Noah Deaton was born on October 26, 1838, in North Carolina to William Deaton and Flora Bethune. His father was a farmer who owned $275 of personal property by 1860. Deaton grew up and attended school in Moore County, North Carolina.
He enlisted in the Confederate army on June 6, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company H of the 26th North Carolina Infantry later that day. The regiment took part in the Seven Days’ Battles, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Battle of Bristoe Station. He was wounded at Bristoe Station, and Union forces captured him during the battle. They imprisoned him in Washington, D.C., and Point Lookout, Maryland, and he was finally exchanged on February 24, 1865.
He returned to Moore County after the war, and he married Sarah Jane McDonald around 1866. They had at least nine children: Angus, born around 1867; Francis, born around 1869; Charles, born around 1871; Flora, born around 1873; Walter, born around 1875; John, born around 1877; William, born around 1879; James, born around 1881; and Mary, born around 1884. Deaton worked as a farmer and “carriage wood maker” in McNeils, North Carolina, and by 1870, he owned $50 of personal property. His wife died in 1909. His health deteriorated in the early 1920s as a result of “an accident and old age.” He died on March 24, 1922.