USA > Indiana > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Indiana > Part 84
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THOMAS BENJAMIN NOBLE, M. D.
The biographies of the representative men of a country, either of a past or present generation, bring to light many hidden treasures of mind, character and courage. well calculated to arouse the pride of their descendants and of the community and it is a source of regret that the people are not more familiar with the personal history of such men, in the ranks of whom may be found tillers of the soil, mechanics, teachers, as well as lawyers, physicians, bankers and members of other vocations and professions. Johnson county, Indiana, has been the home and scene of labor of many men who have not only led lives which should serve as a lesson and inspiration to those who follow them onto the stage of life's activities, but who have also been of com- mendable service in important avenues of usefulness in various lines. The well remembered physician whose name forms the caption to this brief memoir was one of the useful workers in the world's work, a man of well rounded character, sincere, devoted and loyal, so that there are many salient points which render consonant a tribute to his memory in this compilation. Standing as he did for many years at the head of one of the most important and exacting of professions, his labors were long directed to the physical amelioration of the people of his community with most gratifying results. Personally, Doctor Noble was affable and popular with all classes and stood ready at all times to encourage and aid all laudable measures and enterprises for the general good. By a life consistent in motive and because of his many fine qualities of head and heart he earned the sincere regard of a vast acquaint-
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ance, and his success in his chosen field of endeavor bespoke for him the possession of superior attributes. Yet he was a plain, unassuming gentleman, straightforward in all his relations with his fellow men.
Dr. Thomas B. Noble, whose death occurred at Greenwood, Indiana, on the 6th of March, 1907, was born in Boone county, Kentucky, on February 12, 1827. He was the son of George Thomas and Louise (Canby) Noble, and was of English descent, his paternal grandparents having been born in the mother country. Members of the family have had prominent place in the civic life of the Hoosier state, his father's brother, Noah Noble, having been governor of Indiana, while another brother, Benjamin Noble, was one of the early United States senators from this state. George T. Noble, who was a farmer by vocation, moved in 1832 from Kentucky to Indianapolis, Indiana, and two years later came to Johnson county, locating on a farm just north of Greenwood, which is still in the possession of the family, and there he spent the remainder of his life. He was a man of rugged honesty and sterling character and by a life pure in motive and consistent in action he honored the name which he bore.
Thomas B. Noble was indebted to the common schools of his home neigh- borhood for his elementary education, after which he attended old Franklin College, walking from his home every morning to Franklin and back every evening, a distance of ten miles. In 1848 he began the study of medicine in the office and under the direction of his future brother-in-law. Dr. W. H. Wishard, now one of the most eminent physicians and honored citizens of Indianapolis, and in 1851-2 he took a course of lectures and study in the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati. He had a natural aptitude for scientific sub- jects and in the field of medicine his comprehension was remarkably quick and accurate, so that when he entered upon the active practice of his profession at Greenwood he was well qualified for his life work, in which he was engaged continuously up to the time of his last illness. He had brought to his chosen vocation the strength and devotion of a great soul and a broad mind and in his life and career he lent honor and dignity to his profession. His integrity and fidelity were manifested in every relation of life, for he early learned that true happiness consisted in ministering to others; his career was one of untiring activity and was crowned with a degree of success fully commensur- ate with the devotion with which he applied himself to his labors. The ex- ample of such a life is always an inspiration to others and his influence will long be felt in his community, whose interests he always had at heart and which he did so much to promote during his active life here. In dealing with
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mankind, his word was his bond; deceit never entered into any transactions he had with his fellow men. His plain, rugged honesty, his open-hearted manner, undisguised and unaffected, is to his descendants a sweet and lasting memory.
At the time of Mr. Noble's death, the Central States Medical Monitor, in reviewing the life and work of the deceased, gave expression to the follow- ing beautiful sentiment: "Doctor Noble was a polished 'doctor of the old school,' who, aside from the roughness of 'Wullum McLure,' filled to the full measure that lovable character of Ian McLaren. * He represented a type of citizenship that is rapidly becoming extinct in the progressive North- west. He began his life work in a section of the country where the pioneer was still laying his axe to the root of the tree, where the roads were almost impassable during a great part of the year, and where any profession or voca- tion to be successful must needs be pursued with unflagging energy through many hardships and for poor remuneration. Though he lived to be a part, as it were, of another world, the impressions made by his early training were too deep to be eradicated, and he was known throughout the county for the simplicity of his life and the rugged honesty of his character."
Politically, Doctor Noble gave his support to the Republican party, though his professional duties were too exacting to permit him to take a very active part in public affairs. In religious belief and membership he was a Presby- terian and to the spiritual verities he gave careful and conscientious attention.
In 1855 Doctor Noble was united in marriage to Margaret A. Wishard, a daughter of John and Agnes (Oliver) Wishard. Her paternal grand- father, William Wishard, was born in the north of Ireland and was of Scotch- Irish extraction. He left his native land sometime during the eighteenth cen- tury and, coming to America, settled first in Pennsylvania. He was a weaver by trade, but after coming to this country he followed the pursuit of agricul- ture. Eventually he moved to Kentucky, where his death occurred. His son, John Wishard, who also took up the vocation of farming, came to Indi- ana in 1825 and settled on the White river, where he resided during the re- mainder of his life. To him and his wife were born eleven children, of whom two died in infancy, the others growing to maturity and three still living. To Doctor and Mrs. Noble were born eight children, six of whom are living, namely : Agnes, who became the wife of David P. Praigg, of Indianapolis; Margaret, the wife of E. T. Lee, of Chicago; Mrs. Martha Carter, of Los Angeles, California; Thomas R., a successful and well known surgeon in Indianapolis ; Mary J. and Elizabeth are at the old home in Greenwood. Mrs.
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Noble's death, which occurred on August 22, 1913, removed from Johnson county one of its grand old women, who had by her life conferred honor and dignity on womanhood and who had to a notable degree enjoyed the love and esteem of all who knew her.
FRANK LESLIE DEER.
One of the progressive farmers and highly respected citizens of John- son county, Indiana, is Frank Leslie Deer, who has ever taken high rank. Possessing energy and determination, he has been very successful in making everything he undertakes result to his advantage, and his success in his chosen calling is attested by the fact of his having started in an humble manner and is now the owner of valuable real estate, having accumulated the same by his own efforts.
Frank Leslie Deer, one of the successful farmers of Pleasant township, where he owns a fine farm of eighty acres and also operates eighty acres of rented land, was born on October 31, 1879, in Union township, this county, and is the son of Louis T. and Nancy ( Hains) Deer, both of whom still reside in Union township, and who are natives respectively of Ken- tucky and Johnson county, Indiana. They are the parents of the following children : J. H., a successful physician of Zionsville, this county; Mrs. Cora Paris, of Union township, this county; Frank L., the immediate subject of this sketch; Herschell and Grace.
The subject received his education in the schools of his home neighbor- hood and was reared to the life of a farmer. In 1895 he bought a tract of land in Union township which he sold two years later and bought thirty- two acres in White River township. In 1900 he sold that tract and bought another place of ninety acres in Union township and in 1904 bought sixty- five acres additional in Union township. In 1907 he bought eighty acres of land in Pleasant township, which he rented and engaged in the mercantile business in Whiteland, where for two years he enjoyed an excellent patron- age. In the fall of 1910 he traded his eighty acres in Pleasant township for another farm of the same size in this township and at the same time disposed of his mercantile business at Whiteland. He is actively engaged in the operation of his land and has improved the place so that its present ap- pearance is a distinct credit to the owner. His 1913 crops embrace fifty-five acres of corn, thirty-five acres of wheat, thirty acres in hay and clover and an
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output of fifty hogs. He also conducts a c good blood. In all his operations he is enter up-to-date methods and among his fellow standing.
In the fall of 1899 Mr. Deer was united daughter of William H. Minner, and to th Loon and Gertrude.
Politically, Mr. Deer gives an ardent : but is not in any sense a seeker after public ber of the Greenwood lodge of Knights of bership is with the Methodist Episcopal ch activities Mr. Deer has been true to every tru demeanor and his genuine worth he deserve held by all who know him.
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