Sunday, October 13, 2013

The Noyes Line Women: "Tuggie" and Ida Noyes McIntire

Many of the "marked" females in Massachusetts to be coined witchy women were "hard-working, inoffensive women, possessing a marked individuality, strong intellectual faculties, quick perception and keen wit, united to a firm will and independence of action, characteristics which, in some way, had brought upon them the ban of the community." Sarah Emery Reminiscences of a Nonagenarian One famous Margaret "Tuggie" Noyes was coined "Witch," or the Witch of Falls Parish---but luckily it was after the days of the whipping carts and the gallows hanging fates, as her descendent notes she was more fortunate than the poor lasses who "were discovered by ecclesiastical tigers." Horatio Nathaniel Noyes Noyes Genealogy. Record of a branch of the descendants of Rev. James Noyes, Newbury, 1634-1656
According to two sources Tuggie worked in town for Mrs Moses Coleman (Dorothy Pearson) spinning and weaving. She loved her pipe and often bought her tobacco from Emery's Tavern. Not all locals felt the same and she was sometimes turned down for a cup of cider or smoke. Picture of Emery Tavern from


One story retold by Sarah Emery:One cold winter morning, David and his chum Nate Perley were on their way to school, when they descried Tuggie advancing over the half-trodden path, the hood on her gray lambkin cloak drawn around her face, and a bunch of woolen yarn in her hand.
"There's the witch," Nate exclaimed, lamenting the lack of a sixpence to place in the path to stop her farther progress. His companion expressed his credulity respecting such an effect, but nevertheless drew a sixpence from his pocket, which he adroitly dropped immediately before the old woman; she passed on directly over it with a courtesy and good day, and David again pocketed his coin, firm in the faith of Tuggie's innocence of the diabolical influence, with a full determination never to believe in any witch, save the witch of Endor." Tuggie is now a legend in the Noyes family and "memory should be held in preeminent regard."
Now here is another Noyes women from the same line....Enjoy and a big thanks to Karen Prasse League of Snohomish County Heritage Organizations for permission to share!
IDA NOYES McINTIRE, M.D.By Sandra Schumacher


Ida Noyes could have easily moved into the eastern blue blood society that enticed so many young women who were in her position.  Instead she chose a life of human service both in education and in medicine.  By the time she was born in Rhode Island in 1859, her family had been in this country  over two hundred years settling first in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1634.  Her paternal ancestors numbered several who chose the life of Minister and most graduated from Harvard University.  The Rev. James Noyes, also a Harvard Graduate, was one of the first trustees and founders of Yale University.
It should come as no surprise that there is little written about the accomplishments of her maternal ancestors, except for the poor Margaret Noyes who was declared a Witch.  This fate would not fall upon Ida Noyes whose  parents were on the move: by 1860 they were in Stowe, Maine and by 1864, Detroit Michigan where she attended primary school, high school and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1881.

Ida Noyes experienced a pivotal moment while a student at the university.  Her chosen field was Journalism, but while studying the Latin/Scientific course, she became interested in the field of medicine.  Following her graduation, she taught in the Detroit public schools for five years while she continued studying medicine at the Michigan Medical College.

from Roots Web

Soon she married B.N. Beaver and they moved to Dayton Ohio.  There she became active in the W.C.T.U. and became an important public speaker on their behalf.  She was one of three women who helped found ‘Bethany Home’….a refuge for “repentant and outcast women.”  Ida had not forgotten her love of medicine and her desire to heal, so she entered Woman’s Hospital Medical College in Chicago, a department of Northwestern University, and received her M.D. degree in March 1891.  She interned at the Woman’s Hospital for a few months, then moved to Denver Colorado and began the practice of medicine where she specialized in the diseases of women.
      It was Denver’s altitude that provided the impetus for her to move after divorcing Mr. Beaver and remarrying the ex-governor of Colorado, Albert W. McIntire.  They spent a few years in Cleveland Ohio before settling in Everett Washington in 1901, where Dr. McIntire opened her medical practice and private hospital at 3129 Colby.  She actively worked in the successful Washington women’s 1910 campaign for suffrage.  McIntire spoke to groups, helped gain continuing press coverage for the cause and frequently opened her clinic office for meetings of the Everett Suffrage Club.    
Ida Noyes McIntire was known as a highly gifted woman, active in local charities who considered human service life’s highest calling, just as many of her New England male ancestors had two centuries before.  Her decision to serve in the medical field was courageous considering the era in which she lived.  When she died in 1932, it was no surprise that she left the bulk of her estate for the welfare of retired Congregational Church ministers in the state of Washington.  It was her final tribute to her remarkable family and the last act of human service from a woman who lead the way for other female doctors in our community, and a person who exemplified leadership qualities that all can aspire to.
Additional info from Margaret Riddle and Louise Lindgren
Dr. Ida Noyes McIntyre, M.D. (1859-1932) was the Everett club’s Vice President.  She had come to Everett in 1901 to practice medicine and set up a clinic.   A dedicated suffragette, Ida had helped win the vote for women in Colorado.  She opened her clinic for meetings of the Everett Suffrage Club.
A colorful event captured front-page attention in both of Everett’s daily newspapers.  On July 5, 1910, Ella M. Russell, president of the Everett Suffrage Club, rose to her feet before sixty-five hundred people in a Billy Sunday crusade in Everett to answer an attack on women’s suffrage.  The attack came from Mrs. Rae Muirhead, a Bible speaker with the Sunday campaign.  Mrs. Muirhead opposed women’s suffrage and in her testimony that evening said that a woman’s role was to teach her sons to vote properly.  She also claimed to have received harassing letters from the Everett Suffrage Club.  Ella Russell asked to be heard and when denied, stepped up on a bench in front of the hall and began to speak.  Mrs. Muirhead,  Ella explained, was a woman of influence.  The suffrage club had written only in hopes of gaining her support.  Reporting this event in Votes for Women, Missouri Hanna wrote: “This event became the rallying point of an enthusiasm for suffrage which has put Everett in the forefront of the campaign.  Mrs. Russell is resourceful, she has rallied about her many able women and many novel schemes have been devised to further the cause of suffrage in Snohomish and adjoining counties.”

  • 1860 Federal Census, Stowe, Maine
  • Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: Noyes, Schenectady NY History
  • Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties, by Shiach, Eilliam Sidney eds. pub 1906 page 905
  • Issues of the Everett Daily Herald, and the Labor Journal and Votes for Women, 1909-1910.
  • Obituary, The Everett Daily Herald, June 29, 1932

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess Ida annoyed people.

Anonymous said...

Love all your blogs and articles. Keep up the good work!

Mel Potoczak

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