Noblitt family history in Atchison County, Mo

CHAS. NOBLITT IS 96

Came to Grange Hall Community When But Two Years of Age

The following interesting sketch of a man who is nearing the century mark is taken from last week’s Hamburg Reporter, and will be of interest to his many friends in North Atchison county. This man, who reached his ninety-sixth birthday on Thanksgiving day, is well preserved for a man of his advanced years.
Thanksgiving Day 1942 marked the 96th birthday of one of our finest young men, and surrounded by his children, grandchildren and friends, he is going to have one of the most happy days of his life. And is that Thanksgiving feast going to suffer when it faces Charles Noblitt! If he eats too much there is just one remedy - go out and spade up a little of his victory garden for 1943.
November 26, 1846, Liberty, Missouri, did not make much of a fuss when a son was born to one of the town’s families. Of course the neighbor women had to come in, as was the custom of the day, and of course, along with the mother, they thought the little red-faced baby who had been named Charles was about the prettiest babe they had seen. Two years later his parents moved to Grange Hall, where his father had taken a claim. Linden, then a bustling little town, was the county seat of Atchison county, and the trading place for the Noblitt family. There was no Hamburg at that time, and had there been it would have been a little too far to drive with oxen or team. Mr. Noblitt’s father rode over the Wing land, now owned by the Athens, when the wild grass was almost as high as the head of his horse, and wild grass in those days was as common as could be.
In 1871 Mr. Noblitt purchased a farm in Grange Hall community, which he still owns. It was raw land and he bought it for $10 an acre, and still owns the farm, which has never had a mortgage on it since he paid off the land speculator with twenty-cent corn and $2.50 hogs. This banker and land speculator used to make his rounds on horseback, and carried large sums of money back to his bank in Cameron, Mo. The Younger and James gangs were busy in those days, but the banker sent word to the gangs that he wanted no trouble, either on the road or at his bank. They knew what he meant and let him alone.
Mr. Noblitt and his bride built a crude two-room house on the farm and then set out to improve the raw land, surrounded by other settlers who were doing the same thing. Times were hard, but they did not expect life to be easy or soft. Pennies were hoarded in order that they could have money to pay taxes and buy small items which their farm produce did not cover. It was not a drab life, for there were neighbors in those days, even though they lived many miles away. For entertainment they provided their own. Before the days of the churches in the community, ministers would preach in the homes. Barn raisings, shucking bees, spelling matches and the like provided community activities. The jug was usually present at barn raisings, but the law of the community did not look with favor upon over-indulgence.
As a lad Mr. Noblitt made a hand in the field. He liked to work oxen, for they were the best at breaking land. And then all you had to do was feed them, throw on the yoke and crack the whip. Harnessing and curry-comb work was out. Back in those early days young Charles wanted to have some added thrills, so he became engineer for six yoke of oxen on a freighter trip to the West, leading out of Nebraska City on a wagon train of twelve wagons. Oh yes, Indian fighting, Mormons on the way west and wild nights in the small posts along the way.
The old stagecoach road ran east of Hamburg, a station being on the Jones Finnell farm. The crossing of the Nishna was at Austin, some miles north of Hamburg, which was Fremont county’s first county seat. The old Goldenrod road was one of the first in the county, and was a trail to the east, Belford and other towns east being served by freight from the boat landings just below Hamburg. The Narrows, Linden, Sidney and Hamburg Landings were a few of them. El Paso was a thriving town in those days, located on the Pritchard land, just south of Hamburg.
Mr. Noblitt remembers well Bill Lewis, an early day gangster, who resided in this community, and who in spite of his fame was often bested. He was brought into court on murder charges, but was always able to go free. In spite of his operations he died a poor man and a natural death. The Jayhawkers visited this community but once, killing a Mr. Fugitt in Madison township, and driving off his live stock, as well as that of other settlers. They did not take into account the Madison Protective Society, captained by Mr. John Allen, who met the gang at the E street bridge. One man was killed, another wounded, and some say a few hangings took place at the large elm tree still standing, just west of the present bridge. Giles Cowles and Cornelius McKissick accounted for two more of the gang near the pop works. The remainder of the gang was chased to the river near Nebraska City, but little was said by the group from Madison township when they returned. Word must have spread to Kansas, for that was the last raid.
Through the years, Mr. Noblitt has seen this country develop from a raw, unsettled country to its present state of high cultivation. He has lived through the greatest age of advancement the world has ever seen, and is just as interested in developments as he was a small youngster.