These pieces of information suggest a birth year for Catherine somewhere around 1750-1 if the 1749 date of birth for her brother John is correct, or 1753-4 if the 1752 birth year for John is accurate. Following Catherine were brothers Patrick and Ezekiel. As we’ll see in a later posting, Ezekiel’s birthdate is known: he was born 12 February 1756. If Ezekiel was born in 1756 and between Ezekiel and John there were siblings Catherine and Patrick, then it seems to me the 1749 birthdate for John is more likely correct, and Catherine would likely have been born around 1750-1. In his study of the Calhoun, Hamilton, Baskin and Related Families, Lewin Dwinell McPherson gives Catherine a birth year of 1752.[3]
Marriage of Catherine Calhoun and Alexander Noble
On 7 January 1768 in the Long Cane settlement in Granville County, Catherine Calhoun married Alexander Noble, son of John Noble and Mary Calhoun. Mary was a sister of Catherine’s father Ezekiel Calhoun; Catherine Calhoun and Alexander Noble were first cousins. The marriage of Alexr Noble and Katherine Calhoun, as her name appears in this record, was recorded by Catherine’s uncle William Calhoun in the previously discussed (and see here) journal he kept in the period 1760-1770, which was been transcribed and published by Calhoun researcher A.S. Salley.[4]
Biographical Information about Alexander Noble
A finding aid describing the collection entitled Noble Family Papers at Huntington Library in San Marino, California, which was discussed in a previous posting discussing the marriage of William Noble, son of Alexander Noble and Catherine Calhoun, to Rebecca Pickens, daughter of Andrew Pickens and Rebecca Calhoun, offers the following brief biography of Catherine Calhoun’s husband Alexander Noble:[5]
Major Alexander Noble (1733-1801), married to his first cousin Catherine Calhoun, moved to South Carolina and made his home in Abbeville District, near Willington. During the Revolutionary War, he was Captain of the state militia and later became an aide-de-camp to General Andrew Pickens. Major Noble’s eldest son John (1774-1819) went to Princeton, studied medicine in France, and then set up medical practice in Charleston.
According to Lucius M. Boltwood, Alexander Noble was born as his parents John Noble and Mary Calhoun crossed the Atlantic from Northern Ireland to Pennsylvania with the family of Patrick Calhoun (Mary’s father) and Catherine Montgomery in 1733.[6] The 10 June 1752 will of Alexander’s father John Noble in Augusta County, Virginia, names Alexander as a son and leaves him land at Cripple Creek and Big Spring.[7] If the will names John and Mary Calhoun Noble’s sons by order of birth, then Alexander was the oldest son of the family, with brothers James and Patrick following him. The will indicates that John and Mary’s son Ezekiel was not of age in 1752.
As another previous posting notes, when Ezekiel Calhoun made his will on 3 September 1759 in Granville County, South Carolina, his nephew Alexander Noble was a witness of the will.[8] When Ezekiel Calhoun’s estate was inventoried on 21 September 1762, Ezekiel’s brothers William and Patrick Calhoun inventoried the estate along with their nephews Alexander and James Noble.[9] As a previous posting also notes, when Ezekiel Calhoun’s son John E. Colhoun sold his father’s 150-acre Rock Spring tract in the Long Cane settlement to William Hutton on 12 March 1772, Alexander Noble witnessed the deed along with Joseph Calhoun.[10] As the linked posting notes, Joseph Calhoun was a first cousin of John E. Colhoun and Alexander Noble, a son of their uncle William Calhoun; and Joseph’s sister Agnes Calhoun married Joseph Hutton, a son of the William Hutton buying this tract.
By 1765, Alexander Noble began acquiring land in what would later be Abbeville County. On 8 March 1765, he had a grant from the colony of South Carolina for 200 acres in Granville County.[11] The memorial for this grant dated 3 May 1765 notes that the tract was on waters of the Savannah River.[12]
On 20 June 1767, Patrick Calhoun, Alexander’s uncle, surveyed 50 acres on Long Cane Creek, waters of the Savannah, for Alexander.[13] The tract was bordered on the south by land laid out for James McCulloch. The grant for this 50-acre tract was made 20 August 1767.[14] A memorial dated 6 November 1772 shows that Alexander also had a 150-acre tract in the Long Cane settlement by this date, bordering land owned by his brother James Noble and his mother Mary Noble, as well as by John Huston.[15]
Alexander Noble’s Revolutionary Service as Captain and Major
In the years 1778-1783, Alexander Noble served first as a captain and then as a major in the Upper Ninety-Six District Militia under Colonels Andrew Pickens, his brother-in-law, and Robert Anderson.[16] After his initial service as a captain, he was commissioned a major under command of Colonel Andrew Pickens by Governor John Rutledge on 10 November 1779.[17]
Alexander Noble’s Revolutionary audited accounts file contains a claim for payment for his service compiled in Ninety-Six District on 24 (no month written) 1783, providing details of his service.[18] The claim shows Major Alexander Noble issued payment of £1,759.10 for service first in the regiment of Colonel Pickens and then in the regiment of Colonel Anderson for the relief of Charles Town and “Outher Small Tours.” This document states that Alexander served 52 days in 1780, then 286 days in 1781, and 53 days in 1782 – in all 391 days. The claim was signed by Alexander with a notation by his uncle Patrick Calhoun dated 19 July 1783 stating that Alexander had sworn to the document before him on that date. Also included is a verification of the statement of Alexander’s service by his brother-in-law Andrew Pickens, signed “Andrw. Pickens, Brigr. Genl,” 19 July 1783. A note with Alexander Noble’s signature asks that his pay be delivered to John Ewing Colhoun.
John Ewing Colhoun was a brother of Alexander Noble’s wife Catherine, and also Alexander’s first cousin. Because John was practicing law in Charleston and the South Carolina treasury, which was issuing payments for Revolutionary service, was located there, it’s understandable that Alexander authorized his brother-in-law in Charleston to receive his payment for service. The audited accounts file has a pay voucher to Alexander dated 25 January 1779, making payment for Revolutionary service on his behalf of £1,500 to John Ewing Colhoun. Another pay voucher to Alexander for £1,650 was issued to John E. Colhoun on 25 January 1780. The file contains John E. Colhoun’s signed receipt dated 25 January 1780.
Also in the audited accounts file is a list of payments Captain Alexander Noble made to men serving in his militia unit under Colonel Pickens’ regiment, dated 21 April and 15 November 1779. On 9 June 1785, payment was issued to Alexander Noble for £432.12.10¼ for militia duty as captain and major from 1779 to 1783, for cash he advanced in 1779, and for a horse he lost in 1781.
An 18 December 1779 letter written by Major Alexander Noble to General Moultrie from camp at Two Sister’s Ferry, reporting his arrival with thirty-four men of Colonel Pickens’ regiment and with more men expected, is archived in the Preston Davie Collection at Wilson Library of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (see digital images at the head of the posting).[19] Biographers of Andrew Pickens including Rod Andrew Jr. and William R. Reynolds note Alexander Noble’s Revolutionary service under his brother-in-law Andrew Pickens, and comment on the kinship network of men serving with Noble and Pickens in the Upper Ninety-Six Militia. As Rod Andrew notes, also serving with Major Noble and Colonel Pickens was John Harris, who married Andrew Pickens’ daughter Mary Pickens.[20]
As the posting linked in the previous paragraph indicates, on 5 March 1833, in Anderson District, South Carolina, John Harris made an affidavit providing a chronicle of his Revolutionary service under Alexander Noble.[21] This states that John began serving in the militia under Captain Noble in what would later be Abbeville District in 1776 or 1777 at a fort near Noble’s house. In 1778, John then took part in an expedition to Georgia under Captain Noble to assist settlers there who were reporting attacks by native Americans. In 1779, again under Alexander Noble with Andrew Pickens as militia colonel, John took part in actions against the Tories in Georgia. On 26 September 1833 at Abbeville, Alexander Noble’s son Patrick Noble documented John Harris’ service under Alexander Noble, reporting that he had “such of his papers” as Alexander had, and providing a chronology of references to John Harris in muster lists and pay rolls belonging to Alexander Noble.
A slew of other Revolutionary pension affidavits also speak of service done under Captain or Major Alexander Noble, providing additional details about his Revolutionary record. These include an affidavit that Andrew Pickens’ cousin William Gabriel Pickens made in Livingston County, Kentucky, on 4 February 1833, in which he stated that he served under Major Alexander Noble and Colonel Robert Anderson in spring of 1781 when their militia unit joined General Greene at the siege of Ninety Six.[22]
Post-Revolutionary War Records for Alexander and Catherine
Following the war, on 16 July 1784, Alexander Noble had a survey made by Patrick Calhoun for 150 acres on Wilson’s Creek in Ninety-Six District.[23] As a previous posting notes, on the same day, John Kerr, son of Catherine Calhoun Noble’s sister Mary Calhoun Kerr and a cousin of Alexander, had a survey for 640 acres on Wilson’s Creek in Ninety-Six District, with the plat for the land stating it adjoined land surveyed for Alexander Noble.[24]
On 25 August 1794, Alexander Noble witnessed the will of Hugh Calhoun in Abbeville County.[25] When Hugh’s estate was appraised 3 May 1799, Alexander’s brother-in-law Ezekiel Calhoun (signing as Ezekiel Colhoun) was one of the appraisers of the estate.
I find Alexander Noble in grand jury presentments in Abbeville County and Ninety-Six District on 28 March 1795 (Abbeville) and 19 November 1796 (Ninety-Six District).[26] The Abbeville presentment shows members of the grand jury complaining that other courts were interfering with scheduling of court sessions and asked for coordination between the courts. The presentment in Ninety-Six District complained of the condition of the courthouse and asked for repairs, and also noted the nearness of the circuit courts of Ninety-Six and Washington Districts, which was causing difficulty with hearing of cases.
On 25 January 1797, along with James and Joseph Calhoun, Alexander Noble inventoried the estate of his uncle Patrick Calhoun in Abbeville County, South Carolina.[27] The loose-papers estate file has the original inventory with the signatures of all three men.
On 6 February 1799, in Abbeville County, Ninety-Six District, Peter Gibert surveyed for Alexander Noble 372 acres on waters of the Savannah River about three-quarters of a mile from the river.[28] The plat for this land shows it adjoining land owned by Hickerson Barksdale and James Bynum. On 24 June 1801, Gibert surveyed for Alexander Noble’s son William Noble 146 acres on the Savannah adjoining his father’s 372 acres.[29]
Alexander and Catherine’s Deaths
According to Lucius M. Boltwood, Alexander Noble died of apoplexy in Abbeville County on 15 February 1802.[30] Lewis Dwinnell McPherson abstracts estate records for Alexander that I have not been able to locate.[31] He states that 13 February 1804 in Abbeville District, Alexander’s son William Noble gave bond in the amount of $10,000 for estate administration with George Bowie as surety. As a previous posting has noted, George Bowie was a Princeton-educated lawyer at Abbeville who represented Abbeville County in the South Carolina legislature, and who married Alexander Noble’s niece by marriage Margaret Pickens, daughter of Andrew Pickens and Rebecca Calhoun.
McPherson says that Alexander Noble’s estate documents show his estate paying Reverend Moses Waddel for tuition of Alexander’s sons Patrick and Joseph. According to McPherson, the sale of Alexander’s estate was held 22 October 1804 with buyers including Jane, James, and Ezekiel Noble and William Calhoun. Moses Waddel, a famed South Carolina-Georgia educator, has been discussed in previous postings which note that his first wife was Catherine Calhoun, daughter of Patrick Calhoun and Martha Caldwell.
Both Boltwood and McPherson state that Catherine Calhoun Noble died of pleurisy in Abbeville County on 3 February 1803.[32] I have not found burial records for Alexander and Catherine. A Find a Grave memorial page for Catherine indicates that she is buried in the Noble family cemetery at Willington, McCormick County, South Carolina, but to the best of my knowledge, no monument for her is extant in that cemetery.[33] Catherine Calhoun was named, by the way, for her grandmother Catherine Montgomery Calhoun.
[1] South Carolina Will Bk. 1760-7, pp. 181-2.
[2] See Find a Grave memorial page of Rebecca Calhoun Pickens, Old Stone Church cemetery, Clemson, Pickens County, South Carolina, created by Jimmy Gilstrap, maintained by C. LATTA, with a tombstone photo by photo by Scott F. Lewis.
[3] Lewin Dwinell McPherson, Calhoun, Hamilton, Baskin, and Related Families (n.p., 1957), p. 12.
[4] A.S. Salley, “Journal of William Calhoun,” Publications of Southern Historical Association 8,3 (May 1904), pp. 179-195. The marriage entry for Alexander Noble and Katherine Calhoun is transcribed on p. 193. See also A.S. Salley, “The Calhoun Family of South Carolina (Continued),” South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine 7,3 (July 1906), p. 153; McPherson, Calhoun, Hamilton, Baskin, and Related Families, p. 12; George Wesley Clower, “Notes on the Calhoun-Noble-Davis Family,” South Carolina Historical Magazine 53,1 (January 1952), pp. 51-53; and “Our Old Roads,” Index-Journal [Greenwood, South Carolina] (6 March 1948), p. 4, col. 1-2.
[5] Noble Family Papers, Huntington Library Manuscript Collections, Online Archive of California.
[6] Lucius M. Boltwood, History and Genealogy of the Family of Thomas Noble of Westfield, Massachusetts, with Genealogical Notes of Other Families by the Name of Noble (Hartford, Connecticut: Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1878), p. 737.
[7] Augusta County, Virginia, Will Bk. 1, pp. 463-5.
[8] See supra, n. 1.
[9] The original inventory is in South Carolina Inventories of Estates Bk. 5, 1761-3, p. 270. The WPA transcript of this volume is labeled Charleston County, South Carolina, Inventories, 1761-3, vol. 87B, and is on p. 353 of this volume. A copy of the WPA transcript is on file in the John C. Calhoun papers of the South Caroliniana library at University of South Carolina, Columbia.
[10] For this deed, see file 128, p. 21, of the Calhoun folders of the Leonardo Andrea Collection. The recorded copy of the original deed evidently perished in the Abbeville courthouse fires of 1872-3, and Andrea possible had access to the original still in the hands of some family member.
[11] South Carolina Colonial Land Grants Bk. 12, p. 121.
[12] South Carolina Memorials Bk. 6, p. 428.
[13] South Carolina Colonial Land Plats Bk. 10, p. 39.
[14] South Carolina Colonial Land Grants Bk. 14, p. 504.
[15] South Carolina Memorials Bk. 11, p. 497.
[16] See “The American Revolution in South Carolina, The Upper Ninety-Six District Regiment of Militia,” at J.D. Lewis’ Carolana website.
[17] McPherson, Calhoun, Hamilton, Baskin, and Related Families, p. 12.
[18] South Carolina Accounts Audited of Claims Growing Out of the Revolution, file 5540.
[19] Preston Davie Collection, 1560-1903, collection 3406, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, available digitally.
[20] Rod Andrew Jr., Life and Times of General Andrew Pickens: Revolutionary War Hero, American Founder (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press), pp. 58-9, 293. See also William R. Reynolds Jr., Andrew Pickens: South Carolina Patriot in the Revolutionary War (Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland, 2012), pp. 48, 263-4, noting that Alexander Noble and Andrew Pickens were brothers-in-law and noting family connections among those serving in these units, including William Gabriel Pickens, whose Revolutionary pension application says he served Major Alexander Noble.
[21] NARA, Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, RG 15, file of John Harris, South Carolina, S21808, available digitally at Fold3.
[22] NARA, Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, RG 15, file of William Gabriel Pickens, South Carolina, S1244, available digitally at Fold3.
[23] South Carolina State Plat Books (Charleston Series) Bk. 10, p. 472.
[24] Ibid., Bk. 9, p. 217; and Abbeville County, South Carolina, Plat Bk. A, p. 111.
[25] Abbeville County, South Carolina, Will Bk. 1, p. 227, box 18, pkg. 387.
[26] South Carolina Grand Jury Presentments 1795, item 1, and 1796, items 3-4.
[27] Abbeville County, South Carolina, Probate Records, box 19, p. 393.
[28] South Carolina State Plat Books (Columbia Series) Bk. 37, p. 237.
[29] Ibid., Bk. 38, p. 430.
[30] Boltwood, History and Genealogy of the Family of Thomas Noble of Westfield, Massachusetts, p. 737.
[31] McPherson, Calhoun, Hamilton, Baskin, and Related Families, p. 12.
[32] Boltwood, History and Genealogy of the Family of Thomas Noble of Westfield, Massachusetts, p. 737; and ibid.
[33] See Find a Grave memorial page of Catherine Calhoun Noble, Noble cemetery, Willington, McCormick County, South Carolina, created by PME.
BEGATS AND BEQUEATHALS 
i have seen blogs with detailed history of Lindsey family and Lindsey cemetery at Oakville in Lawrence co Al. I also saw a tag to Elijah McDaniel. Could I discuss the McDaniel 1st settlers in the southern district at Oakville? I descend from Lawrence co Al great grandparents John William and Martha E McDaniel Preuit. Her father Patton Anderson McDaniel is my 2ND great grandfather. McDaniels in Lawrence co have been difficult to trace. Walter F McDaniel died June 1 1819 Lawrence co at age 64 years and mentions Patton above in his will. Elijah owned the McDaniel grist mill on flint creek at Morgan/law co line. It was constructed in Sept 1818 by Court minutes. Martha McMurray 256-341-8209. marthamcmurray2@gmail.com.
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