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The DeNoons of Monterey County, California
The Ancestors' Voices Sing!
by David A. Denoon
Lineage
- William Denune (1699?-1758) & Elizabeth Duvall (1706-1766)
of Prince Georges Co., MD
- William Denune (1741/42-1778) & Elizabeth Duvall Forrest (b. 1737)
of Prince Georges Co., MD
- James Denoon (1764?-1824) & Elizabeth Simmons (d. 1844)
from MD to Richland Co., OH
- Elisha Simmons Denoon (1811-1888) & Julianna Fouts McGuire (1846-1925)
from OH to Numa, Appanoose Co., IA
- James Fouts Denoon (1846-1925) & Eliza Bills (1850-1902)
from IA to Novinger, MO
- Reason Ray DeNoon (1880-1972) & Virginia Kathleen Williams (1900-1996)
from IA to MO to Monterey, CA
Ray Reason DeNoon, Jr. (1920-1993)
James DeNoon (1922-1979)
Virginia Elizabeth DeNoon
Nell DeNoon
Alicia DeNoon
On January 24, 1998, while vacationing in New Mexico and California —
visiting friends and family and looking up some very distant
relatives — I met in person the DeNoons of Monterey County,
California: Betty Parsons, Nell Gardner, and
Alicia DeNoon-Harby (Alicia is since deceased).
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I had been looking forward to making this trip for a long time.
At a reunion in the 1970s, my father and I came across some
photos and an obituary of a Western swing and jazz musician from
Salinas, CA, by the name of "Big Jim" Denoon. An article also
was there, describing the big man's Dixieland-style funeral.
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So when I got to the area, I checked to see if any of the DeNoons
were listed in local directories, and spoke first with Margie
DeNoon, Big Jim's widow. She directed me to Betty and Nell.
I visited with Betty and Nell, and Margie, at Betty's apartment
in Salinas.
After a getting-acquainted time which included
the inevitable practice of trying to figure out if any of us
resembled other relatives, we took a day trip — lateral in
motion and a little bit backwards in time — to Monterey, where
we took in some sights of that beautiful city and stopped for a
while at Alicia's antique shop, across the street from the
Aquarium.
In six hours that day, I gained quite an education in the life
of this family with their roots in southern Missouri transplanted
in northern California.
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Also in that time, I began to realize some of the real depth
of what it means to come from an old heritage. Those American
families whose forebears came here as colonists,
servants, prisoners, and slaves have, sometimes unwittingly,
preserved the richness of the lands from which their ancestors
came. The DeNoons of Salinas and Monterey bear this out.
At left is a photo, dated 1934, of the DeNoon family in
front of their Missouri home. They are (at top) Jim and Kathleen,
(middle) Betty, Alicia, and Nell, (in front) Ray Jr. and Ray Sr.
Click here. The article continues.
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