Joseph Newcom was born August 25, 1814, in Clark County, Ohio. His father, whose name was Ethan Newcom, was a Jersey Yankee, and his grandfather, whose name was also Ethan Newcom, was a Jersey Yankee and Revolutionary soldier. Ethan Newcom, jr., the father of Joseph, married a widow, Mrs. Mary Woods, whose maiden name was Mary Marsh, and she was a Jersey Yankee, too.

Joseph Newcom says that nothing of importance occurred during the first fourteen years of his life, and thinks that children did not know as much and were not as smart as the children are at present with all the advantages that schools can now give.

In the fall of 1828 the Newcom family came to Sangamon timber, Illinois, to what was afterwards called Newcom's Ford. There they arrived one evening tired and hungry, and the next morning Ethan Newcom found a bee tree before breakfast. The family went on to Blooming Grove, but after staying there for two weeks, went back to Newcom's Ford, which took its name from them. During their first winter at the ford they hauled corn from Blooming Grove, forty miles distant. Newcom's Ford was a stopping place for travelers, and the Newcom's kept a house of entertainment. Sometimes, in the fall of the year, twenty-five or thirty teams would stop there at once. The price of entertainment was eighteen and three-fourths cents per meal and fifty cents for keeping a man and horse over night. They went to Eugene, on the Big Vermilion River, near the Wabash, for their flour and groceries. But, notwithstanding some little inconveniences, the Newcoms lived well and happily. At one time Joseph Newcom went with his sister on horseback to Big Grove, fifteen miles east of the ford, to a wedding. While there the weather turned cold and everything was frozen up. On their return they found the sloughs all easy to cross, except one, which the horses refused to touch. It had frozen over and had fallen and the crust of ice on top was held up by the grass, and the horses refused to cross it. Joseph Newcom was obliged to go into the water up to the waist to break the ice while his sister followed on horseback.

People often had great difficulty in crossing at Newcom's Ford, and were frequently oblige to swim the creek with their teams. A man named Henry Pitts had a horse drowned in crossing the creek, as it did not swim well, but went to plunging when it struck the deep water.

The hogs belonging to the settlers would run wild when turned loose for any length of time, and were sometimes very dangerous. On one Sunday Ethan Newcom went out to hunt bees, when he saw a hog in the distance coming towards him. He thought he would let it come up to within a short distance of him and then frighten it, but when the hog approached it began to bristle up its hair and walk sideways, and Mr. Newcom saw that he must "get out of that" very quickly. The timber was about fifty steps distant, and he broke for it on the keen run with the hog after him. He reached the timber in quick time and sprang up a tree, and the disappointed hog could do nothing but walk around and raise its bristles. Such was Ethan Newcom's attempt to frighten a wild hog!

While the Newcoms lived at Newcom's Ford the flies were very bad on the horses and cattle. For about six weeks in the year the large green-head flies prevented all travel by day. Everybody was obliged to travel by night, and even then they were troubled with the flies at moonlight. The flies were so thick and so bad that they would kill a young horse if it were turned loose. They would drive it nearly crazy and suck it blood; but now they are comparatively rare even in the worst part of fly time. The long prairie grass on which they used to breed has been eaten off and has become almost a rarity. Joseph Newcom says he has many times been obliged to travel by night, and would bend forward and sleep with his arms around his horse's neck.

During the winter of the deep snow Joseph Newcom was sent to Cheney's Grove to school. He boarded at the house of Benjamin Thomas, and went to school to Mary Cheney. He rode to school on a blind horse with two of Mr. Thomas' little girls, one on behind and one on before. He was obliged to break the road a great many times, but always succeeded in keeping it clear. On the last day of February, when the snow was about to melt, he walked home to Newcom's Ford on the crust. Had he delayed another day he could not have gone home for a month, as the melting of the deep snow kept everything swimming. A year or two afterwards Mr. Newcom went to school at Blooming Grove, to old Billy Hodge.

The Newcoms were great bee hunters and found many trees. The bees were very different in their dispositions. Some would allow their honey to be taken very easily, and would make no trouble; some would fight, but would be cowed by smoke, and some would fight and pay no attention to smoke. At one time Ethan Newcom and Joseph each found a bee tree, and as they were in the vicinity of other bee hunters, decided to cut the tree immediately, although the day was a warm one in September. They cut Ethan Newcom's tree first, and when it fell the hollow burst open the bees fought desperately all the time the honey was being taken out. Joseph Newcom was stung again and again. He was in his shirt sleeves, and wore shoes without stockings. As the day was warm the perspiration made the sleeves of his shirt cling to his arms, and the bees stung through it again and again. They lit on his legs and crawled up his trowsers and lit on his face and nearly stung him crazy. At one time he ran off, whipping bees with his hat, and accidentally threw it in some high grass, but kept on running and whipping at the bees. When he became free from them he hunted for his hat, but never found it, and was obliged to go bareheaded for two weeks. They took twelve gallons of honey from the bees and a great deal more was wasted, as the gum had split open in falling. The next tree they cut yielded about eight gallons of honey, and the bees fought harder than the first swarm. Joseph was obliged to cut it and take out the honey alone, as the flies were very bad, and his father had to attend to the oxen. He was sore for several weeks after this bee hunt. Honey was the most abundant article raised. Mr. Newcom one took a thousand pounds of honey and sixty pounds of beeswax to Chicago in one load. He received six cents per pound for the honey and twenty-five cents per pound for the beeswax.

In October, 1835, the Newcoms came to Cheney's Grove, to the north side, and settled where John Newcom now lives, and went to farming. They bought their place of Henry Pitts.

Mr. Newcom was a great hunter after wolves and coons. During one fall he and his father killed twenty-five wolves and twenty-eight coons. Ethan Newcom killed the wolves, and Joseph and his dog, Ring, killed the coons. During the spring of the year, when Harrison was elected President, a snow came two feet deep and stayed on for eight days, and during that time everybody hunted for wolves. Every grove in the country was alive with hunters, but Cheney's Grove beat them all, for the hunters there killed sixty-eight wolves.

The Newcoms were in the habit of making maple sugar, as that was the only sugar used. During one spring they made two thousand pounds of sugar and a barrel of syrup. They made eleven hundred pounds in seven days and nights with eight kettles, and could have made a third more if all the sap had been saved. The Cheneys made about fifteen hundred pounds. The sugar sold for ten cents per pound.

Ethan Newcom had eleven children in all, and of these five lived to have families. They are:

Mrs. Mary Vanscoyoc, wife of Perry Vanscoyoc.
Joseph Newcom, whose sketch we are writing.
Mrs. Rosanna Smith, wife of Jacob Smith, lives in Arrowsmith township.
John Newcom lives at the old homestead.
Mrs. Elizabeth Arbogast, wife of William Arbogast, is now dead.

Joseph Newcom married, February 2, 1844, Eliza Jane Devor. He has had eleven children, nine of whom are living. They are:

Nicholas, born January 26, 1845.
Mary Ann, born August 16, 1846.
Nancy Jane, born March 22, 1848.
Ethan Allen, born January 1, 1850.
Joseph Aaron, born May 28, 1851.
Isaac Luther, born May 8, 1853.
Owen, born February 24, 1855.
Mereposa, born August 14, 1856.
America Catherine, born September 23, 1858.
Jesse, born January 4, 1861.
Sarah Elizabeth, born June 29, 1862.

Isaac Luther and Owen are dead. The latter died in infancy. All who are living reside at home, except Nancy Jane, who is married to Richard Ball, and lives in Howard County, Kansas.

Joseph Newcom is five feet and eleven inches in height, is rather slender in form and has bright, humorous eyes. He believes in getting up early in the morning and going to work. He is honest himself, and will not deal with any one who is not also honest and truthful. At one time a person who was known to be a good workman and an industrious man, and had formerly worked for Mr. Newcom, wished to come back again. But although no fault could be found with the young man's work, he was not permitted to come back, as Mr. Newcom would not allow anyone around his premises who could not be relied upon to tell the truth.

David Noble was born in September, 1795, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was of English and Dutch descent. His father was and old English sea captain, who came to the United State and married a Pennsylvania Dutch lady, and became thoroughly Americanized. David Noble was born in Cincinnati, when that place was no larger than Heyworth, that is, a village of two or three hundred people. He had a limited education, and as his parents were poor, was obliged to work his way through the world without learning or wealth. In 1817 he was married to Rebecca Karr. In 1828 he went to New Orleans in company with his brother, with a load of chickens and various other kinds of poultry, and by good management and good fortune they did very well with their stock. In the fall of 1830 he came to Illinois to see the country, and visited various points in Sangamon and Tazewell counties. He returned to Ohio during the same fall, and prepared to come West. During the following year, October 3, 1831; the Noble family started for McLean County, Illinois, and arrived there on the 20th. They traveled with a four-horse team. They came in near Squire A.M. Stringfield's place, and saw him chase a wolf on foot and catch it with his hands. Mr. Noble set his dog on the wolf before Stringfield caught it, but the dog was quickly whipped. Mr. Stringfield took the wolf home alive. Their journey was a hard one, as it rained nearly all the time they traveled. During one day they only went ten miles. They traveled long distances over corduroy roads. At one time they were mired down, a little this side of Urbana, and Mr. Joseph Noble (David's brother) was obliged to carry out his wife. Joseph Noble rode an old gray mare, which had a bad habit of lying down in the mud, when it was deep, and refusing to get up. The only way of compelling her to rise was to hold her head under the mud and water for a while.

David Noble lived, during nearly all of the first winter, in a cabin on old Mr. Passwaters' place, about one mile south of where William Noble now lives. After that the family went to the cabin near where John Wakefield now lives. There they did some pretty hard grubbing, as the place joined the timber. David Noble stayed there until 1844 or '45, and then came five miles north, bought some new prairie and made a farm.

The wife of David Noble died in 1837. In 1841 he was married to Mrs. Jane Arnold, a widow lady.

Mr. Noble suffered with a stroke of paralysis a few years before his death, which occurred in September, 1863. His domestic life was pleasant. He had ten children to raise and care for, six by his first marriage and four by his second. They are:

William C. Noble, who lives at Randolph's Grove.
Mrs. Sarah Jane Munson, wife of Ira Munson, who lives in Randolph's Grove.
Stephen K. Noble, who lives in Bloomington.
James K. Noble, who lives in Bloomington.
Mrs. Mercy Ann Rust, widow of George W. Rust, deceased, lives in Randolph's Grove.
Thomas Jacob Noble lives a mile north of Randolph's Grove.

The four children by his second marriage live with their mother in Champaign County, near Homer. They are:

Mrs. Maria Louisa Custer.
Mrs. Eliza Ann Hollis.
Mrs. Martha E. Custer.
Harrison David Noble.

David Noble was five feet and eleven inches in height, had a large, strong frame, and, before he was afflicted with paralysis, weighed two hundred pounds. He was very muscular, worked hard, and had usually good health. His hair was naturally black, and his eyes pleasing and expressive.

Dr. Harrison Noble was born March 6, 1812, in Hamilton County, Ohio. His father's name was John noble, and his mother's maiden name was Sarah Price. John Noble was of English descent, but he was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and thereby became cut off from the English branch of the family, and nothing is known of it. Harrison Noble had a fair education, and while still in his youth taught school for a livelihood. He also worked at the carpenter's trade, and a part of the time was a farmer. In after years he was a physician, and also a surveyor. He had a mind evenly developed and well balanced, and could succeed in many professions.

Mr. Nobel was married, March 21, 1833, to Miss Abby Cook, in Hamilton County, Ohio. In 1833 he came to the West. His trip was a hard one, through swamps and creeks during a wet season, but by good fortune and good management he came safely through. He settled at Randolph's Grove with Joseph Noble, sr., who had moved out some time before. Harrison Noble sold two horses and obtained money to enter eighty acres of land. Then he built a cabin and moved into it, and worked his land with a horse belonging to his mother. He hired a man to break six or eight acres of land and paid for it by carpenter work. He had knowledge of many trades, and his handiness now stood him in good stead, for if he could not find work to do at one employment, he followed another, and succeeded well at everything. He did some surveying, taught school, worked as a carpenter, and did anything at which his hands could be usefully employed.

Mr. Nobel was and Old-Line Whig. That party was in the minority in McLean County in the early days. But people then cared less for party ties than for popular men. In about the year 1840 Mr. Noble came out as an independent candidate for surveyor, and of course his merits and demerits were sharply criticized, but it was pretty well understood that if he could show himself qualified for this position he would be elected. About this time a curious circumstance occurred. General Gridley and General Covel had a warm discussion concerning his ability. The latter was a Democrat. General Covel said: "I'll bet you he can't tell the number of acres in a piece of land with --- many rods on one side," &c., and he gave the number of rods on each of four sides. General Gridley took the bet, and as soon as he saw Mr. Noble, the problem was stated. "Now," said General Gridley, "how many acres are in that piece of land?" "There may be more and there may be less," said Mr. Noble. "Now," thought Gridley, "Iv'e lost my bet." But Mr. Noble continued and explained that the angles must be given; for it they were not given the sides might be so arranged as to enclose a great many acres, or scarcely any at all. Then he picked up a limber switch and bent it into a four-sided figure, and by making the angles sometimes right angles and sometimes acute, he explained the matter clearly. "Well," said Gridley, "Covel and I are both fools." This incident was told many times, and it made friends for Mr. Noble, for it made him acquainted. The incident was related by Hon. John Cusey. Mr. Noble held the office of surveyor for three terms. When he was about thirty-five years of age he commenced the study of medicine by himself. He afterwards attended one course of lectures at Cincinnati, and received his diploma. He practiced medicine and was quite successful.

Mr. Noble had five children by his first marriage, but only two are living. They are:

Jacob Noble lives on the line between the townships of Randolph and Funk's Grove.
Sarah Maria, wife of John Perry, lives in Danvers township.

Mrs. Noble died in about the year 1844. On the 15th of April, 1848, Mr. Noble married Mrs. Jane E. Marmon. By this marriage one child was born, John Locke Noble, who lives on the homestead place.

Dr. Noble died August 12, 1870. He was about six feet in height, had black hair and gray eyes, was very muscular, and in his younger days a great wrestler. His feet were deformed, and toed in, but this was an advantage in wrestling. While he was attending lectures, a person inquired of him whether on account of his deformity he was not obliged to bear with insults. Dr. Noble gave the gentleman a proof of his skill, which decided the matter. Dr. Noble was a very honest man and very popular in McLean County.

Joseph K. Noble was born October 9, 1823, in Whitewater township, Hamilton County, Ohio. His father's name was Joseph Noble, and his mother's name before her marriage was Nancy Karr. Joseph Noble was born in Ohio, and Nancy Karr in New Jersey. Both were of American descent. The Noble family, consisting of six members in all, came to Randolph's Grove, McLean County, Illinois, in the fall of 1831. There Joseph Noble bought a farm partly improved for one hundred and fifty dollars and two horses and a wagon. During the first winter they lived in a large log cabin with an entry between. But their conveniences were not great, as two other families as large as their own lived with them. During that winter, nearly all the streams were frozen up, so that the mills could not run. Every family was therefore obliged to have its hominy mortar with which to crack frostbitten corn. They had no fruit nor vegetables, except turnips, but had plenty of venison and wild turkeys. Joseph Noble was then a lad eight years of age, but the scenes of those early days are clearly impressed on his mind. He remembers going with a party out to a wolf pen. Put up by Gradner Randolph, and there finding a wolf, which was so incautious as to trust himself within it. The following is Mr. Noble's description of the pen: "It was made of logs notched close at the corners, growing gradually smaller at the top, so that when the wolf was on the outside it was easy to climb up, but too high to climb out while on the inside." The settlers usually killed the wolves by chasing them on horseback and killing them with clubs. During the Black Hawk war, the settlers were often frightened, and Mr. Noble tells a queer story of a scare he experienced while out in the woods at play. Said he: "I heard a strange noise and started to the house taking my youngest brother on my back. Looking across the field I saw my father coming n his horse from the plow as fast as possible. We arrived at the house out of breath and found that the bees were swarming, and mother was calling for father and was pounding a frying pan with a large iron spoon to make the bees settle. You may be sure that we were glad the trouble was occasioned by bees instead of Indians."

Mr. Noble did not receive an extended education. He went to school when quite young, and one of his teachers was John Moore, afterwards Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. Mr. Noble learned at an early age what it was to work. At the age of fifteen he drove a team of ten steers, called a prairie breaking team. With them he broke ground for various parties, among others for James Allin, of Bloomington. He broke the ground where the Chicago and Alton Machine Shops now stand. The remainder of Mr. Noble's sketch may be given in his own words: "I cannot remember precisely all of the settlers who were in Randolph's Grove when I first came. They were usually young folks with small families. But notwithstanding their few children, they were obliged to work hard for their own and their children's support, for nearly all their wearing apparel was made by themselves, was spun, woven, cut, fitted and sewed. The people here were from many States, but they all appeared members of one family. They endured the privations and discomforts of life together. When any one needed assistance it was always forthcoming. The women had quiltings and sewing bees, and the men had house raisings and corn huskings. In after years the different settlements joined together in wolf hunts, raised a pole on a high piece of ground, hoisted a flag and on a certain day all turned out and drove the game to the center. When they came near the pole, it was fun to see some on foot with long rifles ready to shoot the first deer or wolf, and others on horses chasing the tired game. Some would be thrown from their horses, and others would fall when their horses stumbled in the active chase. Those good old times will never come again!"

When Mr. Noble was twenty-four years of age, he married Miss Lemira Hampton, who was born within the boundaries of the present county of McLean. Her father came to the country from Tennessee, the year before the deep snow. Mr. Noble has had six children, of whom five are living. They are:

John S., Charles M., Nannie M., Robert K. and Joseph P. Noble; all of whom live at home. Mr. Noble is about five feet and ten inches in height, is rather spare and straight, and has dark hair and gray eyes. He appears to be a very good neighbor, and his remarks concerning the old settlers and the condition of things during the early days, show him to be a man of good feeling.

Dr. Noble was born at North Bend, Hamilton County, Ohio, March 9, 1826. He came to Illinois with his parents in the fall of 1831, and settled at Randolph's Grove. He obtained his schooling there, and there began the study of medicine with his uncle, Dr. Noble, under charge of Dr. Colburn, of Bloomington. At the age of twenty he took his first course of lectures at the medical institute at Cincinnati. He afterwards attended another course, and in 1849 commenced practice as a physician in Leroy, in partnership with Dr. Cheney.

He married February 21, 1854, Miss Amanda M. Greenman, daughter of John Greenman, of Leroy. It was a very happy marriage. Four children were born, of whom two are living. They are:

Frank Noble, born December 14, 1859, died in infancy.
Mary D. Noble, born December 14, 1859, lives with her mother.
Carrie Noble, born June 4, 1864, died in November of the same year.
Nellie Ward Noble, born March 27, 1871, lives at home.

Dr. Noble died of consumption in 1871, and was buried in Bloomington Cemetery. He had moved to Bloomington in 1865. He was about five feet and ten inches in height, was squarely built, but rather stoop shouldered. He had dark brown hair and almost black blue eyes. He was a very popular man, and very successful in his profession. He was several times President of the McLean County Medical Society, once President of the Medical Society of the State, and frequently a delegate to the Medical Society of the United States. He was a very kind husband and father, and is remembered by the friends who knew him and delighted in his society.

William Crivlin Noble was born February 25, 1818, in Hamilton County, Ohio. His education was not very liberal, but was all that could be expected at that time. The scholars were then more remarkable for their muscle than their intellect, and had a habit of turning out the teacher on Christmas day. At one time, when they threatened to turn out the master, he compromised the matter by giving them a gallon of whisky and some eggs, and one of them was carried home insensible. Mr. Noble went to school to William Bebb, who was afterwards Governor of Ohio. The schoolmasters in those days made desperate attempt to teach the children politeness; the girls were taught to courtesy to whoever they met, while going to or returning from school, and the boys were taught to bow, or as it was called, "make their manners." Mr. Noble came to Randolph's Grove with his father, David Noble, in the fall of 1831, and continued his schooling for two winters in Illinois. The falling of the meteors in 1833 impressed him very much. They fell it seemed by millions, to the north, south, east and west, and some of them made a large blaze. He felt no fear on account of this wonderful phenomenon, but the next morning, when he went to mill, he met so many persons who were frightened by the meteors that he began to be frightened himself. Some people were made crazy with fear.

When he was sixteen years of age, he went to St. Louis and brought a load of goods for William H. Allin. He was gone on that trip about sixteen days, and received a dollar and a-quarter per hundred weight for hauling.

Mr. Noble married, October 31, 1839, Isabel Jane Stewart, and by this happy marriage had three children. She died, May 10, 1855. On the tenth of January, 1856, he married Eunice Burley, by Bailey H. Coffey, and has had three children living and one dead. Very few men are blessed with a more happy domestic life.

In the fore part of February, 1856, Mr. Noble went on business to Kentucky. He crossed the Ohio River on horseback on the ice at Portsmouth. This was rather a dangerous matter, as he was obliged to wade his horse three feet deep in water to reach the ice, and it cracked under him while crossing. He rode around among the Kentucky hills, and it seemed sometimes that he must fall into eternity. The hills were exceedingly steep, and nothing but a Kentucky horse could travel among them. A horse from Illinois could never have found a foothold.

Mr. Noble is about six feet in height, is broad shouldered and strongly built, is a hard worker, is very clever and good natured, appreciates fun, is a good neighbor and a good American citizen.