Thomas Noyes's Cocked Hat

Cocked hats (hats with the three sides of the brim turned up) like this one were popular in civilian and military life throughout the 1700s. They later came to be called “tricorns.” Old stitching holes reveal that this hat was reshaped from a 1770s style into its current shape. The hat belonged to either Thomas Noyes III (born 1729) or his son, also named Thomas (born 1754), of Essex County, Massachusetts. Both father and son served in the Massachusetts militia during the Revolutionary War. A label inside the crown has the name Luther Noyes written on it and refers to a later owner who may have been a descendant of Thomas Noyes.