Posted by carolyn noble --Previous Message-- (Talk Was Conducted In 1939) (Note: During her work on a county history in 1939, Margaret F. Bishop traveled through our county interviewing the oldest settlers she could find. Most of this work went unpublished and through the years has been lost. However, some sketches she made still survive. Thus, your editor is very happy to make sure that these existing accounts live on by publishing them here in the columns of our little Magazine.. Miss Bishop did our county history a great service, indeed. In the following account, Miss Bishop interviewed a member of the Noble family in July of 1939. However, her notes on his name and location have been lost. We can deduct that he must have been quite old being born about 1845 as he states he was about 18 during the Civil War troubles with Captain Bill Strong (probably in 1863 or 1864). Some of the Noble family genealogists can no doubt tell us who he was by his wife's name. This is a splendid look back.) Tom Noble came from Scotland to Virginia, then returned to Scotland, married, and came again to Virginia. He settled on the Clinch River or Shenendoah Valley. I don't know whether he was the father of Nathan or not. Somewhere late in the 1790s probably the Nobles came into Kentucky. Nathan, Bill, and Enoch came; they were brothers. Nathan's wife was Virginia Neace, one quarter Indian. Her two brothers, Austin and Henry came too. Jake Neace and Sam Allen came later. They brought mules, horses, guns, and dogs. A gun and a dog were worth more than a thousand acres of land in those days. Henry Noble was my grandfather. He was the son of Nathan Noble and Virginia Neace. Henry had nine sisters and three brothers. Henry was the youngest. He married Isobella Akeman, my mother. I'm Henry's son and I married Isobella Neace. Yes, related to me. Henry Noble had nine girls and four boys. I had 12 children, 7 boys and 4 girls. Sons of Granville P. Noble were Elijah, lake, John, Elijah, and Jerry. Elisha, author of Bloody Breathitt, joined the U.S. Army before the Spanish-American War. He was crippled and discharged; he did not fight in the Spanish-American War. Lake and John enlisted in the Spanish-American War. They returned home. Lake shot and killed several men and escaped, a fugitive from justice, several years ago. Jerry got in trouble some years ago. I don't know if he served time in the state penitentiary or not. He had a general store in Jackson for several years, but returned to the country about three years ago. Elijah taught school many years, now in ill health. His wife is County Court Clerk. One of my great uncles settled down South somewhere; they still call the place Noblesville. I believe it is in Alabama. Yes, Nathan's brother, I believe his name was John Noble. Nathan and the people who came with him came through the Licking River and across to Buckhorn Creek. I don't know if they crossed the mountain between the Licking River and Quicksand or not. I recall that they told about Nathan and his party coming through the Cumberland Gap, because a big snowstorm came on and they had to stay there about two weeks. I have heard them mention Green River, too. They came down streams and through the forests. They marked their line they traveled through. My grandmother told me this. She was 113 years and a few months old at her death. Oh, she's been dead about 40 or 50 years, for my children are over 50 years old. They said Tom Noble came here to Virginia from Scotland when they threw America open for people to come in. No, they never had trouble with Indians. They told me about the Indians coming one time. They came through from Chilicothe, Ohio, where they had a village. The Indians went straight through here. They were on the way to Flint Mountain, after flint. Flint Mountain is on the head of the South Fork of the Quicksand Creek. The early Nobles are buried on the Noble family burying ground on the old home place. They had rock sides and ends to their graves, but some of them have been torn down. The graveyard is on the Solomon Combs home place. Yes, he's related; his mother was a Noble. I can read, but I can't write. I learned a lot of things from nature. I was about 7 years old when I first went to school. My uncle, Lawson Noble, taught the school. The schoolhouse was on a hill; down over the bank in a hollow was a creek. The schoolhouse was built of logs with logs split for seats. One of these logs stood out from the wall with the split side up and we laid our books on it. I ran away from school one time. Uncle Lawson wouldn't let me out. I watched my chance to slip out when he wasn't lookin'. I had to leave my book and cap on this split we used for a table, then I raced down into the hollow and across the creek. Next morning when I returned to school, Uncle Lawson asked me why I ran away. I told him I just couldn't stay there any longer that day, for I'd got to worryin'. He gave me a lick or two, but not very hard, then laughed at me. It was my first time in school and I'd not gotten used to it. This school was at the mouth of Leatherwood where it empties into Lost Creek. The building had a dirt floor and no windows. They cut a hole for the door. They had a fireplace that you could light the fire from inside or from outdoors. It was built that way. When I was about five years old there was only one store in Jackson. It was near where the Jefferson Hotel now stands, on the same side of the street. We had an awful hard time during the Civil War. They took our horses and we had to dig holes in the ground to plant the corn. We couldn't get a price for anything about the middle of the war. I was about 18 years old then. I was called pretty wild. Uncle Lawson was killed then. One time when me and my sister were going to the mill we were taken prisoner by Capt. Bill Strong of the Union Army. He had the Home Guards. They killed a lot of people around here then. Captain Bill was afraid we would tell we had seen something. They kept us about two days and one night. Before they took us prisoner, they shot at us. Jack Fugate told me he was trying to shoot as many men as lie could, trying to kill two at a time. He shot me through the wrist, see the scar? Now when people get to fighting, I tell them the law is alright; if you don't bother the law, it won't bother you. We raised flax and cotton, and the women made all the clothing. The women did the field work, too. The men did the hunting for the meat and to get leather for coats and boots. As a boy, I killed all the squirrels we needed, for a meal, with small stones and rocks. All kinds of wild animals were plentiful then, plenty of wild turkey and lots of pigeons, so many they'd darken the sun at times. They all left all at once, don't know where they went; some people said they went across the sea. Yes, we'd salt wells, one on Lost Creek. I made salt, myself, during the Civil War. We would pump the saltwater by hand, then we'd put it into the big salt kettles and boil it about two days and a night. When it boiled down, we'd have salt. The neighbors came a long way to get the salt. During the war we just made enough. for our own use because we couldn't get a price for anything. I lived at Leatherwood. I had about 600 acres of good timber and some coal veins, till I had to give it up. I went over near Hazel Green in Wolfe Co. and lived there 10 years. I owned timber there, white pine, spruce, and sweet gum. Another man set a mill on my place and we sawed all I didn't want to float down the river. Buck Creek was a line on my place. We cut logs and floated them down the creek to the Red River and then on to market. Father owned only about 600 acres, about two miles above the mouth of Leatherwood. It had fine timber on it, white oak, chestnut oak, and yellow poplar. It had five veins of coal. Jake got into trouble and Father sold it. The Akemens, my mother's people, lived on one side of the Kentucky River, and Allen Moore's family lived across the river. This was up at Barwick. Mr. Josiah Akeman lived on the James Moore property. James was a son of Allen Moore and the father of Mrs. Dora Noble, County Court Clerk. Here husband was Mr. Elijah Noble, mentioned earlier. His father, Granville Pearl Noble, lived with them in Jackson. My father had a two-story log house. We climbed a ladder up to the attic. I remember the first Indian I ever saw. At home they had scared us children with tales of what the Indians would do to us. There were two full-blooded Cherokee, Jackson and Polly Porter, who lived at the mouth of Troublesome. She was the woman doctor (midwife). They were friendly. Later they moved to Lost Creek. They had two boys, Dave and John Jackson Porter, and two girls, Marg and June. One day John Jackson Porter came to our house when I was just a little fellow. I climbed into the attic and looked down the hole I had climbed through. My mother had him come into the house to sit by the fireplace and get warm. I stuck my head out so far that I lost my balance and fell into the Indian's lap. He grabbed me and I was so scared that I caught my hands in his long black hair and pulled his head back so far it nearly broke his neck, or so the Indian said. I thought I had to fight him first or he'd fight me, but he finally loosened my hold. He married a white woman, a Miss Couch. Dave married a Negro. Some of their younger generation are around here in Jackson now.
on 12/18/2006, 8:04 am, in reply to "Sam Henry Noble"
: Hello, does anyone know of a Sam Henry
: Noble? I don't know who his wife was,
: I think he may have been married more
: than once. I know he had some children
: named Eveline, Maggie, Sally, Mandy,
: etc. This was back in the late 1800's,
: to the early 1900's. I would really
: appreciate any help. I know they came
: from Breathitt co. But before that, I
: don't know. Thank You, Pam
:
A Talk With Granville Pearl Noble - Aged 92
Message Thread:
« Back to thread