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I typed this up for you. It's the history of when/how the Nobles came to WI.
I also came across an invitation to a Noble family reunion from 1992. The reunion was organized by:
Elizabeth Noble
26820 Plank Rd
Burlington, WI 53105
She might be able to supply you with more information.
Good Luck! I hope you find what you are looking for :)
Amanda Scott
Noble Family
John Noble was born in the Parish of Huddersfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England in 1972. He was married in England to Marhta Dyson who was born in England in 1795. They had eleven children, three daughters and eighyt sons who were born in England, the first four near Huddersfield, Yorkshire and the last seven in the Parish of Halifax, Yorkshire. Their sixth child, and infant daughter Etta, died in England in 1826.
In the Parish of Rastrick, John was a manufacturer of fancy goods for the firm of Noble, Starkey, and Helm. He also kept a small grocery store. In 1840 Mr. Helm bought out the interests of Mr. Noble and Mr. Starkey. The Nobles and the Starkeys had decided to emigrate to America.
On August 10th of 1841 the party of emigrants left their native homes in Rasterick bound for America. Leaving were John and Martha Noble, eight of theor children; Ann, Simeon, John, Henrietta, Henry, Lewis, Dyson, and Allen, and Ann Haigh, Henry and Ann Gooder, and Sarah Dickenson. In the company of relatives and friends they all went to the Brighouse station. Their farewells were said to those that thet would never see again. On board the train, they left for Manchester, where they took the canal boat for Runken. From there they took a boat to Liverpool, where they remained until the 14th. They then boarded the sailing ship GARRICK bound for New York. After a pleasant voyage of 28 days they arrived in New York.
The men left their families at a hotel and went out in search of a home. They found one occupied by two Irish women in the basement, and a woman in the second story. Everyone, except the Gooders and Mrs. Dickenson (who went to New Jersey) moved into this house. A month later they were joined by a Mr. Walker, a large family named Smith, and the Noble's son James, his wife Zilpha, and their son John William who had been born in August. His birth had been the reason why James and Zilpha did not join the others in the crossing.
Aftergetting the families settled, John and Mr. Starkey traveled to Wisconsin to buy government land. John purchased three "eighties" and a "forty" and Mr. Starkey bought the same amount. This land included what is now Waterford Woods. They contracted with a Mr. Rice to build two frame houses to be ready the following spring. They returned to New York to spend the winter which proved to be mild with little snow. The smaller children attended day school and Sunday School and awlays were to remember the kindness of their teachers.
While in Wisconsin, JOhn found that there were no pennies in circulation and that eight dimes made a dollar. Back in New York he exchanged several hundred dollars for dimes to be used in paying for things that they would need to buy in Wisconsin.
In April the party "bade adieu" to New York and rode on an immigrant boat towed by a steamer, up the Hudson River taking two days to reach Albany. Then they went up the Erie Canal to Buffalo where they took a steamer bound for Racine, Wisconsin and landed there the morning of May 7th, two weeks from the time they had left New York City. The man procured teams and wagons to take them to their destination. They drove ten miles west to Ives Grove and spent the night in a log cabin tavern. In the early morning they resumed their journey. There were not many houses along the way, the grass was a foot high and there seemed to be gardens of flowers everywhere. They saw prairie chickens and quail. They reached the Rice home in the afternoon and remained there for a few days while getting the houses ready for occupancy.
Then John and Mr. Starkey learned there was more governement land for sale, which was located along Eagle Creek (English Settlement). John bought five "eighties" on the southside of the creek and Mr. Starkey bought the same on the northside. Then they decided it would make a more suitable arrangement to trade. Mr. Starkey took allthe land at Waterford and John took Mr. Starkey's land on the Northside of the crrek. This meant that another house had to be built.
At this time their youngesst daughter, Henrietta, died at the age of fifteen. She was buried at the Rochester Cemetary.
Soon John put up the largest house in the neighborhood. It was 19x22 with fourteen posts and wings 16x16 on each side. His son james was the carpenter assisted by another son Henry. They lived in the home of Mr. Tinker until moving into the new house in November.
Now they found themselves surrounded by other English families: Cockrofts, Tinkers, Armitages, Earnshaws, Woodheads, Scotts, Hinchcliffes, Hankinsons, and others. The area was rightly called English Settlement, even though a Scotch family by the name of Stenhouse had come in 1841 as the first settlers in the region and called in Edinbro.
They attended worship in the small chapel in Rochester when the weather was fit and dreamed of a place of worship near their home. In September, the first religious services were held in the home of James Tinker, with their son Joseph being the preacher.
In October, after the frost had withered and dried the vegetation, the wind blew in a great prairie fire. Everyone was kept busy protecting their own and their neighbors' houses, buildings, and stacks. With the men, women, and children beating the fire with boughs and throwing water on the ground, they managed to save the neighborhood.
John was a singer and belonged to a glle club. On Christmas Eve he accompanied the other men in the area as they went from house to house to sing Christmas carol, the old Christmas hymn they sang in England being a favorite. It was an English custom to invite the singers into the homes to eat currant bread and cheese.
The first winter in Wisconsin proved to be one of the coldest in the memory of the settlers. The first snow came November 9th and remained until the following April. Few had overcoats and overshoes were unknown. Many times they would awake to find their boots frozen to the floor in the snow that had blown in through the cracks in the walls during the night. Meals were generally the same every day; consisting of milk, porridge, bread and butter, tea without sugar or coffee, pork, potatoes, and pudding. Before winter was over the meals became rather sparce with the pork nearly finished and the milk getting very little due to the poor quality of hay for the cows. When it was not too cold, the men spent their time cutting wood for rail fences. By March the settlers' roundabout had succeeded in getting 4000 logs to the saw mills at Rochester and Waterford to send down the river when the ice broke up.
On the 4th of July, a party from the English Settlement drove down to Burlington with an ox team to the celebration of Independence.
Soon a school district was formed, with John Noble being elected one of the trustees. They hoped to build a school in the near future. Regular Sunday afternoon services were still being held in the Earnshaw home. John Noble, Mrs. Earnshaw, and Mrs. Bottomley had organized the first Sunday School so the Sunday School services were being held there also. John Noble and Edwin Bottomley each taught one Sunday a month while others took turns the other two Sundays.
The second winter of 1843-1844 proved to be very mild and open.
In 1845 the first school house was built. A schoolmaster was engaged for three months at $15 per month. Each family sending children paid their porportionate share as there was no public school money voted. The preaching services and Sunday School were now held there instead of the Earnshaw home. After a time, some objections were raised to the practice.
It was then that a decision to build a church was made. A meeting was called and a preamble was drawn up. Any person subsribing $5.00 was qualified to vote on the election on trustees. John Noble, Edwin Bottomley, and James Tinker were appointed. Letter were written to England explaining the need of a church and a donation of $425.00 was receibed. Early in 1846 a meeting was held and it was agreed that the chapel should stand on the land that Alexander Stenhouse had offered to give them for that purpose. The trustees also purchased 1 1/2 acres of land particulally surrounding the church to be used for a cemetary.
Two years later at the close of 1848 marked the end of nearly 2 1/2 years of hard work on the part of all the settlers in the building of a church in which they might worship God in a more fitting way. New Year's Day of 1849 found the settlement gathered together for the dedication service.
After leading a very helpful life in the community, John Noble passed away in August of 1849 at the age of 56. He had lived to see his dream come true of a proper place to worship. He had given each of his children forty acres of land. He entered whole-heartedly into the life and growth of the community, even as he diligenlty tilled his considerable acreage. He helped his neighbors withi whom he had braved together the hazards of the great prairie fire in the fall of 1842 and the rigors of the hard winter and 1842-43.
Martha Noble passed away three years after John at the age of 57. She and John are buried in the Eagle Creek Cemetary.
During their brief years in America, John and Martha labored with high hopes for the future of their beloved family. Who shall say that those hopes were never realized. For their own faith and preseverance they passed on to them some measure of their own hopes and desires.
"If we have been lending a hand along the way
with faith in God growing from day to day;
If we have given comfort in sunshine and rain
Then the lives of these NOBLES have not been in vain."
Edith Noble Jackson- 1942
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