Tulare County Biographies

George A. Noble

Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


     A prominent citizen and successful builder of Tulare county, and a native 
son of the Golden State, George A. Noble was born in Soquel, Santa Cruz county, 
in 1856, a son of Augustus and Johanna M. (Short) Noble. His parents were both 
born in Massachusetts, and his father is living at Soquel at the age of ninety 
years. 
 
     The elder Noble came to California on board a sailing vessel by way of Cape 
Horn in the year 1849, a member of a party of thirty-nine men who were three 
months in reaching their destination, and he is one of the few �49ers surviving 
in this state. On the voyage the supply of meat was exhausted and some of the 
people on the ship died of scurvy, for a time there being no fresh food but 
fish. Soon after his arrival Mr. Noble began mining on the Feather river, and in 
nine months took out gold to the value of $20,000, sending some of his nuggets 
back East. Later he returned to his old home, married and brought his bride to 
California. Locating in the mining district of Marysville, he set himself up in 
business as a cooper, working over the material of old whisky barrels into kegs, 
which he sold profitably to miners, but he was burned out at Marysville, losing 
it all. After a time he went to San Francisco, bought a cooper shop near Black 
Point, operated it successfully two years and then sold it in order to remove to 
Soquel, Santa Cruz county, where he has since made his home. He bought an 
undivided one-ninth interest in the Soquel ranch of two thousand acres and in 
the Argumentation ranch of nine hundred acres, which he still owns. He was one 
of the early justices of the peace on the Pacific slope and is a member of the 
Pioneer Society of California. His wife, who died in 1907, bore him children as 
follows: Mrs. Charlotte M. Lawson, of San Francisco: George A., of this review; 
Edward T.; Frederick Dent; Prof. Charles A., of the University of California at 
Berkeley; and Walter. 
 
     In Soquel, Santa Cruz county, Cal., George A. Noble grew to manhood, 
acquired his education and gained practical familiarity with fruit growing. He 
began his independent business life in 1878 as a fruitman near Fresno, on a 
tract of eighty acres, twenty of which was in vineyard, forty in fruit and the 
remaining twenty in alfalfa. In 1888 he moved to Seattle, Wash., where he was 
for a time a successful contractor and builder. Returning to California, he 
bought eighty acres at Savilla, near Atwell�s Island, Tulare county, but owing 
to failure on the part of the vendors to furnish water according to their 
agreement he was compelled to abandon his holdings after two years� work and 
many improvements made upon it. He then removed to Fresno, where he devoted his 
time to the cultivation of Indian corn. In 1900 he settled in Visalia, renting 
twenty acres, which he afterwards bought and still owns. He developed it into an 
orchard and is now doing well as a grower of peaches. His property, lying within 
the city limits of Visalia, is exceedingly valuable. In connection with his 
fruit growing he has done much contracting and building at Visalia since 1905, 
having erected, among other buildings, the Episcopal church, five houses for J. 
S. Johnson, the W. R. Pigg home, the M. J. Wells home, the Willow district 
schoolhouse and Mrs. Dyer�s home. In the year 1912 he built the Bliss, Cutler 
and East Lynne schoolhouses in Tulare county and is at present engaged on the 
new Presbyterian church at Visalia. The residence of Mrs. Oaks, opposite the new 
Baptist church in Visalia was also completed by him. Besides buildings of the 
class mentioned he has built numerous cottages in different parts of town, and 
his work has been such as to give him high standing among the builders and 
contractors of the county. He is a charter member of the local organization of 
Modern Woodmen, and as a citizen is progressive, public spirited and helpful to 
all good interests of the community. 
 
     In 1877 Mr. Noble married Miss Otto, a native of Germany, whose father, 
long in the employ of Claus Spreckels, built in Wisconsin the first beet sugar 
factory in the United State and later erected the Eldorado sugar factory, near 
San Francisco. Mrs. Noble has borne her husband six children, Augustus, Edgar, 
Rosa, Ewald, Gertrude and George. Rosa is the wife of Clarence Brown of Visalia. 
Mr. Noble has recently organized the California Building Co., which has platted 
the Nobles Subdivision to Visalia and is now engaged in building houses and 
selling off lots to prospective homemakers, this being the finest available 
residence district in Visalia. The family home is at No. 820 West Mineral King 
Avenue, Visalia. 
 
SOURCE:  History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical 
Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913 Pp 275, 276