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Elmer J. Noble
Born May 27, 1824 |
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Elmer J. Noble, who occupies one of the finest homes in Castle Grove township, was born in Pickering township, province of Ontario, Canada, August 2, 1855, and is a son of Alfred and Margaret Hawkins (Vardon) Noble. The former was born in Markham, Ontario, Canada, May 27, 1824, his parents being Ambrose and Hannah (Badgerow) Noble. Ambrose Noble was a native of Lowell, Massachusetts, while his wife was born in the vicinity of the town. As a young man he walked to Canada, carrying a bundle of his possessions over his back, and his wife's people also journeyed on foot to that country, driving two cows with them. They located in the forest, about sixteen miles from Toronto, where Ambrose Noble procured a farm and conducted a tannery in connection with his agricultural interests. Nine of the children born to him and his wife are now living. Alfred, the eldest, was the father of our subject; and Martin, the youngest now resides with Alfred's widow.
During all his life Alfred Noble followed farming. He was about forty-three years of age when, in 1867, he came to the United States and located in Castle Grove township, Jones county, Iowa. Here he purchased one hundred and sixty acres, to which he added one hundred and sixty more in the course of a few years, making a farm of three hundred and twenty acres on which his son Elmer now lives. Some years later he bought one hundred and twenty acres, adjoining the first farm, on which his widow now lives and which was his home until January 18, 1891, when he responded to the call of death. The greater number of the improvements on the two farms are largely the result of his efforts, for he was a man who had learned well the lessons of tilling the soil to the best advantage and lost no opportunity of increasing the value of the land he held. In March, 1847, Alfred Noble wedded Miss Margaret Hawkins Vardon, who was born in New Brunswick, January 19, 1829, on the farm on which her father, Thomas Vardon, was brought into the world. Her mother was also a native of New Brunswick, having been born in Penfield, near St. Johns. In the year 1840, Mr. Vardon moved his family to Ontario, where he and his wife passed the remaining years of their lives. Of the eleven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Noble four died in infancy. The others are Hannah, who died at the age of nineteen years; Emma, who is the wife of Kenneth McCoullough, of Long Beach, California; Elmer J., the subject of this sketch; Marshall, of Houston, Texas; Harriett, the wife of Frank Scott, of Chico, California; Nellie, the wife of John Deischer, of Castle Grove township; and Minnie, who married Albert Starr, of Oelwein, Iowa. Blanche, the youngest of the family, died at the age of three years.
Elmer J. Noble was about twelve years of age when his parents came to this county, and now for more than forty years has been a farmer in Castle Grove township, for he worked for his father for a number of years, and later assumed the full management of the home place. It consists of the three hundred and twenty acres first purchased by his father and is under a high state of cultivation. He assisted the older man in the erection of the many outbuildings which are one of the features of the place, but the handsome twelve room dwelling, which was built in 1904, is the results of his own efforts and planning. Although its size alone would entitle it to special recognition among the houses of the township, it is its equipment, the modem conveniences and the many touches of refinement that have given it the name of being one of the finest in this county.
It was in 1881 that Mr. Noble was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Scott, who was born in Castle Grove township, March 1, 1864, and is a daughter of Napoleon B. and Mary Jane (Twamley) Scott. Mr. Scott Was a native of Indiana and has now passed away, but his wife is residing in Lyon county, Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. Noble four daughters have been born: Blanche, Elsie Claire, Grace Darling and Florence Elizabeth.
Since the organization of the Peniel Presbyterian church of Castle Grove township about eight years ago the family have been members of its congregation and Mr. Noble has been one of its elders. Politically he finds himself in sympathy with the republican party and has taken some part in local affairs, although he could hardly be called a seeker for official preferment.
Source: History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 350. |
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© Copyright 1997-2013, The Art Department, © Copyright 2014-2020, Richard Harrison.
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