Seth Noble (1743-1807)

Seth Noble was born 15 Apr 1743 in Westfield, MA, tenth and last child of Thomas Noble and Sarah Root. He is my son-in-law’s 5th great-grand-uncle.

He became a member of the Westfield Church in 1770, and decided he wanted to become a minister, but had no formal training. He drifted north, and first received a call in 1774 in Maugerville on the St. John’s River in New Brunswick.

Maugerville had many ties with New England, and was generally pro American Revolution. A number of the residents, including Seth, went south to join the Revolution. For a while his wife Hannah Barker, whom he had married in 1775, stayed behind in Maugerville; but in 1786 he and his family are living at Kenduskeag Plantation, now Bangor, ME.⁽¹⁾ His wife died there in 1791.

However, apparently he did not get paid, and he slowly drifted west, finally settling (and dying) in Franklinton, Ohio. He married his third wife 6 months before he died. She died shortly after him.

Seth was apparently a colorful character, and much has been written about him. Supposedly, he named Bangor, ME after a song “Bangor,” the residents wanted to call it Sunbury. In addition to the Noble Genealogy by Boltwood, there are many articles and books reconstructing his life.

Boltwood, Lucius Manlius. History and genealogy of the family of Thomas Noble of Westfield, Massachusetts : with genealogical notes of other families by the name of Noble. Hartford, CT: Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1878. Online at OpenLibrary.org

J. M. Bumsted, “NOBLE, SETH,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of  Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed April 15, 2018.

Carol B. Smith Fisher, “Rev. Seth Noble- A Revolutionary War Soldier’s Promise of America and The Founding of Bangor, Maine and Columbus, Ohio. Westminster, Md. : Heritage Books, 2010.

Seth Noble, Maugerville, and the American Revolution, by johnwood1946. Accessed April 15, 2018. A seemingly well researched blogpost with many references.

‘Bangor’ the song has complex past. By John Picone, Special to the Bangor Daily News • July 2, 2009 7:48 pm, accessed April 15, 2018