William Henry Noble was born in August 1813 in Newtown, Connecticut, to Birdsey and Charlotte Noble. His father was a minister and teacher. He grew up and attended school in Middletown, Connecticut, and he studied law at Yale University. After graduation, he briefly worked as a teacher before beginning work as a lawyer in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He married Harriet J. Brooks in 1839, and they had at least four children: Henrietta, born around 1840; John, born around 1844; Clarence, born around 1850; and Fannie, born around 1858. He supported the Democratic Party, and he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in Congress in 1850. By 1850, he owned $50,000 of real estate. A decade later, he owned $80,000 of real estate and $10,000 of personal property.

 

In July 1862, he received a commission as colonel of the 17^th Connecticut Infantry. The regiment took part in the Battle of Chancellorsville and the Battle of Gettysburg. He was wounded at Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, but he eventually recovered and rejoined the regiment. Confederate forces captured him in Saint John’s County, Florida, on December 24, 1864, and imprisoned him near Macon, Georgia. He received a parole on April 8, 1865, and he mustered out on July 19, 1865.

 

He returned to Bridgeport after the war and resumed his work as a lawyer. He applied for a federal pension in July 1867 and eventually received one. He served in the state legislature in the 1880s, and he served as councilman and alderman for Bridgeport. He died in Bridgeport on January 18, 1894.

 

Image: William H. Noble (William Arba Ellis, Norwich University, 1819-1911)

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