Allen line: Thomas Noble 1632ish-1703/04

Earlier, I wrote about Thomas's supposed parents.  I wasn't sure at the time that I had the right people and I am still not sure.  So I will just say Thomas's parents may or may not have been Thomas and Rachel Gardiner Noble.  His father also may or may not have been John Noble.  The Thomas and Rachel may or may not have come to New England, and they may or may not have both died during the year of Thomas's birth.  End of speculation for now.

The first that i really known of Thomas Noble is that he was "admitted" to Boston on January 5, 1653.  "Admission" generally means that he had no family there but that he had a trade or other means to provide for himself.  Boston did not wish to have people in its community who could not be trusted to contribute to its growth, and who might, for whatever reason, become a burden to the town.  (This was common for single men in most early Massachusetts towns and villages).  Thomas, then, had permission to stay, but he didn't stay for long.

Later in the year he is found in Springfield, Massachusetts, a town which was founded in 1653. He was still a single man so would have been required to have stayed in someone else's home.  (The First Century of the History of Springfield gives his arrival date as 1656.  I think that is in error, because in 1657 Thomas had already gained enough approval from Mr. Pynchon to be advanced money for a trip to and from England. We can only speculate whether the trip was trade-related, or family related, or on some kind of errand for Mr. Pynchon.) 

Thomas Noble did have a trade, or at least a part time trade.  He was a tailor when he wasn't farming.  Again, it is hard to trace who he lived with and how he could practice a trade when he had no place to call his own.  He married Hannah Warriner, daughter of William and Joanna Scant (probably) Warriner of Springfield on  January 11, 1660, in Springfield.  It's possible that he had stayed in the home of his in-laws until and even after the marriage, but as far as I know there is no documentation of that.  We can see that after his marriage he acquired a bit more status than he had as a bachelor.  In 1659, he was assigned to the 9th row of men in the meeting house, and in 1662 he was already moved to the sixth row.  Marriage made a man more respectable, in and of itself. 

Thomas and Hannah stayed in Springfield for several years, eventually moving to the new town of Westfield, a little further to the west of the Springfield village.  In 1664 he was one of four men who were given permission to set up a saw mill, and were also given 70 acres of land to use.  The sawmill was to be in operation by April 1, 1666.  The sawmill was on the west side of the Agawam river, which appears to be just where Westfield was created.  Thomas Noble is noted as having been there in 1667, so probably the family moved during or after the construction of the sawmill. 

Yes, Thomas and Hannah had a family, and there are probably tens of thousands of descendants from this family now.  There were at least ten children born to the couple.  The family didn't realize it at the time, but later learned that a native American called "Gray Locks" had often had some of the children in his sight, saying he could have killed several at one time, but that he wanted to capture them so they could be held for ransom. Thankfully, this goal was not accomplished. During King Philip's war, the same Gray Lock would open the door to the cabin, and let it swing shut before playing his game again.  This encouraged the family to move from their farm to the relative safety of Westfield, at least for the duration of hostilities.  

Thomas farmed, of course, and probably helped in the saw mill operation, and also did tailoring work until close to the end of his days.  He was involved in another saw mill operation in 1684, but it's not clear whether he had already relinquished his partnership in the earlier saw mill, or whether this was a separate enterprise entirely.  At various times he was a constable, an appraiser, and on committees to help set the boundaries between Springfield and Westfield. 

Thomas joined the Westfield church on February 26, 1681 and was made a freeman in the fall of the year.  He was on juries, including one conducting an inquest into the manner of death of one of their neighbors, concluding that Eliezer Weller had hanged himself.  But Thomas also had his minor run-ins with the law, specifically, church law.  He was fined 5 shillings in 1683 because he traveled on a day of court-ordered fasting and humiliation.  Thomas stated that he was just trying to get home, but that didn't fold water with the court. 

Thomas seems to have been often, if not always, in debt, especially to William or John Pynchon, despite acquiring more and more land during his lifetime.  When he died on January 20, 1703/04, he left a will naming his ten children, although it appears that son James died at the same time that Thomas did.  Hannah survived him and later married Medad Pomeroy, another of our ancestors.  She lived until 1721.

Thomas's inventory was valued at 448 pounds, which was mostly land, farm animals, and farm implements.  He had arms and ammunition, but I didn't see any mention of books in the inventory, nor did I see tailoring tools, although they could have been included with  "other small things".  There is much more information available about Thomas, but the big mystery is still the identification of his parents, and of how and when he arrived in Massachusetts. 

Fun fact:  I was fascinated to learn that Agatha Christie, the mystery writer, is his sixth great grand daughter.  He is my 8th great granddaughter, so that makes us very distant cousins.  Other famous grandchildren are Samuel Colt, Humphrey Bogart, Nancy Davis Reagan, and Ken Burns. 

The line of descent is

Thomas Noble-Hannah Warriner
Thomas Noble-Elizabeth Dewey
Thomas Noble-Sarah Root
Stephen Noble=Ruth Church
Ruth Noble-Martin Root
Ruth Root-Samuel Falley
Clarissa Falley-John Havens Starr
Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott
Edith Knott-Edward Allen
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants