Joseph Noble was born in Parke County, Indiana on February 28, 1846, as the second youngest child of Joseph Noble and Sarah May. His father was a Kentucky-born farmer who moved to Indiana around the 1820s. His mother died while he was a child, and his father remarried by 1860. The younger Noble attended public school in Parke County while working on his father’s farm.

On July 14, 1862, Noble enlisted as a private in Company C of the 55th Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Only sixteen years old at the time, Noble lied about his age in order to enlist without a parent’s consent. Confederate forces captured Noble at the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, on August 30, 1862. He was paroled and sent to Camp Morton in Indianapolis, Indiana, to await the expiration of his three-month enlistment. After his release, Noble returned to his father’s home in Bellmore, Indiana.

On March 10, 1865, Noble enlisted again, this time as a private in Company I of the 149th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Many of Parke County’s young men enlisted alongside Noble, including his friends Marion Goss and Jacob D. Mater. The unit primarily participated in garrison and guard duties, and it accepted the surrenders of Confederate generals Gideon Johnson Pillow and Philip Dale Roddey. Noble mustered out as a private on September 27, 1865, in Nashville, Tennessee.

After his military service, Noble returned to Parke County and enrolled in college courses for a year at an unknown institution. He moved to Missouri in 1866 and spent the next two years teaching school. After deciding to pursue medicine, Noble and his friend Marion Goss settled in Greencastle, Indiana, to study under Dr. John Wilcox. At Wilcox’s urging, Noble and Goss enrolled in the University of Virginia’s medical school in 1869. They graduated in June 1870, with Noble at the head of the class. After graduation, Noble moved to Coatesville, Indiana, and established a country medical practice.  

On February 20, 1873, Noble married Laura B. Layton in Hendricks County. Together they had one child who died in infancy. Three years later, they moved to Henry County, Missouri, where Noble ran a farm and continued to practice medicine. Laura died on March 21, 1886, and Noble married Jesse A. Moses on December 14, 1888.

In 1888, the citizens of Henry County elected Noble to the Missouri House of Representatives as a Democrat. After his term expired, Noble transitioned from the medical field to banking, and he later became president and partial owner of the Bank of Urich in Henry County. In 1895, Noble joined the Urich Cumberland Presbyterian Church, becoming one of the church’s most active members.

As Noble’s health began to decline, he retired and planned a vacation to California. Before he could depart, however, Noble suffered a paralytic stroke in October 1907. Three weeks later, Noble suffered a second stroke, leading to his death on October 31. According to his obituary, “Death had no terrors for this good man and was characterized by the same Christian fortitude which marked his life.” As a lifelong Mason, he was buried in Holden, Missouri, according to Masonic ritual. Noble’s widow Jesse died October 16, 1919, and was buried in Jackson County, Missouri.