Career
Joseph B. Noil enlisted in the Navy from New New York When he re-enlisted for a three-year hitch on December 29, 1874, he was described as thirty-four years old, born in Nova Scotia and a "Negro". His civilian occupation was as a caulker, and he was five feet, six inches tall.
While serving on United States Ship Powhatan at Norfolk, Virginia on December 26, 1872, he saved a drowning shipmate, Boatswain J.C. Walton.
On May 25, 1881, Noil, promoted to the rating of Captain of the Hold and serving on the United States Ship Wyoming (1859), was admitted to the Naval Hospital Norfolk, Virginia, suffering from paralysis. About a week later, he was transferred to Saint Elizabeth"s Hospital in Washington, District of Columbia, where he died on March 21, 1882, and was buried in the hospital graveyard under the name of "Joseph B. Noel".
Noil married Sarah Jane Gambier (1846 – March 6, 1896) of New York City. They had two daughters, Florence Gambier Noil (October 1871 – October 5, 1933) and Sarah East. Noil (b 1876, date of death unknown).
