| Notes |
- The Noggles and Drollingers established themselves in the wilderness that challenged pioneer settlers. Although the Treaty of Greenville (1795) ended Indian control, Indians still roamed. The treaty did not require them to leave and for a time they remained peaceful as settlers straggled into these areas. The occasional run-in kept settlers nervous, but the catalyst for further conflict was Tecumseh, the great Shawnee Indian who created an Indian confederacy. Neither Darke nor Preble saw pitched battles but frequent skirmishes kept settlers on edge. Once Tecumseh was killed in Ontario in 1813, the settlers turned their complete attention to their very existence in this area of great promise. They had land but not farms. Clearing the land to make it suitable for agriculture took strength, persistence, and cooperation. Although the great forests provided timber for cabins, furniture, and wagons, as well as cooking and heating, crops could not be raised until the land could be plowed even roughly. Once planted, the crop yields hinged on weather and pests. Harvest over, the grains had to be milled, perhaps at a distance. An example of the frustration encountered by settlers is detailed in the History of Darke County: "Daniel Riegel [neighbor of Elizabeth and John] relates that, as late as the winter of 1842-43, he went to Covington from Butler Township with a grist, found several others ahead of him and the mill frozen up; left his grain and returned home till the weather softened, then went back and helped to loosen the wheel, at the first revolution of which, the weight of ice that went over broke the wheel; after which, he was compelled to take his grist to a mill on the Whitewater, below, Paris, traveling in all, going and coming, over ninety miles to get this flour." Also ever present on the frontier was the risk of injury and illness which makes the survival of this prolific family remarkable.
John's parents George and Catharine Noggle, were Germans from Pennsylvania who came to Darke County about 1816 after a brief stop in Fairfield County. John was born during their stay in Fairfield County on 6 June 1812. Neither John nor his brothers and sisters were infected with wanderlust. They were content to spend their lives, scattered throughout Darke County. Younger brother Michael's biography says their parents settled first in Neave Township and then in Harrison Township. John and Elizabeth were in Neave Township in 1840, but lived most of their years in Butler Township. Their economic progress is clear, increasing with their burgeoning their family. John's real estate was valued at $2,500 in 1850, $4,000 in 1860, and $14,000 by 1870 when he had retired and moved to the close by town of New Madison, Harrison Township. The townships of Neave, Butler, and Harrison touch in one corner, so the Noggles' moves were short distances.
New Madison was becoming quite civilized by the time the Noggles moved there. The town passed an ordinance 1 May 1869, making it illegal for hogs to run loose after the first of May unless they had rings in their noses. In an early attempt at sheltering the homeless the village paid residents for boarding tramps, but at the same time they gave an incentive to the village marshal to jail the tramps. He was awarded ten cents for every locked up tramp and in one month he received $30 for his industry.
John was retired in 1870, but at an early 58 years old perhaps he had been in failing health for some time. He died of congestion of the lungs 12 July 1870, less than a month after the census was taken. His death left New Madison without a mayor, and he almost waited too long to leave a will. The will was dated 7 July 1870 and presented for probate 28 July 1870. It was an uncomplicated will leaving real and personal property to Elizabeth and at her death to be divided equally among his children or their heirs, except Cecelia Noggle who was bequeathed $2.00. He was so adamant in this exclusion that he mentioned it twice - once in relation to the real estate and again in relation to the personal property. Cecelia was the wife of his son Allen; one wonders what she did to anger her father-in-law.
John stipulated that his personal property was not to be sold at public auction. This may indicate a private person who did not want his worldly goods paraded before his neighbors. The only other microfilmed estate record is the final settlement wherein executors George N. and William, his sons, reported remaining assets of $7,465 with $7,941.67 paid out and they were due $476.67.
John described the land he gave to Elizabeth as Lot 22 in New Madison, where they were living, and the east ½ of the southeast ¼, section 1, township 10, range 1 east, 79 acres in Harrison Township, presumably where they lived before moving to town. Lot 22 was right on Main Street, a block from the post office and only three blocks from the Universalist Church and Cemetery. The same 1875 atlas depicting the layout of New Madison shows the 79 acres belonging to John Noggle, probably John, Jr.. Elizabeth died 11 November 1874, only four months after the final settlement of John's estate. No estate records were found on film for Elizabeth. The personal property could have been divvied up informally and the property dispersal recorded in the deed books. John Jr. may have bought out his siblings or they may have received other property before John Sr.'s death. The latter scenario is suggested in son George's biography and perhaps confirmed by the real estate values listed for sons David, William, and Allen in 1860. David, 25, has holdings of $4,000; William, 23 and still at home, has property listed at $1,200; Allen, only 20, has $1,500 worth of property. It would be unusual for young farmers to have so much wealth. Onsite research in Darke County will finish the story. But for now John and Mary rest silently in the First Universalist Church Cemetery surrounded by many of their kin. Kay Germain Ingalls 2003
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1812 - 1870 (58 years)
