NOONE, GEORGE [SSNE 7763]
Text source
George Noone: Joris Non, also known as Joris Engelskmann (most likely George Noon/Noone) was an English merchant residing in Norway in the first half of the seventeenth century. Non was a citizen and burgess of the city of Trondheim although utliggerborger (out-lying) status was applied to him as he resided further south in the port town of Molde in Romsdal county. Non’s burgess status in Trondheim could have been a strategic move in order to exploit contacts within the burgeoning foreign merchant community there or simply his initial point of residence before his activities in Molde and Romsdal. It is unknown whether Non was an independent trader, exploiting the benefits of Dano-Norwegian citizenship or whether he was in the service of the Danish Crown. At present it is unknown if he was serving or maintained relations with a merchant association in the British Isles. Non was listed as residing in Molde at earliest in 1612, where the majority of timber produced in Romsdal County was exported. He owned a farm and a sawmill in Romsdal and it is therefore likely he oversaw several stages of the production of timber for export. It is likely that Non traded stockfish as well as timber. He traded on a large scale both legally and illegally, so much so that the Bergen merchant community complained to Christian IV in 1628. In a letter to the king it was stated that under the guise of citizenship in Trondheim, but residing in the country, he was specifically exploiting his privileges. In contrast, a citizen of Trondheim later described him as both good-willing and noble. Non must have found it beneficially to stay fixed in Molde and Romsdal as he is noted as continuously trading with English merchant and skipper William Thirtell for over 20 years. Thirtell was among one of the skippers who the Bergen burgess community complained of in relation to Non in 1628. Non became a widower in 1633. He re-married the sister of a pastor’s wife from Veøy, in Molde’s archipelago. Non died in Molde in 1638. His daughter married an Englishman, Robert Cotton in the 1650s who was resident in Molde. Their daughter inherited £200 from Cotton’s family in London in the 1680s.
Sources: Sogner, Sølvi, ‘Hollendertid og Skottetid’, in Kjelstadli, K. (ed.), Norsk Innvandringshistorie, I, Pax, Oslo, 2003, pp. 304-5. THis entry was created by Adam Grimshaw.
Service record
- DENMARK-NORWAY, TRONDHEIM, MOLDE, ROMSDAL, NORWAY
- Arrived 1612-01-01
- Departed 1638-12-31
- Capacity MERCHANT, purpose MERCHANT