NOBLE, NELSON E.

NOBLE, QUANTZ, SIMKINS, ABERDEEN, WARBURTON, TORINE

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 12/2/2003 at 13:39:26

Biography reproduced from page 464 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Nelson E. Noble has for about seventeen years been a resident of Germania, where he owns an attractive and well improved property of eight acres. His birth occurred near Toronto, Canada, on the 31st of August, 1849, his parents being Stephen and Martha (Quantz) Noble. The father was a native of Canada, but of New England extraction, his ancestors having come to this country on the Mayflower. In his early manhood to crossed the border into Canada, and there he met the lady who subsequently became his wife. They made their home in Canada until 1865, when they became residents of the United States, locating at Coonwalk, Wisconsin, where the father, engaged in farming for five years. At the expiration of that period, in 1870, they came to Kossuth county, and for twenty-six years thereafter the father lived in Algona and vicinity. He subsequently removed to Germania and two or three years later he and his daughter went to North Dakota and filed on some claims. After proving up on his land, the father returned to this county and passed away at Germania in 1907. He was laid to rest in the cemetery at Algona beside the mother, who died in 1894. She was an American but of German and French extraction. They were the parents of three children, our subject being the eldest. George, the second member of the family, died in 1903. Mary E., the only daughter, is the wife of Mark Simkins, and is living in Hood River, Oregon.

Nelson E. Noble received a high-school education. He accompanied the family on their removal to Iowa from Wisconsin, remaining at home until he had attained his majority. Soon thereafter he rented a farm near Algona from Lewis H. Smith, and operated it for twelve years. His early agricultural experiences were fraught with the hardships and discouragements that so often fall to the lot of the pioneer, and on two occasions he suffered the loss of his entire crop from the grasshoppers. He removed from the Smith farm to section 5, Cresco township, where he had purchased a tract of raw land. After placing thereon the necessary improvements, he broke the land and prepared it for cultivation. For twelve years thereafter he assiduously applied himself to the further development of his farm, but at the expiration of that time he disposed of it and purchased his present place, in Germania. It contained eight acres of raw land, which he broke and placed under cultivation, planting thereon shade and fruit trees. During the intervening years he has made many changes in the place, which presents an attractive appearance and is a valuable property. He is raising Duroc Jersey hogs and keeps some Jersey cows, but not enough to entail a great amount of labor.

At Fort Dodge, this state, in 1872, Mr. Noble was married to Miss Georgiana Aberdeen, a native of Boston, Massachusetts. She first came to Kossuth county in 1869, but the next year returned to Boston, where she remained until her marriage. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Noble, as follows: Martha J., deceased; Harriet V., the wife of James Warburton; Margaret L., who married Samuel Warburton, of Swea City, this state; William, who is farming in Lincoln township; and Dora A., the wife of Gus Torine, of Ledyard township.

Mr. and Mrs. Noble are Congregationalists and their children belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Yeomen, Homesteaders and formerly he belonged to the Good Templars. He is a republican in politics, and while residing in Cresco township served as school director for twelve years and as assessor for one year. Mr. Noble’s residence in Iowa covers a period of forty-two years, during which time he has witnessed many changes, as the conditions that prevailed in the pioneer period have been superseded by those of the present period.