It’s getting down to the wire! Have you finished your shopping? We have some very good shopping opportunities right here in the Caribou area. Many of them participated in our second annual Caribou Hometown Christmas this past Thursday. I hope you took advantage of the warmer weather and headed out.
But, if you are one of those last-minute shoppers, some great gift items can be found right here in our local stores and businesses. Many of them have participated in the Tri-Chamber Coupon Book put together by the Caribou Area, Fort Fairfield and the Central Aroostook chambers of commerce.
The coupon book has over 85 coupons, 39 of which are businesses right here in the Caribou area. Now here’s the plan for you last minute folks: Stop in at the Chamber office right here in the Nylander Museum and purchase one of these books for $20. Then use the coupons to do some local shopping with some great deals around the area. Sound like a plan?
These coupon books also make great stocking stuffers and Yankee Swap gifts. Buy yours today!
Sometimes, while I am getting my thoughts together, I look through a 1909 cookbook that was donated here recently. I like looking at the ads and trying to picture the business climate back in that time period. One that caught my eye was the B.O. Noyes company which has an ad for that business, then listed at 10 Main Street.
It made me curious because of Kimber Noyes, the wonderful guy I run into whenever I head over to the Noyes Flower and Gift Shoppe over on Franklin Street. It turns out that this B.O. Noyes would have been a distant relative, but his history is still interesting just the same.
The ad reads that the B.O. Noyes company sold watches, diamonds, jewelry, silverware, fancy china and cut glass, clocks, optical goods, sewing machine needles and more and also advertised fine repairing of all kinds. The building that housed the store is no longer there, but it wouldn’t have been too far from where our current fine jeweler, Freme’s Jewelry is now.
Byron O. Noyes was born in 1869 in Trenton, Maine. He was the son of George and Mary (Jarvis Osgood) Noyes. The family has a fascinating history and dated back to Rev. Nicholas Noyes, who with his brother, James, founded Newbury, Massachusetts in 1635. According to accounts, Nicholas was the first to jump out of the boat and touch land in that town. Nicholas Jr. was the presiding judge at the Salem witch trials and later repented for his part in those tragedies. Byron’s family descended from Deacon Cutting Noyes, Nicholas Senior’s fifth child.
Byron Noyes was in Houlton by 1900 and there married Sarah Verge from Newfoundland. By 1909, at least, B.O. Noyes had made it to Caribou and is listed in the 1910 census along with his wife and is listed as a jeweler. In the 1910 census, he lived on Briggs Street and all subsequent census records list him as living on Thomas Street.
Noyes ran his store for decades and is still listed as a store owner in the 1940 census. Byron and Sarah had but one child, Susie Minerva Noyes who was born around 1906. She married John P. Doyle in 1934. Living with Byron and Sarah for many years (through 1940) was a nephew, Herbert, who was a salesman in Byron’s store and was the son of Byron’s brother, Irving.
It appears that Herbert did not marry and thus the Noyes name through that side of the family died out in Caribou. Byron died in 1956.
The 1940 census lists one more Noyes family in Caribou, that of Clair B and Gertrude (Lloyd) Noyes. He worked for the Department of Agriculture according to that census record. He was born in 1893 in Smyrna and was the son of George and Mary Noyes. He died in Caribou in 1973.
I hope you have a great week!
Executive Director William Tasker may be reached in the CACC office at 498-6156 or email him at cacc@cariboumaine.net.
