Help with an ancestor

[FLman]

Looking for anymore information on our ancestor Alonzo Brown Noyes and what he did in the CSA. Here's a link to his ancestry profile.

Alonzo Brown Noyes 1813-1876 - Ancestry®

Research genealogy for Alonzo Brown Noyes of Newbury, Massachusetts, as well as other members of the Noyes family, on Ancestry®.

www.ancestry.ca

Thanks!

 

[nc native]

I'm having a hard time reading the records on Fold3 for Alonzo Noyes but he was a Master at the Naval Station in St. Marks, Florida in the Confederate Navy early in the war and then appointed Collector of Customs for the Confederacy and given the rank of Captain in 1863. He was later promoted to Major in 1864 according to his Confederate officers card. I also saw where he enlisted in the US Army before the Civil War so he apparently had prior military experience.

 

[John Hartwell]

Fold3.com has a large (142 page) "Confederate Officers File", which, as @nc native indicates is very washed out and often illegible. It will require a lot of eyestrain to work it out. Much of it is apparently financial receipts and requisitions as Collector of Customs at St. Mark's, but there's still much there to learn.

See:

https://www.fold3.com/search?view=B...derate)',value:'Civil War (Confederate)')))))

 

[RedRover]

At the outset of the war Mr. N. was collector of customs at St. Marks, Florida.... From Charleston Mercury, april 2, '61.

Mr. Noyes in 1861 was captain of a company of Florida State "coast guards" (one of a few such companies): formed for the defense of that point.

I interpret the above to mean that the company "volunteered" for Confederate service, but were not accepted or called to active CSA service, but were accepted for active State service for a short time.

Soldiers of Florida, 1903: archive.org

Anyways, after Noyes' company, above, was disbanded, about thirty of his men joined Company I, 5th Florida Volunteers at Camp Leon, FL. Some of them remained in St. Marks, and enlisted as CS Navy seamen after steamer Spray was commissioned in the CS Navy as a gunboat to defend St. Marks.

In the spring of 1862 blockade runners deposited an enormous cargo of British rifles to the Florida coast, at New Smyrna. Most of these arms were sent to A.S. Johnston's army, arriving in time for the battle of Shiloh. But some of the arms were pilfered while transported through Florida. Capt. Noyes was employed as a special agent to track them down... You can read of his work, and his official report, here:

Official Records, armies, 1862, Noyes.

As noted, in late 1862 he was appointed the rank of "master, not in the line of promotion" in the CS Navy. The only vessel at the St. Marks naval station was the small steamer, gunboat CSS Spray.

later in the war, as previously noted, he entered Confederate army service, as a staff officer in Florida. Example, by July, '64:

 

[ErnieMac]

Find A Grave link for Maj Alonzo Brown Noyes. There is a decent bio included.

Maj Alonzo Brown Noyes (1813-1876) - Find a Grave...

son of Thomas & Mary Polly (Brown) Noyes husband of Jane Frances (Cowan) Noyes Click Here for Family History Alonzo was born and raised in Massachusetts, the descendant of a first settler, James Noyes of Newbury. He moved to Florida sometime before Dec 16, 1841 [marriage record] when he was...

www.findagrave.com

 

[52ndFandS]

I'm having a hard time reading the records on Fold3 for Alonzo Noyes but he was a Master at the Naval Station in St. Marks, Florida in the Confederate Navy early in the war and then appointed Collector of Customs for the Confederacy and given the rank of Captain in 1863. He was later promoted to Major in 1864 according to his Confederate officers card. I also saw where he enlisted in the US Army before the Civil War so he apparently had prior military experience.

He was also a lighthouse keeper for the Federals and the Confederates.

I believe he was a captain in the Florida Reserves too.

 

[BCS1973]

With regards to "washed out" looking records on Fold3, It may be possible to get access to the originals. See Link below for a description of how that can work:

When Confederate Service Records are Unreadable or Incomplete - Gopher Records

Compiled Military Service Records (CMSRs) for Confederate soldiers are online, but many of the images are so faint that they are unreadable. In other cases, some pages seem to be missing from those online records. In either case, there is a solution that is not well known. All surviving...

gopherrecords.com

 

[52ndFandS]

With regards to "washed out" looking records on Fold3, It may be possible to get access to the originals. See Link below for a description of how that can work:

When Confederate Service Records are Unreadable or Incomplete - Gopher Records

Compiled Military Service Records (CMSRs) for Confederate soldiers are online, but many of the images are so faint that they are unreadable. In other cases, some pages seem to be missing from those online records. In either case, there is a solution that is not well known. All surviving...

gopherrecords.com

Actually all Noyes' papers are in a collection at Florida State University and maybe a relative can do what I cannot, namely, access them.

 

[lupaglupa]

Actually all Noyes' papers are in a collection at Florida State University and maybe a relative can do what I cannot, namely, access them.

Are they restricted access?

 

[52ndFandS]

Are they restricted access?

They are. They are not particularly forthcoming with me. Its a lot of paperwork from the ACW involving customs, so.blockade running.

 

[lelliott19]

He was also a lighthouse keeper for the Federals and the Confederates.

Perhaps CivilWarTalk member @Joshism can shed some light.

 

[52ndFandS]

Perhaps CivilWarTalk member @Joshism can shed some light.

Probably. I have a mishmash of actual information and some lore.

I do know a woman who's last name is Noyes but she gave me a blank look when I brought it.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

At the outset of the war Mr. N. was collector of customs at St. Marks, Florida

He was also a lighthouse keeper for the Federals and the Confederates.

There's no listing for Noyes in Neil Hurley's Keepers of Florida Lighthouses or the US Lighthouse Society's database.

However, if he was Collector of Customs that means he also held the position of Superintendent of Lights. That mean that he was responsible for nominating people for any lighthouse keeper vacancies that occurred within his customs area. Assuming Cedar Key didn't have its own Collector yet since the cross-Florida railroad was just being finished around that time, Noyes would have handled appointments for St. Marks Light and maybe Cedar Keys Light. (Egmont Key at Tampa Bay was probably under the Key West Collector; Dog Island and Cape St. George were under Apalachicola. Crooked River and Anclote Keys Lights didn't exist yet.) He would have almost certainly been involved in carrying out orders from the Confederate government to disable St. Marks early in the war too.

Most Collectors in the seceded states kept their duties under the Confederate government.

There are some postwar records for A. B. Noyes in the collection of the Amelia Island Historical Society in Fernandina Beach.

U of FL has a collection of papers related to Noyes' time as Collector of Customs:

https://findingaids.uflib.ufl.edu/repositories/2/resources/187

"The bulk of the collection is composed of receipts, vouchers, freight lists, registers, abstracts of duties, accounts, and expenditure lists for the lighthouse and port in St. Marks, Florida. These papers are in nine folders, and are arranged chronologically. The remainder of the collection consists of correspondence addressed to Noyes. The majority of the letters concern receipts of items, duties, and day-to-day business of the lighthouse and port. Other subjects mentioned are smuggling, freight handling, traveling time for ships, and the Union blockade on southern shipping during the Civil War. The bulk of the material dates between 1861 and 1866."

 

[52ndFandS]

There's no listing for Noyes in Neil Hurley's Keepers of Florida Lighthouses or the US Lighthouse Society's database.

However, if he was Collector of Customs that means he also held the position of Superintendent of Lights. That mean that he was responsible for nominating people for any lighthouse keeper vacancies that occurred within his customs area. Assuming Cedar Key didn't have its own Collector yet since the cross-Florida railroad was just being finished around that time, Noyes would have handled appointments for St. Marks Light and maybe Cedar Keys Light. (Egmont Key at Tampa Bay was probably under the Key West Collector; Dog Island and Cape St. George were under Apalachicola. Crooked River and Anclote Keys Lights didn't exist yet.) He would have almost certainly been involved in carrying out orders from the Confederate government to disable St. Marks early in the war too.

Most Collectors in the seceded states kept their duties under the Confederate government.

There are some postwar records for A. B. Noyes in the collection of the Amelia Island Historical Society in Fernandina Beach.

U of FL has a collection of papers related to Noyes' time as Collector of Customs:

https://findingaids.uflib.ufl.edu/repositories/2/resources/187

"The bulk of the collection is composed of receipts, vouchers, freight lists, registers, abstracts of duties, accounts, and expenditure lists for the lighthouse and port in St. Marks, Florida. These papers are in nine folders, and are arranged chronologically. The remainder of the collection consists of correspondence addressed to Noyes. The majority of the letters concern receipts of items, duties, and day-to-day business of the lighthouse and port. Other subjects mentioned are smuggling, freight handling, traveling time for ships, and the Union blockade on southern shipping during the Civil War. The bulk of the material dates between 1861 and 1866."

My mistake with 'keeper'. I should have been more specific.

Thanks for the info.