Seth Noble, Maugerville, and the American Revolution

From the blog at http://JohnWood1946.wordpress.com

Now on Twitter @JohnWoodTweets

Seth Noble was the first settled minister at the first Protestant church on the Saint John River, and also preached at many places in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Ohio. He was the first minister in the Bangor area and at Montgomery, Massachusetts, and at Franklinton, Ohio, in what is now part of Cleveland.

Early Maugerville and its Church

The early settlers of Maugerville were almost all of Puritan stock, and a very large number of them were from Essex County, which is at the northeast corner of the present boundaries of Massachusetts.¹ They established the earliest Protestant Church on the Saint John River, a Congregational Church, in 1763. The Congregational meeting house was completed in 1775 on Lot 90 in what is now Maugerville, and they also occupied Lot 15 in Sheffield beginning in 1763. They did not have a settled minister for the first ten years, and early itinerant pastors included a Mr. Wellman, Rev. Thomas Wood who only preached there (he was of the Church of England), Samuel Webster and Zephaniah Briggs. Rev. Seth Noble was the first full-time minister.

The history of the Congregational Church in Maugerville has been well chronicled and is an interesting one. One memorable event was on February 23, 1766, for example, when Gervas Say married Anna Russell in a ceremony conducted by the officers and members of the church.² This was the first such marriage and is often cited to demonstrate the practical necessities of living in the wilderness without an ordained minister. Other marriages followed.³

On July 9, 1769, Church of England minister Rev. Thomas Wood visited Maugerville and preached a sermon. In his report to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel he wrote that he had only been able to conduct two baptisms since most of the inhabitants were Dissenting Protestants and they had a minister with them. However, “if a prudent missionary could be settled among them I believe all of their prejudices against our forms of worship would vanish.”⁴ That, however, is not how it turned out.

Welcoming Seth Noble to Maugerville

A church meeting was held at Hugh Quinton’s house in Maugerville on Wednesday, June 15, 1774, with Jacob Barker moderator, and Seth Noble was given a call. They offered a lump sum payment of £120 cash, plus £65 per year to be paid in cash, furs or grain.⁵ A committee was formed to wait upon Noble’s needs and, on Wednesday, June 29, 1774, they met again and agreed to add 25 cords of wood to his annual salary, to be cut and delivered to his house.⁶

Seth Noble was from Westfield, Massachusetts where he was born on April 15, 1743, one of at least ten children of Thomas and Sarah (Root) Noble, and was baptized into the Church of Christ in Westfield, on April 24, 1743.⁷ Seth joined the Congregational Church at Westfield on May 5, 1770. It is not known where he was ordained, but tradition has it that this occurred in Newburyport, Massachusetts.⁸

Westfield is in central Massachusetts, but Seth Noble was well acquainted with Newbury in Essex County and would have been welcomed to Maugerville, almost as a kinsman.⁹

We are fortunate to have a fairly good idea of Seth Noble’s personality, partly because his later work in Bangor earned him the attention of researchers there. Mrs. Howard at Bangor wrote that he was “a very airy man, preached well, gifted in prayer, a good neighbor and a good gardener; a very industrious man, excellent in sickness, and very moral.” William Hasey wrote in 1844, that he was “… a pretty good preacher, a most gifted man in prayer, especially at funeral occasions, he excelled.”  He added that he was a “most excellent singer. He could drink a glass of grog and be jovially merry. When out of the pulpit he ought never to go in, and when in never to go out.”  Mr. Hasey added that he was “… a very handsome man, of middle stature, dark brown hair, quite a gentleman.” William Boyd of Bangor confirmed that he was a good singer, and had a clear and pleasant voice.

He sounds like the sort of person we might enjoy knowing, but others would interpret the same facts quite differently. G.O. Bent quoted from Williamson’s Annals, etc. that “Noble was too light and frothy in his conversation, did not sustain the gravity of character becoming a minister, would drink a dram with almost anyone who asked him, laugh and tell improper anecdotes.”¹⁰ Even this detractor had to allow that “Yet in his religious performances he was able and pathetic – no doubt, pious as he was truly an orthodox and faithful preacher.”  He was “thin faced, not tall, of light complexion and of fresh countenance. He was active and quick, smart and nervous… His head was covered with a remarkable white powdered wig.”¹¹

G.O. Bent also cited Dr. J.G. Holland’s History of Western Massachusetts, 1855, as saying that Noble was “not a liberally educated man, but he was a divine of a good degree of talent, and some not unpleasant peculiarities.”¹² His grandchildren thought that he had been somehow connected with Dartmouth or Yale Colleges, however.¹³

About a year and a half after he arrived in Maugerville, on November 30, 1775, Noble married Hannah Barker, a daughter of Joseph Barker and his wife Sarah Palmer. Hannah had been born in Rowley, Massachusetts on February 19, 1759 and was sixteen years old at the time of her marriage to Seth.¹² Speaking of Hannah, Lucias Boltwood noted that “From a few of her letters and other writings which have been preserved, it is evident that she was a woman of good education, superior intelligence, and rare Christian virtues.¹⁵

 The War of Revolution, and the Saint John River

In politics, many of the Maugerville settlers supported the American cause in the revolution. The earliest evidence of this was discovered by Gerald Keith who presented a paper showing that David Burpee of Maugerville paid £2-10s to Thomas Lancaster of Rawley, Massachusetts for “Entertaining the Council” of Massachusetts sometime prior to late October, 1775. Keith concluded that the townspeople of Maugerville were already in negotiations to support the American cause in the Revolution at that time and that this was a popular undertaking, not the act of a few dissidents. In any case, the people of Maugerville were demonstrating sympathies for the Revolution earlier than had previously been thought, casting doubt on the traditional notion that their minister, Seth Noble, was instrumental in fostering these political views.¹⁶ Keith has also pointed out that the people of Essex County, Massachusetts were straining against British rule at least as early as 1770, and that it was only natural that their relatives in Maugerville should have similar opinions.¹⁷

Seth Noble was an active supporter of the Revolution, however, and tradition has it that he wrote a letter at an early date to George Washington pointing out the importance of gaining western Nova Scotia, and offering to assist. No evidence of this communication has been found, however.¹⁸

Maugerville was a frontier community and could be a rough and ready place. The church practiced “brotherly watchfulness toward each other” on the religious plane, while Justices of the Peace did similar work in secular matters – probably with some overlap between the two. Justice of the Peace Israel Perley’s court dealt with such matters as unruly behaviour, fighting, thefts and break-ins, for example; while the ‘scandalous sins’ dealt with by the church were less specifically defined. One case in Israel Perley’s court occurred in June of 1775, when Jonathan Hartt was fined for profane swearing. This may have amounted to nothing more than rowdyism, but he said that “the king is a damd snotty whelp and by God if I was near him I weuld stab him for he is nothing but a damd Roman Bastard.”¹⁹ These were strong words, given the politics of the time.

Noble wrote to a nephew in Westfield on February 7, 1776.²⁰ This pre-dates the resolutions of May 14^th, of which we shall also hear. His letter touched on both religious and political matters. He told his nephew that if he had “been more particular [in his letters] respecting the national difficulties, it would have been an addition to my joy.”  He also spoke of religious matters when he said that “There is at present a considerable shaking of the dry bones …”, and a time of religious renewal. Simeon Towns, Asa Kimball and his wife, and John Watson had all been strengthened in their faith, and Andrew Tibbetts and his wife, Mr. Gellison’s wife, Thomas Saunders, Sarah Coy and Alice Potter seemed to be progressing in that direction. Returning to politics, he added that “We have unanimously signed a paper, to join New England in the national struggle, and are making all possible preparations for war.”

In May of 1776, a group of New England privateers arrived in Maugerville and announced an impending invasion and, on May 14^th, a committee was formed “to make immediate application to the Congress of the General Assembly of the Massachusetts Bay for relief under the present distressed circumstances.” Other resolutions were included, such as “Resolved that it is our minds and desire to submit ourselves to the government of Massachusetts Bay, and that we are ready with our lives and fortunes to share with them the event of the present struggle for liberty …”, and that “we can see no shadow of Justice in that Extensive Claim of the British parlimant (VIZ) the Right of Enacting Laws binding on the Colonies in all cases whatsoever” and that “as tyrany ought to be Resisted in its first appearance we are convinced that the United Provinces are just in their proceedings in this Regard”. They decided “That a Committee be chosen to consist of twelve men who shall immediately make application to the Massachusetts Congress or general assembly for Relief …” and that “we will immediately put ourselves in the best posture of Defense…”. Finally, they said “we shall have no dealings or connection with any person or persons for the future that shall refuse to enter into the foregoing or similar resolutions.” After some campaigning, 125 people on the river signed the resolution and about 12 or 13, 9 of whom were at the mouth of the river, had not.²¹

Asa Perley and Asa Kimbal carried the resolutions to Boston, where they bought and were given arms and ammunition. Part of their instructions were to “Represent the conduct of the Indians that General Washington’s letter set them on fire and they are plundering all people they think are torys and perhaps when that is done the others may share the same fate.”²²

Washington had sent the native people a letter and wampum belts. The letter acknowledged their truce with the government of Massachusetts Bay and assured them of his friendship. They were cautioned not to listen to “the King’s wicked counsellors”²³

Jonathan Eddy then figured in the events of the American Revolution on the Saint John River. He was a native of Norton, Massachusetts who had relocated to Cumberland, near present day Sackville, New Brunswick, in 1763. He later returned to Massachusetts becoming a Lieutenant Colonel in the American army. Late in 1776, Eddy led a force that tried to capture Fort Cumberland which was being commanded by Colonel Gorham. Proceeding by ship northward from Machias, he got little encouragement from the mostly Loyalist settlers at the mouth of the Saint John River. At Maugerville, however, the people were “almost universally hearty in our cause; they joined us with one captain, one lieutenant and twenty-five men, as also sixteen Indians.”²⁴ Seth Noble was a part of that contingent, between October and December of 1776.²⁵ There were many other people in the party, from other areas.

The raid failed and sixty of Eddy’s men fled for their lives in November, returning to Portland Point and then to Maugerville in a miserable state. Hazen, Simonds and White had to provision them in order to keep them from plundering their supplies and later billed them 45 Spanish dollars for the goods, but doubtless this bill was ever paid.²⁶

So, by 1777, there was a small population of New Englanders on the river, which for the most part eagerly supported the Revolution. There were also the Malecite people whose strength could be added to that of the New Englanders to hold the river for the American side in the war. This was contingent, perhaps, upon receiving military help from New England, and upon a general uprising among the people of Nova Scotia of the sort that Eddy had envisaged.

John Allan, a Scottish immigrant from Cumberland and New England, then enters the story and Seth Noble again becomes prominent. In May of 1777, John Allan attempted to establish a trading post on the Saint John River.²⁷ Allan was superintendent of the Eastern Indians for the Massachusetts Congress, and his objective was to strengthen the support of the Malecites in the Revolutionary War.²⁸

A British war vessel was dispatched from Halifax in response to Allan’s move and arrived at the mouth of the River under the command of Colonel Arthur Gould and with a force led by Major Studholm. Studholm wrote to the Maugerville settlers and told them that the British knew of their disloyal activities. He said that they held their grants only by “the Indulgence of the most Just, the most Generous, and the best of Princes” and that, given proper loyalty, they could still fall “under his Royal protection”.²⁹ By inference, the alternatives would not be so attractive. Seth Noble and some others signed a statement asking “that no distinction be made as to pardon” but Seth was too well known among the British, and he had to flee narrowly avoiding capture and leaving his wife Hannah behind with her parents. He then made his way with Jonathan Eddy by inland routes to Machias.³⁰

The people of Maugerville felt threatened, and found it necessary to reply to Studholm. They said “that their greatest desire hath ever been to live in peace under good and wholesome laws” and that they were “ready to attend to any conditions of lenity and oblivion that may be held out to them.”³¹ Other exchanges took place between Studholm and the people of Maugerville and, still in May of 1777, he administered the oath of allegiance. Having signed the oath, they were given a paper entitling them to protection by “all his Majesty’s Officers both Civil and Military”. He also threatened that those who had not shown up to sign the oath had better go to Halifax to do so, or else they would not share in the same protection.³²

While on the River in May of 1777, Colonel Gould also met with the Malicites and made a speech in French, which they welcomed. Several leaders swore their allegiance, and Gould promised to ask the Governor to supply them with a priest.³³ Colonel Gould’s party then returned to Halifax, taking Israel Perley with them.³⁴ In the meantime, Allan had left the river.³⁵

Allan was not finished with the Saint John River and, on May 13, 1777, two of his associates arrived at Manawagonish Cove near Portland Point in pursuit of the trading post plan. However, they were discovered by the British, who destroyed their whale boat, and they had to flee back to Machias. The British ship Vulture also intercepted two schooners laden with supplies for the trading post.³⁶

Seth Noble was forced to leave the river for his safety. When the British search party appeared he hid in the house of a sympathizer, Mrs. Wasson. The officers entered but Noble was hidden under a bed occupied by a daughter of the household feigning illness. The officers gave the room a quick inspection before leaving, and the girl rowed Noble across the river where he hid until under the cover of darkness before starting off for Machias.³⁷

John Allan was also now in Machias, and it was at that time that Seth Noble joined the American army as a Private in Captains Dyer and Jabez West’s Company of veterans from the Cumberland raid. Allan was determined to continue his work with the Malecites, and a military force left Machias on May 30, 1777, and arrived at Musquash Cove near Portland Point on June 2, 1777.³⁸ The British ship that had disrupted his provisioning of the trading post had left the River by that time.

From Musquash Cove, they proceeded overland to Portland Point and took James White, William Hazen and Lewis Mitchell prisoner, while exchanging some insults with James Simonds. Allan then left a contingent of about sixty men to hold Portland Point and the rest of the group headed up the river encountering mostly friendly inhabitants along the way. Seth Noble conducted intelligence work for the mission, which likely involved proceeding ahead to determine the mood of the population and to detect the presence of any British forces. They arrived at the Malecite village of Aukpaque above Ste. Anne’s on June 5, 1777 where some natives greeted them warmly, while others still favoured Gould. Lewis Mitchell escaped at some time during the ensuing four weeks while conferences and bonding ceremonies were observed between the New Englanders and the Malicites. News of Allan’s activities then reached Halifax.³⁹

Seth Noble probably spent some time in Maugerville while the conferences were taking place at Aukpaque, because his wife Hannah gave birth to her first son, Seth, Jr., on August 5^th.⁴⁰

Allan did not have a very good opinion of the natives, and wrote, “The Indians are generally actuated according to the importance or influence anyone has who lives among them. They are credulous to a degree, will listen to every report, and generally believe it and think everything true that is told them.”⁴¹ For their part, the Malecites had experience enough to know that the Americans and the British only wanted their loyalty in order to further their war objectives and that their friendship and support would last only so long as it was to their advantage. The War of Revolution was definitely a white man’s war, and the Malecites were as much victims of the situation as anyone else.

Another British force was sent from Halifax with three ships, the Mermaid, Vulture and Hope to deal again with Allan. Major Studholm landed about 120 troops near Portland Point and more arrived later. Studholm’s presence was detected by the contingent of sixty men that Allan had left there, and some of them tried to hide by climbing trees. Eight of them were shot (“dropped him like a little pigeon”) and the others were forced to flee back to Machias. News of this caused great alarm at Aukpaque and John Allan, Seth Noble, Phineas Nevers, and others fled to Machias with a large contingent of Malecites.⁴² Noble’s war activities on the Saint John River were now over.

Noble was at Machias when the British under Sir. George Collier destroyed stores there on August 14 and 15, 1777. He preached a sermon on the event the following Sunday. He also wrote a letter to George Washington urging him to get control of the Saint John River and the Bay of Fundy.⁴³

Seth Noble left Machias and discontinued his military service and, for the rest of the war, ministered in various places in New England being careful not to get too close to the British. He wrote on June 7, 1777 with regard to a proposed military assignment within a British controlled area, for example, that “I think it is too dangerous for a proscribed person to accept of.”⁴⁴ Hannah (Barker) Noble had been living with her parents in Maugerville, but left to join Seth in 1780.⁴⁵

 Seth Noble in New England

Noble wrote a letter to the church in Maugerville on September 6, 1784 claiming back-wages for the time that he had been away following his retreat with Allan. He said that it was they who had abandoned him, and not the other way around, because of their decision to remain in British territory, which was now a hotbed of Loyalist immorality. The Maugerville church replied on November 10, 1784, that “with regard to the growth of immorality in this place we acknowledge and lament it …” and wished that they could find a place “where Vice and immorality did not thrive, or at least where vital purity did flourish more than here”. They said, however, that they had invested too much effort in their settlement over the years to consider leaving now. They also refused his financial claim on the basis that he had left them seven years previous.⁴⁶ This claim for seven years pay is usually portrayed as simply audacious, and the reply as angry. We shall see, however, that Noble was never very financially secure and may have been motivated by need. In addition, he and the Maugerville people seem to have remained on good terms. There may have been some subtleties of expression in the claim and in the reply that escape modern readers.

In 1785, Noble received a grant on Jonathan Eddy’s plantation on the Penobscot as a Nova Scotia refugee. He met there with other old Maugerville associates who were also now refugees.⁴⁷

On April 10, 1785, Noble demonstrated his ongoing support for the Revolution, which was now won, when he wrote a letter to Massachusetts Governor John Hancock complaining that Mr. J. Lee of “Majabigwaduce” was seeking a position as a commissioner of the peace. Noble said that Lee was a “malicious Troy” who had taken up arms against America during the war. Noble recommended someone else for the position.⁴⁸

Seth Noble preached in what is now Augusta, Maine for about six months beginning in September of 1785, for which the town paid him £26 10s.⁴⁹

Noble was hired on June 17, 1786 as the minister in Kenduskeag (Bangor), and on September 10, 1786, he was installed for a salary of £70 per year. The ceremony was at a place that is now the corner of Oak Street and Washington Street in Bangor.⁵⁰ Noble’s field included the areas of Bangor, Brewer, Eddington, Hampden, Holden and Orrington. He did not have a church, and traveled around preaching in barns and homes.⁵¹ An entry in his diary from April, 1794 reads “Fixed my canoe.”⁵²

Noble lived on the Penobscot for 11 or 12 years in poverty like most people of that area. For example, in 1786 the people filed a petition to be relieved of taxation, which they could not afford.⁵³

In 1790, a petition was made to the Massachusetts General Court asking that Kenduskeag, which had been known locally as Sunbury, be incorporated. They had voted and decided that the name Sunbury should remain. Noble carried the petition to the legislature in Boston that summer but, it is said, altered the document to read Bangor instead of Sunbury – Bangor being the name of his favorite hymn. This version of the story sometimes includes the speculation that the change was a joke, and sometimes even suggests that he was drinking at the time. Another reason might have been that ‘Sunbury’ sounded too British to him.⁵⁴ Another tradition states that Noble was waiting to present his petition in Boston and was whistling Bangor to pass the time when a court official arrived and asked what name the town was to have. Noble replied, mistakenly or absentmindedly, “Bangor”.⁵⁵

In any case, Bangor was incorporated in February of 1791, and Jonathan Eddy was assigned “to issue a warrant to call a meeting to chuse all such Officers as towns are by law required to chuse in the month of March or April annually.”⁵⁶ The warrant was issued in 1792.⁵⁷ 

^{Noble’s wife Hannah (Barker) died suddenly in Kenduskeag Meadows on June 16, 1790, on the same day that Seth set out to return from Boston. He did not arrive in Bangor until the day after her funeral, and preached a sermon on the following Sunday from Hebrews 11:13, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded by them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims upon the earth”.58}

Noble preached, farmed, taught in a  singing school and taught in some field of English studies but was still having difficulty getting by financially. He wrote a note to the church committee in August of 1790 saying that he had accepted a salary of £70, which was less than what he needed to live, only because the people were poor. However, he had not been able to collect even this amount, and he demanded to be paid. He apologized for having to take such a stand.⁶⁰

Seth asked for permission to preach in Sheffield in 1791, and this was granted. However, a letter dated August 5, 1791 from Jonathan Odell rescinded that permission since Odell had learned of Noble’s involvement in the Revolution. The letter threatened him with fines and imprisonment if he should continue to preach.⁶¹ It was during this visit that he took his two younger sons, Joseph and Benjamin, to Maugerville where Hannah Barker’s family brought them up. He apparently kept his older son, Seth, and his two daughters Sarah and Hannah with him. Joseph and Benjamin Noble have many descendants in New Brunswick and elsewhere.⁶² This had been a trying time for Seth Noble. His wife had died, he was in financial straits, and he had had to give two of his sons up to the care of his in-laws.

Noble’s second marriage was in Bangor on April 11, 1793 to Ruhamah Emery Rich, his housekeeper and the widow of James Emery.⁶³ Ruhama and Seth had one child who died in infancy. Seth and Ruhama left Bangor and the Penobscot in 1797 and went to New Market, New Hampshire where he had once ministered to the Presbyterians. He then preached in various places in New Hampshire.⁶⁴

Noble began singing schools in Newfield, Maine and in Lamper, New Hampshire in December of 1797 and January of 1798.⁶⁵

Noble returned to Westfield, Massachusetts at the end of November, 1799 and preached and taught singing at a great number of places in that vicinity for 16 months. He was described as “a man of great activity”.⁶⁶ He preached in Becket, Montgomery, Blandford, Feeding Hills, Ireland, Russell and Springfield, Massachusetts.⁶⁷ Noble was named the first minister at Montgomery, Massachusetts, near Westfield, in 1801, but still had difficulties collecting his salary.⁶⁸

 Seth Noble’s Last Days in Ohio

Seth was in his mid-fifties by the end of the 1700s and had had a strenuous and difficult life. His personality had changed and he “… was no doubt a thorn in the flesh of many of the good citizens of this town. He was obstinate, severe and had a peculiar way of obtaining his own aims. He was excessively fond of the old tune of ‘Bangor’, and insisted on the congregation singing it at nearly every service.”⁵⁹ This may have been one of the reasons why he was dismissed at Westfield. “He unsheathed the sword of the Spirit and turned the point upon the hearer.⁷⁰

Seth Noble’s second wife, Ruhama, died in Montgomery, Massachusetts in October or November, 1805,⁷¹ and in the spring of 1806 he went to Ohio and received a 640 acre grant near where Columbus is now, as a Nova Scotia refugee. The place was then known as Franklinton. He built a cabin and is said to have been the first Congregational or Presbyterian minister there.⁷²

In Ohio, Noble married a third time, in June of 1807, to widow Mary (Riddle) Magill. Franklinton was the home of many people who had previously resided in Maugerville, and some of Seth’s grandchildren thought that Mary was one of these. Mary was also known as Margaret.⁷³ She died in 1807.

Noble preached at various places in Ohio for 15 months, and died at Franklinton on September 15, 1807. He was buried at Franklinton, but the grave is not marked.⁷⁴ There is a marker erected by the Franklin County Historical Society which reads in part “… Here also is buried at least one soldier of the American Revolution Reverend Seth Noble, first minister of the frontier town….”⁷⁵

Overview

Seth Noble was born in 1743 in Westfield, Massachusetts and chose the ministry as a career. He did not have a theological education, however, and had to work mostly in pioneer communities where he found it difficult to collect a salary and had to supplement his income in any way that he could. He preached inNew Brunswick as well as in what is now the state of Maine, and in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Ohio.

Seth Noble’s life and career were not spectacular or unusual. He was good at his work and is also remembered for his jovial and pleasant personality and his musical talents. He is not remembered for these reasons, but because he was ‘on the stage’ at some pivotal moments in several communities such as in New Brunswick where he was the first settled minister at Maugerville and was engaged in Revolutionary  War activities. Bangor residents recall that he was the first minister on the Penobscot River, and the people ofMontgomery,Massachusettsand of Columbus, Ohio remember him as the first settled minister in those places.

It is therefore fortunate for us and an honour to his memory that, following his time on this stage, his voice can still be faintly heard.

 Notes:

1.  James Hannay, ed., The Maugerville Settlement, 1763-1824, NBHS Coll. I, Saint John, 1894, p 67.
2. ibid., p 72.
3. Other marriages, from Research Notes by John J. Noble, included: Abijah Palmer to Mary Branch, 1766; Ezekial Sanders to Abigail Thurston, 1766; Jacob Barker to Sarah Upton, 1766; Moses Coburn to Hannah Burpee, 1767; Ebenezer Whitney to Huldah Mooers, 1769; John Estey to Molly Hart, 1769; and Nathaniel Barker to Lydia Burpee, 1774.
4. Quoted by James Hannay, ibid., p 71.
5. James Hannay, ed., Documents of the Congregational Church at Maugerville, NBHS Coll. I, Saint John, 1894, p 121.
6. James Hannay, ed., The Maugerville Settlement, 1763-1824, ibid., p 121.
7. Compiled from G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, Acadiensis, Vol. VII, No. 1, January, 1907, p 46; and the web site of Bangor Daily News at bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.cfm?ID=409254, as reviewed in August of 2004; and the web site of the New England Historic Genealogical Society at newenland ancestors.org, as reviewed in August of 2004; and Lucius M. Boltwood, History and Genealogy of the Family of Thomas Noble of Westfield, Mass., PANB MC80/562, pp 192, 211-212.
8. Refer to G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 47; and the Madison County, Ohio history web site at heritage pursuits.com/Madison/MadisonDeerCreekB.htm, which makes reference to a publication by W.H. Beers, Chicago, 1883. Web site reviewed in August of 2004.
9. G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., pp 46-47.
10. These several quotations are from G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 56, and the web site at heritage pursuits.com/Madison/MadisonDeerCreekB.htm, ibid.
11. G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., pp 56-57.
12. ibid., p 47.
13. John J. Noble, Research Notes.
14. Compiled from G.O. Bent, ibid., p 47.; and the web site at heritagepursuits.com/Madison /MadisonDeerCreekB.htm, ibid.; and Lucius M. Boltwood, History and Genealogy of the Family of Thomas Noble of Westfield, Mass., ibid., pp 192, 211-212.
15. Lucius M. Boltwood, History and Genealogy of the Family of Thomas Noble of Westfield, Mass., ibid.
16. Gerald Keith, The Pickard Papers, NBHS Coll. XV, 1959, pp 66-67.
17. Minutes of a town meeting at Rawley, Mass., May 17, 1770. At that meeting they appointed a committee to “consider what measures might be proper for this town to take, in order to prevent the importation of British manufactures.” Quoted from Thomas Gage, History of Rawley, Boston, 1840, in Gerald Keith, The Pickard Papers, ibid., p70.
18. James Hannay, ed., The Maugerville Settlement, 1763-1824, ibid., p 19.
19. James Hannay, ed., Justice Perley’s Court Documents, NBHS Coll. I, Saint John, 1894, p 98.
20. G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., pp 48-49.
21. Refer to James Hannay, ed., The Maugerville Settlement, 1763-1824, ibid., pp 74-75; and Gerald Keith, The Pickard Papers, ibid., pp 75-76; and Robert L. Dallison, Hope Restored, Goose Lane Editions, Fredericton, N.B., 2003.
22. Quote from James Hannay, ed., The Maugerville Settlement, 1763-1824, ibid., p 75. See Gerald Keith, The Pickard Papers, ibid., regarding the arms and ammunition.
23. W.O. Raymond, The River St. John, ibid., p 430.
24. ibid., p 437.
25. Ernest Clarke, The Siege of Fort Cumberland, 1776: An Episode in the American Revolution, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston, 1995, Appendix I.
26. W.O. Raymond, The River St. John, ibid., p 439.
27. Refer to G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 50; and PANB, A Partial Listing of Family Histories at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.
28. ibid., pp 52-53. The web site at heritagepursuits.com/Madison/MadisonDeerCreekB.htm, ibid. agrees with this version of the story.
29. John J. Noble, Research Notes, with reference to 1801 and Ancient Landmarks of Montgomery, Massachusetts, pp 10-12.
30. John J. Noble, Research Notes, with reference to 1798 and quoting Rev. George Shepard of the Bangor Theological Seminary.
31. G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 55.
32. Refer to W.O. Raymond, The River St. John, ibid., p 438; and James Hannay, ed., The Maugerville Settlement, 1763-1824, ibid., pp 76-77.
33. W.O. Raymond, The River St. John, ibid, p 439.
34. ibid., p 431.
35. ibid., p 439.
36. G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., pp 49-50.
37. W.O. Raymond, The River St. John, ibid, p 434.
38. Compiled from Esther Clark Wright, The St. John River and its Tributaries, 1966, p 126; and W.O. Raymond, The River St. John, ibid., pp 439-440.
39. W.O. Raymond, The River St. John, ibid., pp 440-441.
40. Refer to G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 49; and James Hannay, ed., The Maugerville Settlement, 1763-1824, ibid., p 77.
41. ibid., p 440.
42. John J. Noble, Research Notes. This is a traditional story or legend.
43. Refer to Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors who Served in the Army and Navy During the Revolutionary War, as reproduced in a database at the web site ancestry.com, as reviewed in August of 2004 which establishes Noble’s military service. See also James Hannay, ed., The Maugerville Settlement, 1763-1824, ibid., p 77.
44. Compiled from James Hannay, ed., The Maugerville Settlement, 1763-1824, ibid., p 77; and W.O. Raymond, The River St. John, ibid., pp 441-442.
45. Quoted in W.O. Raymond, The River St. John, ibid., p 431.
46. Refer to W.O. Raymond, The River St. John, ibid., pp 443-445; and the web site of the University of New Brunswick Libraries at lib.unb.ca/Texts/NBHistory/Education/bin/tei2html_chap.cgi?determine=3 as reviewed in August of 2004.
47. G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 50.
48. ibid., p 51.
49. ibid., p 50.
50. Refer to James Hannay, ed., The Maugerville Settlement, 1763-1824, ibid., p 85; and James Hannay, ed., Documents of the Congregational Church at Maugerville, ibid., pp 125-127; and J.M. Bumstead, in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume 5 1801 to 1820, University of Toronto Press, 1983, pp 627-628.
51. G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., pp 51-52.
52. Bangor Historical Magazine, April/May, 1890, p 220, Bangor Public Library, Bangor Room, 974.1.M28.
53. John J. Noble, Research Notes.
54. G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., pp 51-52.
55. Refer to G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., pp 51-52; and the web site heritagepursuits.com/Madison /MadisonDeerCreekB.htm, ibid.
56. G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 51.
57. ibid., p 52.
58. Refer to the web site of the City of Bangor at bangorinfo.com/history.html as reviewed in August of 2004.
59. The web site at bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.cfm?ID=409254, ibid.
60. G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 53.
61. Refer to G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 53; and the web site at heritagepursuits .com/Madison/Madison DeerCreekB.htm, ibid.; and Lucius M. Boltwood, History and Genealogy of the Family of Thomas Noble of Westfield, Mass., ibid.
62. John J. Noble, Research Notes.  The date of 1793 is as found but should read 1790; and Sophronia must have been an alternate name for Hannah.
63. Refer to G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., pp 53-54; and the web site at heritagepursuits .com/Madison/ MadisonDeerCreekB.htm, ibid.
64. John J. Noble, Research Notes; with reference to N.B. Museum F67 #19 record number 000019839 in Acadia University Planter Archives.
65. Refer to G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 54; and PANB, A Partial Listing of Family Histories at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.
66. Refer to G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 54; and and the web site at heritagepursuits .com/Madison /MadisonDeerCreekB.htm, ibid.; and Lucius M. Boltwood, History and Genealogy of the Family of Thomas Noble of Westfield, Mass., ibid.
67. Refer to G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., pp 54-66; and the web site at heritagepursuits .com/Madison /MadisonDeerCreekB.htm, ibid.
68. John J. Noble, Research Notes
69. G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 55.
70. The web site at heritagepursuits.com/Madison/MadisonDeerCreekB.htm, ibid.
71. G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 55.
72. The web site at heritagepursuits.com/Madison/MadisonDeerCreekB.htm, ibid.
73. Refer to G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 55; and the web site at heritagepursuits .com/Madison/Madison DeerCreekB.htm, ibid.
74. Refer to G.O. Bent, Parson Noble, ibid., p 55; and the web site at heritagepursuits .com/Madison/Madison DeerCreekB.htm, ibid.; and Lucius M. Boltwood, History and Genealogy of the Family of Thomas Noble of Westfield, Mass., ibid.; and J.M. Bumstead, in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, ibid.
75. The web site of rootsweb.com at homepages.rootsweb.com/~rocky/Franklin_Cemeteries/oldfranklinton /memsign.jpg as reviewed in August of 2004.