Isabelle Noble and the Noble children of Pauline, 1915–1921

Between December 1915 and April 1921 the American Falls Press reported the deaths of four children of John and Fanny Noble, who kept the store at Pauline, the crossroads at the north end of Arbon Valley beside the Fort Hall Reservation. The longest of those reports is the obituary of Isabelle, who was twelve and had been a clerk in her father's store.

John Noble, who had homesteaded in the valley, opened the first store at Pauline about 1911, and Fanny Noble became Pauline's first postmaster that same year. Pauline was then in Oneida County; it became part of Power County in 1913. By his obituary, John had been born in Glasgow, Scotland. Fanny was an Evans: her grave memorial makes her a half-sister of T. B. and L. B. Evans of Arbon (the Evans family).

Fanny, 1915

The first loss was two-year-old Fanny. The North Central Arbon news of December 23, 1915, reported that she had died at Pocatello on Wednesday, December 15, of pneumonia, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hibbard on South Fourth Avenue, after only a few days' illness. Her funeral was held that Sunday at the Pauline meeting house and was largely attended.

The little clerk, 1917

In March 1917 a special illustrated edition of the paper printed a photograph of the home of John Noble at Pauline. In September the Arbon column reported that Mr. and Mrs. Noble had driven to town, probably Pocatello, and brought back a truckload of merchandise, mostly cantaloupes, watermelons and other things to eat, for the large crowds that came to the Noble store on Mondays.

On October 26, 1917, the Press printed Isabelle's obituary. She had been born at Malad on November 7, 1904, and would have turned thirteen the next month. The obituary told how her illness came on:

Isabelle had complained several times of a pain in her side but was not thought serious until Sunday, the day before her death when she became too ill to arise.

A doctor from American Falls, probably Dr. C. F. Schiltz, was in Arbon and called at the house. He advised her parents to take her to Pocatello. They did, but, the paper wrote, "within a few miles from home the appendix broke and nothing at Pocatello, by the best of doctors, could be done for the little girl." She died at Pocatello on Monday, October 15. The obituary went on:

Isabelle was a loving child and well liked by all who knew her, and her loving face and cheerful voice will be sadly missed by her parents, little sister and brothers and relatives and friends. For the past year, during spare moments she had been an efficient and loving little clerk in her father's store.

The funeral was held on the Thursday afternoon after her death, at the Pauline L.D.S. meeting house. Bishop Perry H. Howell conducted it and spoke of her character and of her work in church meetings and at school. The Pole sisters sang "Voices of Glory Are Calling for Me," Mr. Pole spoke words of sympathy, and the choir closed with "Sweet Rest." She was buried in the Pauline cemetery, where, by the family's grave memorials, Fanny had been buried too, and the paper called the procession to the grave "the longest and largest for some time." Relatives came from various places for the funeral.

Bert, 1918

The next autumn influenza reached the valley. On October 8, 1918, the Arbon column reported that Mrs. John Noble had been "quite ill at her home the past week"; the column did not say with what, and ten days later she was convalescent. On a Saturday morning, probably October 26, I. B. Evans, a brother of T. B. and L. B. Evans, died of pneumonia at Preston. The column that reported his death added that his daughter, Mary Evans, had taught the Pauline school the previous term, and that a sister of his, Mrs. John Noble, lived at Pauline. That spring Bert Noble had been one of Mary Evans's pupils in the Pauline primary grade.

On November 19 the column reported that Bert had died "at the family home of pneumonia" and was buried in the Pauline cemetery. The same column told of neighbors sick with influenza and of two boys in another family who had pneumonia following it. The writer called Bert the "third child in the Noble family to die in a little less than two years."

The records do not agree in every detail. The column gave Bert's age as eleven, but his grave memorial dates his birth to November 29, 1908, and his death to November 11, 1918, which would make him nine. And the three deaths the paper had reported, Fanny's, Isabelle's and Bert's, spanned nearly three years, not two; no other Noble child's death between them appears in the records found for this post.

April 1921 and after

The Nobles stayed at Pauline. The Arbon news of April 8, 1921, carried this notice:

A little son was born Friday to Mr. and Mrs. John Noble, of Pauline, but the little one was too frail for this earth passing away Saturday morning. Funeral services were held at the cemetery at Pauline by Bishop John Bowen and L. B. Evans, Saturday afternoon. Friends extend their sympathy to the family.

His grave memorial names him Donald and gives March 31, 1921, a Thursday, as the date of both his birth and his death, which does not fit the paper's Friday and Saturday. L. B. Evans, who helped conduct the service, was Fanny Noble's half-brother.

The memorials list two more Noble infants buried at Pauline, Marian Jean in 1923 and a stillborn son in 1925, making six Noble children buried there in all, and they say that John Noble gave part of his farm for the cemetery. By his obituary, he moved to Pocatello in 1923 to work for a grocery there, then opened a store and grain elevator at Michaud and retired in 1947. Fanny Noble died at Michaud in 1944, and John died at Pocatello in October 1951.

The memorials place Fanny's death at Malad and Isabelle's at Pauline; this post follows the Press, which reported both at Pocatello.

The article as printed

American Falls Press, October 26, 1917, page 5. Transcribed from the page scan.

OBITUARY—ISABELLE NOBLE.
On Monday, October 15th, at Pocatello, the soul of Isabelle Noble passed into the shadows of eternity after but a few days illness, caused from appendicitis and a life that had been crowded full of usefulness and good cheer had gone back to its Giver.
Isabelle Noble was born November 7th at Malad, Idaho, and on the 7th of next month would have been 13 years old.
Isabelle had complained several times of a pain in her side but was not thought serious until Sunday, the day before her death when she became too ill to arise. Dr. Schiltz of American Falls was in Arbon and called at the family home and advised Mr. and Mrs. Noble to take her to Pocatello which they did but within a few miles from home the appendix broke and nothing at Pocatello, by the best of doctors, could be done for the little girl.
Isabelle was a loving child and well liked by all who knew her, and her loving face and cheerful voice will be sadly missed by her parents, little sister and brothers and relatives and friends. For the past year, during spare moments she had been an efficient and loving little clerk in her father's store. The remains were prepared for burial at Pocatello by Schumaker & Hall and services over the remains were held Thursday afternoon at the Pauline L. D. S. meeting house, Bishop Perry H. Howell having charge. In a few well spoken words Mr. Howell spoke of the commendable character and work in the church meetings and school by the deceased. The Pole sisters rendered a beautiful and sympathetic duet, "Voices of Glory Are Caling for Me." Words of sympathy were delivered by Mr. Pole, and the services closed with a hymn by the choir, "Sweet Rest." Interment was in the Pauline cemetery and the cortege to the last resting place of the dear little girl was the longest and largest for some time. A number of relatives of the family from various points came to atend the funeral.

On this site: the Pauline and West Fork area history names the six Noble children in the Pauline Cemetery; the first burials there and the 2010 post The Forgotten Cemetery describe the cemetery; and two babies who died on the road to a doctor tells of another child buried at Pauline in 1915.