec, 1774, in which he evinced "a fearless mien while the balls whistled around him." He was an assistant in 1680-6, and subsequently became treasurer of Harvard. He went to England in behalf of the old colonial charter in 1688, and died there.
NOYAN, Charles Désiré Amable Tranquille, Count de, French soldier, b. in Ruffec in 1690; d. in New Orleans. La., in 1739. He is sometimes confounded with a nephew of Bienville, Chevalier de Noyan, commonly called Noyan, junior. He entered the marines as ensign in 1709, and served for several years in Santo Domingo and Martinique, arriving on 25 Aug., 1718, in Dauphine island with the expedition under Count de Richebourg. In the following October he was detached to command the "Illinois," but having quarrelled with a brother officer, he returned to Dauphine island in time to take part in the expedition of Bienville to Pensacola. After the capture of that place, Bienville left the fortress in charge of Chateaugueay and Noyan. with forty soldiers, and returned to Dauphine with the main force. Meanwhile a Spanish fleet arrived at Pensacola, and, landing 900 marines, attacked the French. Chateaugueay and Noyan made a desperate resistance, but a Spanish sergeant, who had been taken prisoner by Bienville and carelessly permitted to remain in the city, incited a mutiny among the troops, and bribed the greater part of the garrison to go over to the Spaniards. Chateaugueay and Noyan nevertheless obtained, on 6 Aug., honorable terms of capitulation, and returned to Dauphine island, where they preceded the Spanish fleet by only a few hours. Bienville, who had already been informed of the invasion,
assembled friendly Indians, which he placed under Noyan's command, and thus was enabled to repel the enemy. After the departure of the Spanish, Bienville, re-enforced by the marines of the fleet of Chateaugneuf, repaired to Pensacola, and Noyan, heading again a company of Indians, was the first to re-enter the fortress. He was afterward sent to build pile forts among the Indians of the upper Mississippi, and explored the country, being also employed against hostile savages. On 25 April, 1720, he was appointed major of New Orleans, which post he held for three years, being promoted in 1722 assistant commander of the place. Having obtained in 1727 a land grant in western Mississippi, he founded there several settlements that were of great advantage to the colony. When the Company of the Mississippi surrendered its charter to the crown in 1732, Noyan, like many others, was left without employment, and returned to New Orleans, where he tried in vain to recover his salary and the advances that he had made to the company. He held notes for these amounts, but they were never honored, as the crown refused to recognize the claims of the settlers. Their descendants in Louisiana still hold notes to the amount of 600,000 livres, for the payment of which yearly petitions are presented to the chamber of deputies.
NOYES, Edward Follensbee, soldier, b. in
Haverhill, Mass., 3 Oct., 1832; d. in Cincinnati,
Ohio, 4 Sept., 1890. After an apprenticeship in a
printing-office, he prepared for college, and was
graduated at Dartmouth in 1857, and at the
Cincinnati, Ohio, law-school in 1858, practising in
that city till the beginning of the civil war. He
then turned his office into a recruiting headquarters,
and on 27 July, 1861, was commissioned major
of the 39th Ohio infantry. He continued in this
command during all of its operations in Missouri, and
was under Gen. John Pope at the capture of New
Madrid and Island No. 10. He was commissioned
lieutenant-colonel and colonel, and while building
bridges in Prospect, Tenn., he was also engaged in
securing veteran enlistments, with the result of a
larger addition of veterans to his regiment than to
any other in the National army from Ohio. He
participated in all the important engagements of
the Atlanta campaign till after the battle of Ruff
Mills, where he was severely wounded, subsequently
suffering the loss of a leg. On his recovery he was
assigned to the command of Camp Dennison. He
received the brevet of brigadier-general of volunteers
in April, 1865, and was the same month
elected city solicitor, and two years later judge
of probate of Hamilton county, Ohio. He was
chosen governor of Ohio in 1871, but was defeated
at the next election, and in 1877 was appointed by
President Hayes
U.S. minister to France. During
his service there he was sent on a special mission
to the East, visiting all the countries that border
on the Mediterranean. He resigned in 1881, and
resumed practice in Cincinnati, Ohio.
NOYES, Eli, missionary, b. in Jefferson, Me., 27 April, 1814; d. in Lafayette, Ind., 10 Sept., 1854. He was self-educated, began preaching in 1834, and in the next year, accompanied by his wife, sailed as a missionary of the Free-Will Baptist church to India. On his arrival he took charge of the mission at Orissa, was successful as a teacher and evangelist, became a skilled linguist, and published a Hebrew grammar. He returned to the United States on account of the failure of his health, was for some time a pastor in Boston, Mass., and edited "The Morning Star," a Free-Will Baptist journal. He delivered and subsequently published " Lectures on the Truths of the Bible" (Boston, 1853).
NOYES, George Rapall, clergyman, b. in
Newburyport, Mass., 6 March, 1798; d. in Cambridge,
Mass., 3 June. 1868 He was graduated at Harvard
in 1818, studied divinity there, was licensed to
preach in 1822, served as tutor in 1823-'7, and in
the latter year was ordained pastor of the 1st
Unitarian society of Petersham, Mass. From 1840
until his death he was professor of Hebrew literature
and other oriental languages, and lecturer
on biblical literature at Harvard, where he
received the degree of D. D. in 1839. Dr. Noyes was
an eminent Greek and Hebrew scholar, and
proficient in sacred literature. He devoted many
