Franklin County Ohio Early Settlers, Jonathan NOBLE Franklin County Ohio Early Settlers

Submitted by Joyce Kimmel
Email: [email protected], Sat. 6 June 1998 8:00am

This information originally came from the Historical Museum located next to the Westerville, OH Library. It is stored in a room where you have to wear gloves to touch the old papers. This article was printed in the Northland Linden (?) News, Columbus, Ohio ; (summer 1978 - ? Aug )
Joyce Kimmel
[email protected]
June 6, 1998

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[(ED. NOTE: With this issue The News begins a two part series on historical homes in northeast Franklin County. Take a look this week inside the Jonathan Noble cabin, built in the early 1800"s by a hard working pioneer on what was to become Westerville Rd. The cabin was "discovered" two years ago and has been refurbished by the young owner and his wife.

Nest week, The News will tell you about the history of our area and the people who came here with hopes and dreams and the desire to make a home for themselves. What some of them built remains today.]

by CONNIE CARTMELL

One hundred and fifty years ago a pioneer named Jonathan Noble lived and died on a small farm in Blendon Township south of Westerville.

Through the hard work and tenacity of a young Northeast Columbus couple, Jonathan Noble lives today.

"We found three pair of leather shoes in a corner of the attic and we believe they belonged to Noble," Walter Reiner, who discovered the log cabin said. "When we got into the walls, we also found fragments of a newspaper dated 1847."

Reiner and his wife Lois have been living in the ramshackle farmhouse, which sits on the east side of 3C Highway just south of Dublin-Granville Rd., since its restoration began. The house and surrounding property belong to Reiner's family, owners of Oakland PArk Nursery.

"About three years ago I was messing around in here doing something or other and I noticed a hole knocked in a wall." Reiner said of the old house that had been slated for demolition. "I discovered huge timbers behind the wall."

Further wall busting revealed a perfectly preserved log cabin, concealed a hundred years inside the walls of the modest farmhouse.

Research proved the cabin had been the property of Jonathan Noble, an early settler.

"Jonathan Noble was one of the very first settlers of this area." explained local attorney and historian Fred Milligan, Sr. "A veteran of the War of 1812, Noble migrated to Blendon Township from Connecticut."

According to Milligan, Noble had two wives, 11 children, died in 1832 and is buried in Central Cemetery on Dempsey Rd., southeast of Westerville. The pioneer was born the year the Declaration of Independence was signed.

"Unlike some other early pioneers in our area," Milligan explained, "Noble was not a man of any great wealth or social standing. He was a hardworking farmer who purchased land here, built a cabin, and raised his family as best he could."

The log cabin was covered, to be hidden from view for 150 years, because the Nobles "just wanted to keep up with the Joneses."

This historian said in those days living in a log cabin was considered "too primitive" and when a family was financially able they would either tear down the log house and build one of brick or stone or they would "cover over" the logs with wood siding.

"The most exciting part of restoration is coming up," Reiner said. "As soon as I can find men to do it, the layers of outside siding start coming off."

With the siding off, the only log cabin remaining in Franklin County will finally feel the sun.

"It will be a time machine effect," Reiner said. "We believe the outer layer of wood siding was put on somewhere around 1940. Under that is a poplar siding put on between 1830 and 1840. Then we are down to the logs themselves."

Inside the original cabin (an addition was added to the back in later years) there were four rooms --- two down, two up. A huge fireplace and hearth, which served as the pioneer kitchen, was located on the north wall of the house. The living area, also with a fireplace, was on the south side. There were two upstairs bedrooms, now one huge room used as a master bedroom. Reiner uses the first floor of the log cabin section for his realty office. The four rroms of the addition, (not log walls) serve as the main living areas of the Reiner home.

Two years ago the Noble log hose was subject of controversy between Reiner and the city of Columbus. Reiner knew the city had plans to widen Westerville Rd., and the project would have put the edge of the busy highway right at the cabin's front door. He fought for less of a bite by the city and won.

When the road is widened, a bigger chunk will be taken on the west side of the road and only 10 feet of Reiner property on the east.

"The road's too close now," Reiner said. "But at least this is a better compromise than original plans."

As part of the cabin's restoration milk paint had to be ground off each timber to reveal the natural oak underneath.

"It was like a Chinese torture getting that stuff off the logs," Reiner smiled. "I had help, but we finally had to use power sanders and just grind it off."

"Milk paint," Mrs. Reiner explained, "is made of actual cow's milk and lime, I think. We wanted to restore the timbers exactly as they were. Also, the paint was continuously flaking off and making fine dust."

Milligan said early settlers were "sick of seeing wood," so they used the molk paint whitewash to cover exposed wood walls in the house.

Don Hutsler, chairman of the history department of the Ohio Historical Society and an expert in the history of log cabins, visited the Reiners last week and viewed the structure.

Reiner would like the house to eventually ne a museum, but until then he and his wife will live there and complete restoration.

"There's an awful lot of work left to do, especially when you do these things yourself," he said. "We would like to restore the house exactly like it might have been about 1830."

Lois Reiner said she and her husband have begun gathering antique furniture and collectables from the period of 1800 to 1850. They'll furnish the house with these as time goes by...............

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Part II

Here is some regarding the NOBLE LOG CABIN: If you are ever in the area, I am sure Mr. Reiner would love to take you through the log cabin ... it is well woth the visit!!! Address and telephone number appear in the piece of info below. Joyce

Reiner Realty & Consultants INC.
5030 Westerville Road
Columus, OH 43229
Telephone: 614-882-0800

INFORMATION RELEASE

The United States Department of the Interior has agreed to final changes in the rehabilitation plans for the log section of the Jonathan Noble log house. The approval will allow the reweatherboarding of the log section with clapboard siding before winter. The original plans to expose the logs and treat them with chemical wood preservatives were changed because of the shortening of th life of the logs when exposed to moisture, and the increased heat loss in an era of escaliting fuel cost. "The logs are visible from within," said Lois Reiner, director of public relations for Reiner Realty and Consultants, Inc., which occupies the 2000 Square foot building at 5030 Westerville Road.

A giant 30' long timber, called a sill log, which rests on two boulders which support the west 1/2 of the building will be soaked in cupernal, a wood preservative. The copper and petroleum distalates will retard the growth of fungi and bacteria. An insulated foundation will then be placed under the log, which could easily be several hundred years old consideing its age when cut in the early 1800's.

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Part III Jonathan Noble Log Cabin.
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REINER REALTY
ADDRESS: 5030 State
Westerville Road
Columbus, Ohio
Telephone: 614 - 882-0800

Residing in Franklin Co., Ohio

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Owner Has Big Plans For Noble House

By Jay Elhard

Walt Reiner still has big plans for the Jonathon Noble House. For more than 20 years, Reiner has kept the 172-year-old log house and its 40-acre working farm as his own very private museum.

Within two more years, Reiner said he wants to build separate replicas of a log plank road and a brick road next to two lanes of heavily-traveled asphalt called Westerville Road. His front porch rests within 15 feet east of its right-of-way.

Ultimately, Reiner said he has plans to make the entire site into a historical developement, the Johnny Appleseed Environmental Center.

"Instead of going in and building everything new we're trying to build on the past," Reiner said.

The log house Reiner believes is the oldest continously-inhabited building in Franklin County is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The register's protection will eventually cause a small jog in Westerville Road as it widens to five lanes around the house, Reiner said.

Since 1976, Reiner has used the building as office space for his real estate company, Reiner Realty, 5030 Westerville Road. He lived in the house the six previous years with his wife and the first two of his three children. Reiner said he first found logs under a hole in the wall in 1970.

"We discovered all of this by accident, "Reiner said, "Actually, I'm not much of a historian. I just got sort of interested in history because of what happened."

Reiner said the nearby crossroads of Westerville Road and state Route 161 was the first civilized spot in the north-east corner of Franklin County. Settlers from Granville widened Indian trails with hatchets as long ago as 1807. They used a block house as a small fort during the War of 1812. The community later moved about 16,000 feet further north to what became Uptown Westerville.

Jonathan Noble, a Connecticut born war veteran, built his two story log house about 2,000 feet south of the crossroads in 1820, five years after his wife Hannah arrived in 1815, Reiner said. The 250-acre farm spanned Alum Creek to Cleveland Avenue, through what is now known as Minerva Park and Strawberry Farms. Back then, Reiner said, land sold for about $1.75 an acre.

The original, 1,000 square foot house was built on a foundation of four massive boulders with tulip poplar logs dressed with white, milky paint. An expansion of brace-timber construction 10 years later doubled the size of the building to about 2,000 square feet.

Noble needed the space, Reiner said, to raise his 12 children - Orrin, Lester, Solomon, Lyman, Zenas, Myron, Miles, Elijah, Horace, Lydia, Eliza and Mary.

Through 172 years, fire-places and stairways were moved, younger flooring was laid in places and gaps between the logs were filled with new caulk.

In his tenure, Reiner has decorated the inside of the house with moose and deer heads, animal and snake skins, a pump organ, a spinning wheel and an old wood and coal stove from the Cival War era. On a table in what was once an upstairs bedroom, he displays hand tools, an ox yoke and several pairs of leather shoes he found hidden under boards in the attic.

"You can still smell something like hickory-smoked ham up here after all these years," Reiner said.

The original hand-dug well outside still provides some water to the house. The out-house was saved as well, Reiner said, "in case someone wants to reminisce very seriously." Indoor plumbing and bathrooms didn't come inside the house until the 1930s, Reiner said.

Outside, Reiner still runs organic farming and a tree farm. He rents garden plots during the growing season, keeps a horse in the barn and displays antique farm implements on the north lawn well within view of the road.

Reiner runs tours by appointment about 20 times a year for antique clubs, school children and senior citizen groups. Reiner said he enjoys showing that place off.

"If we had more time and more money we could do nothing but tours." Reiner said.

With children's groups, Reiner said he talks about the old forms of energy, medicine and building construction the settlers used. He shows them a map listing animals now extinct to the area -- such as passenger pigeons, buffalo, elk, wolves and bears.

Reiner said he saved and still reads all the letters children wrote him after they visit the house. Children seem to have different interests and impressions depending on their age, Reiner said. Some ask about ghosts and secret passages. Others are fascinated by the cracks in the floors.

"They comment on what they experience," Reiner said. "It's amazing how open kids are."

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In the History of Franklin & Pickway Co., Columbus, OH; Wms. Bros. 1880 page 471: states...
Jonathan Noble came to Columbus, Ohio, from Litchfield, CT, and settled on what is now known as the Torrence farm. A daughter, Eliza (Noble) Cook lives at present in Blendon.

Jonathan Noble and his wife, Hannah, bought their land from Francis and Cloe X. Olmstead in 1825.

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Twenty-two graves of the Olmstead-Noble burial plot, one-third mile south from Blendon Four Corners (R4. 161 and Rt. 3), were removed to the southwest corner of the Central Cemetery in October, 1902. This early cemetery, set aside principally for the family members and descendants of Jonathan Noble and Francis Olmstead, had not been used for many years. To guarantee perpetual care and proper preservation, the township trustees set aside the plot in the Central Cemetery for the graves and the resetting of the headstones and family monuments. The Olmsteads and Nobles migrated to Blendon Township from the State of Connecticut. Francis Olmstead, a Revolutionary War veteran, passed away January 21, 1828, and Jonathan Noble, veteran of the War of 1812, died March 28, 1832.

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Taken from the Book, "By One Spirit" by Lillian Brown Gossett. Book in Westerville, OH., library.
Special Recognition:
The annual Memorial Day service, 1976, was jointly sponsored by the Blendon Bicentennial Commision, the Blendon Township Trustees and the American Legion, Young-Budd Post 171. The guest speaker was the Honorable Samuel Devine. During the ceremonies special recognition was given to all veterans interred in the Blendon Cemetery.

Other events of the day included the decoration of the graves of the Revolutionary War veterans -- Edward Phelps, Sr. and Francis Olmstead -- and a reading, by Vernon Pack, of the ROll of Honor of all the military burials in the cemetery.

Another marker, was sponsored by the Kenneth V. Noble family, was dedicated on this day of national celebration. This particular plaque, erected by the township trustees, markd the Jonathan Noble log cabin on the 3C Highway south of Route 161. Kenneth V. Noble, Jr., a Blendon Township trustee, represented the family during the recognition ceremonies.

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Part IV Jonathan Noble log cabin

The following is one more article that was taken from the Columbus, Ohio newspaper --- do not know what year it was copied.

Jonathan Noble Log Cabin
by John R. Stewert

A young realtor with the John J, Hohl Company, 1301 Schrock road, owner of property on Westerville road wants to keep bulldozers from destroying a "hidden" log cabin built by an early Blendon Township resodent who was the great-great grandfather of Blendon Township Trustee Kenneth V. Noble, Jr.

He will if he can, find money to restore the structure, that is.

Walter G. Reiner, 29, of Columbus has written to many historical societies to find out more information conserning the builder, Jonathan Noble, and about the house located just north of Rt. 161 at 5030 Westerville Rd.

"I'm attempting to determine the historical significance of the large two story log house whic is now encased in a frame house. I still need to determine whether the house should be preserved as a historical monument or destroyed, because of the value of the commercially - zoned land, " Reiner said.

So far, Reiner has been able to find out that a Jonathan Noble purchased 250 acres of land on June 28, 1806 within a tract of 1150 acres owned by Edward Phelps, Isac Griswold, Jr., and Frances Olmstead.

"Since it is known the Phelps, Groswold, and Olmstead came from Connecticut, I imagine that Noble also did," Reiner said.

In a letter from Ken Styker-Rodda, a certified genealogist from New Jersey, Noblw was of the fifth generation in the family of Thomas Noble of Westfield, Mass.

Jonathan was born in SImsbury, Ct. on 22 Feb 1776 and is said to have moved to Harrison (later Blendon Township) in 1815. He is listed as a farmer. His name does not appear among the Connecticut men of either the militia or the regular army in the War of 1812," Rodda added.

Rhodda added, "There is no personal reason for his home being historic, so far as I kno; but I have no information conserning his life in Ohio. The fact that there is a log house within a later one would make it worth preserving, I shoud think."

Kenneth V. Noble, Jr., 3700 Dempsey Rd says that Jonathan Noble was his great-great-grandfather. However, the only record he has is in a family Bible.

Noble's tombstone, located in the southwest corner of Central Cemetery indicates that Noble migrated from Connecticut in 1815 and probably purchased the land nine years before moving here.

Noble's gravestone also says that he died March 28, 1832 "in the 57 year of his age." In front of the grave is a metal five point star with a capital "FCL" on three points of the star and which also says "Ohio USA soldier" in the center (possibly the War of 1812).

Beside Noble's grave is a marker reading, "Hannah, Widow of Jonathan Noble died April 17, 1846 age 66 three months seven days who emigrated from Connecticut to Ohio in 1815."

Reiner said that a local historical architect has determined the log cabin was built before 1820 and is in excellent condition.

An addition was made to the west side of the home in the 1830's and the complete structure was encased in a new frame house in the late 19th century.

Reiner said that he discovered the log cabin after vandals punched holes in the plasterboard last spring (circa 1970)jk

"I have a state employee renting the home now to keep kids out of the home. We are tearing down the plasterboard to show the logs in the entire two story house.

The basement has a hard dirt floor and the foundation of the house rests on large stone boulders. There is a feeding trough in the basement where Reiner thinks Noble kept live-stock (probably pigs).

An old map of the Blendon Township area shows that S.R.3 (Westerville Rd.) went to the east of the house. Today the road is west of the house.

"This makes sense because there is a doorway on the east side of the log cabin, but one was cut out later for a west entrance," Reiner said.

The realto said that he has spent over six months gathering information about the house and the Noble family. He hopes to submit his findings to the Ohio Historical Socoiety and to the National Register so that the structure can be listed as a National Historical Site.

If I can find a grant where the government would pay half the cost of restoring the structure to it natural state, I think I will go ahead and preserve the home," Reiner said.

"If not, I'm afraid I'll have to tear the structure down and build something else on the property, I really like history, but I don't want to spend unnecessary money in fixing up the old house, if there is no particular historical significance attached to it," he added.

[Mr. Reiner did restore the old structure and it is a site to behold! How wonderful it is to see this structure and know that your own 4-grat grandfather (to John Kimmel born 1940) - built this fantastic 2 story log cabin in 1816]jk 1994

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This is the end of the log cabin stories - if you would like some photographs of some of the inside - let me know.

Enjoy.............
Joyce

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