Lillian Nokes was born September 21, 1875 in Bellmont, NY. She was the third of four children born to Thomas and Lucinda (Coates) Nokes. Lillian was married to Alfred Shutts around 1896 in Ellenburgh, NY.
What makes the Nokes branch of our family tree particularly interesting is its striking similarity to the Shutts family history. The earliest known Nokes ancestor is John Nokes who, like Simon Shutts, lived in Albany County in the late 1700s. And, like Simon, John Nokes fought in the Revolutionary War, in the Albany County 14 th Regiment Militia. In 1787, just after the birth of his last child and our next ancestor, Simon Nokes, John moved his family from Albany to Swanton, VT. His name appeared in the first official survey of Swanton in that same year.
In 1806, still in Swanton, John’s son, Simon Nokes, was married to Clarissa Nash. Six of their eleven children were born in Vermont, before moving just north of the border to Noyan, Québec. Among those born in Swanton was Hiram, our next ancestor. In 1825 Hiram left Noyan and went back to Swanton to marry Naomi Lewis, before returning to Québec to live in the villages of Franklin Centre and Russeltown.
Having already moved from Swanton to Québec, it was Hiram and wife Naomi who then moved the family to the Chateaugay Lake area in 1846, settling in the town of Bellmont, NY. Among their 14 children was Thomas, father of Lillian.
Thomas Nokes, like Edgar Shutts, left home as a young man to fight with the Union Army in the Civil War. In 1864, Thomas enlisted in the 6 th NY Regiment, Company B Heavy Artillery. The majority of his service was spent defending Washington, D.C., with the Army of the Potomac. When the war ended in 1865, Thomas Nokes returned home, and eventually married Lucinda Coates in Bellmont, NY on April 6, 1870. Their third child was Lillian Maude Nokes, who married Alfred Shutts.
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