My Genealogy Hound

COL. JOHN C. NOBLE is the son of Elijah Noble, who was of Celtic descent, and is a lineal descendant of that Col. Noble, who was one of the officers of Cromwell’s “Ironsides Regiment,” and one of the commission who sat in judgment upon Charles I., and voted for his death. In early life Elijah Noble was a prominent merchant of Lexington, Ky., and owned some half dozen stores at one time in central Kentucky. He was seriously crippled financially by the second war with Great Britain, from which shock he never recovered. John C. Noble was born in Lexington, December 2, 1815, and was educated in the schools of his native county, Fayette, and native city, Lexington. He acquired no inconsiderable knowledge of Latin and the higher branches of education from Charles O’Hara, a teacher in the grammar school of Transylvania University. Having served an apprenticeship at the printing business, he resumed his literary studies, and became a practically posted literary man and a vigorous writer. He subsequently studied law under Chancellor Caleb Logan, of Louisville, but never practiced his profession. His ardent zeal for Democracy led him into political life as an editor, in which calling he has exerted a marked influence on Kentucky politics, having been connected with papers in various parts of the State. Twice he was a candidate for office; once for the legislature, from Louisville, in which race he reduced the large Whig majority to 200. During the war he was a candidate for the Confederate congress from the First District, but was defeated by the Hon. W. B. Machen. In 1861 he joined the Confederate service as a private; was appointed regimental quartermaster with the rank of captain, but was subsequently placed upon the staff of Gen. Abe Buford, with the rank of major. He is not a member of any church, but his family belong to the Episcopal Church. He rejoices in being a Jeffersonian Democrat, of the school of ‘98; is supposed to be one of the oldest editors of the State, a “Nestor of the Press,” and is a man of strong impulses. His family residence is “Villa Calhoun,” three miles south of Paducah.