Cassimere Noel was born January 8, 1853 in Lacolle, Quebec, Canada, a son of Pierre Noel and Justine Noel. He married Odile Hinckell, date and place unknown. Odile was born about March of 1850 in Canada; her parents are unknown. The couple immigrated to Canada sometime before 1872, the date of birth of their first child, who was born in Williamstown, MA. Cassimere was, like many of the Noel men, a stone mason by trade; and, also like some of the Noel men, contributed to the building and expansion of Williams College in Williamstown. In 1892, it is documented that he was paid for general repairs to the institution.
Cassimere had a great sense of civic pride in his new hometown. He became a trustee for the Williamstown Savings Bank. He was also very involved in the Gale Hose Company, the volunteer fire department in Williamstown.
Cassimere and Odile were parents to the following children:
Victor M.- Born August 8, 1872 in Williamstown, Victor was not named at the time of his birth. Victor opened Berkshire Cash Grocery on North Street in Williamstown in 1897; later that year, he buys his brother Edmond's meat market to incorporate into the business. However, his store is closed by creditors on Dec. 17. Four days later, the fresh meat in the store is auctioned off and bought by brother Edmond. In Feb of 1898, Edmond obtains his auctioneer's license to sell the stock from Victor's store. Victor relocated to New York City sometime in 1898. In 1900, he was reported to have gone to South America to remain for an indefinite period of time on business. In May of 1900, Victor was reported to be in the Army in the heavy artillery division stationed in Havana, Cuba. Victor served in the Spanish-American War. Victor also married and had a daughter, Marguerite--dates and places of these events, along with the name of his wife are unknown. It is known that his wife died before 1930, as he is listed as a widower in that year's census.
Victor Noel died in July of 1936. His place of death is unknown. His last known place of residence, in 1930, was with his brother Henry in Springfield, MA. His next of kin is listed on his cemetery record as "Father Dudley". He is buried in Eastlawn Cemetery in Williamstown.Clara- Born July 8, 1874 in Williamstown. Clara attended St. Anne's Convent School in Lachine, Quebec, Canada; she was also employed for a time at Christie & Co. in Williamstown--this seemed to have been a department store of some sort.
Clara married Arthur Gingras, a shoe salesman and had 6 children: Henrietta, born about 1906; Leonie, born about 1908; Marie Claudia, born about 1909; Maurice, born about 1910 and died Oct 1958; Paul, born about 1915 and died 15 May 1992; and Arthur J. or "Junie", born about 1918. No dates of death known for Clara or Arthur.Charles G.- Born June 9, 1876 in Williamstown and died of "no strength" 4 days later on June 13.
Eleisa L.- Born March 20, 1876 in Williamstown. Eleisa also attended St. Anne's Convent School in Lachine. A talented pianist and opera singer, she attended the Boston Conservatory of Music. She earned a scholarship at Williams College as well as an opportunity to study at La Scala in Milan, Italy; however, she turned this down for fear of seeming unladylike. She was a music teacher for a time. She married violinist Leon George Girard (b. April 3 1883) on April 6, 1904 at the Perpetual Help Church in Holyoke, Hampden Co, MA. The couple had the following children:
Lionel Teophile Georges, born in February 1908 and died of convulsions and acute indigestion 9 months later in November.
Don-nothing known about Don.
Beatrice Adele was born about 1913 and died in 1993. She inherited her mother's musical talent and could sing and play the harp. She could also draw and paint. She auditioned for the part of Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind." And she was athletic to boot! She married Joe Marsala, a clarinet player, on July 18, 1937 in New York City. An extremely informative and well written artice, "The Sweethearts of Swing outlines the life of Joe Marsala and Adele Girard. Click on the link and take a trip back to the time when swing was king!Henry H.- Born June 5, 1881 in Williamstown. Henry attended Williamstown High School, where he was active in the Chess Club, and Albany Business College. After spending about 10 years in the clothing merchandising business and some years as the general manager of Central Coal in Wilkes-Barre, PA, Henry went into the insurance business in Holyoke, MA and was quite successful. He was involved in quite a few local civic and political endeavors; and he was included in a book about prominent citizens of Massachusetts. He married Anna Hagen of Little Rock, Arkansas on August 30, 1915 in New York City. The couple had no children.
In August of 1953, Henry Noel and his wife were awakened by the sound of intruders breaking into their home. When Henry went down to investigate the cause of the commotion, one of the intruders shot and killed him. Henry was buried in Eastlawn Cemetery in Williamstown. His wife Anna lived 25 more year, dying on November 20, 1978 in Holyoke. She was buried in Eastlawn Cemtery in Willamstown with Henry.Cassimere Noel had tumors removed in September of 1898 and January of 1899. Although he was able to go back to work a week after the latter surgical procedure, he would not maintain such robust health for long. The tumors were apparently cancer; and Cassimere succumed to the disease on August 21, 1899. However, he did not die alone; the members of the Gale Hose company, two at a time, sat up nights with the ill Cassimere so he would not be alone in the days before his death. He was buried at Eastlawn Cemetery in Williamstown.
Cassimere died before his daughters became wives and mothers. The children of Clara and Eleisa spent many, many days at the home of their grandmother Odile--either climbing trees or climbing ladders to the roof of the house and then jumping off the roof. A passerby once saw all the children in the tree at the same time and remarked that it looked like a monkey tree!
Odile Hinckell died May 28, 1924 in Williamstown. She was buried in Eastlawn Cemetery.Credit--along with many, many thanks!--goes to Eleisa Marsala Trampler and Peg Gingras for the information on this page.
This page was updated February 2008. .
Noel Family of Brockton, MA by Jolynn Noel Winland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States LicenseWhat does this mean?
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