January 31, 2018 – the mix that makes up me

52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks, 2018; week 4 prompt: Invite to dinner.
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Both hands up to the sides of my head, I’m frozen in indecision — just one?! Invite just one guest to dinner?! (Oh that it was possible to bring ancestors out of the frieze of time for answers to some questions; brick walls might not exist.)

Two ladies in Great-Grandma Alta Maria (Falls) Greger’s line come to mind most quickly as desired dinner guests: my 4th great-grandmum Sarah (Showers) Falls and, my 3rd-great-grandmother Eleanor (Ellen) (Lemmon) Noble (February 21, 1811¹ Kentucky², USA–March 31, 1895 Iowa; buried Winslow Cemetery, Jefferson Township, Poweshiek County, Iowa^1,3). They are both longstanding brick walls. I haven’t a clue as to either’s respective fathers.

It’s Eleanor, I decide. She’s getting the invitation. I mentally draft my invite.

**Alta Maria (Falls) Greger** (Family photo.)

But to fill you in on how the line goes, let’s back up once more to Eleanor (Ellen) (Lemmon) Noble’s granddaughter and, my Great-Grandma, Alta Maria⁴ Falls (July⁵ 10⁶, 1864⁵ Illinois⁵–October 13, 1934 Pineville, McDonald County, Missouri⁶; buried Anderson Cemetery, Anderson East, McDonald County, Missouri⁶).

Alta first apears in the household of parents “Jarry” & Mary Falls at age seven in the 1870 U.S. Federal Census of Jefferson, Poweshiek, Iowa, dwelling number 86, her forename mistranscribed as “Atta.” Iowa marriage records tell us that Alta [again mistranscribed “Atta,” although very clearly “Alta” on the original record] M. Falls, father listed as “Geremiah” Falls, mother as Mary Noble, marries “Graurille S Gregor”⁷ [Granville Smith Greger] on September 28, 1892 in Benton County, Iowa. This takes us up nicely to my 2nd-great grands Geremiah Falls & Mary Noble.

“Geremiah Falls,” or as he’s more commonly referenced, Jeremiah (Jerry) Falls, took “Mary Margaret Noble” as his second wife on September 14, 1851 in Mercer County, Illinois.⁸

**Grave Marker of Mary Margaret (Noble) Falls** (Contributed to FindAGrave.com by Pat Faulkner.)

We first see “[Mary] Margaret Noble” (February 2?, 1831⁹ Indiana²–February 20, 1899 Polk County, Missouri; buried Greenwood Cemetery (Sec 5 Lot 23), Bolivar, Polk County, Missouri⁹) at age 19, in the household of [parents] Joseph & Ellen Noble in the 1850 U.S. Federal Census in “Township 14 N R 5 W, Mercer, Illinois,” family number 382.¹⁰

We last see Mary M. in the 1895 State Census of Belle Plaine, Benton County, Iowa, as widowed head-of-household “Mary Falls,” age 60, with her widowed mother Ellen Noble — 84 born Kentucky — the only other person in the household.¹¹

And that takes us up to my dinner invitee, 3rd-great grandmum Eleanor (Ellen) (Lemmon) Noble.

Eleanor is visible in the 1850 through 1880 U.S. Federal Censuses in the household of husband Joseph Noble; seen in an (unreferenced here) 1885 Belle Plaine, Benton, Iowa State Census again with husband Joseph; is widowed in the January, 1895, household of eldest daughter Mary Margaret; and recorded buried at Winslow Cemetery, Poweshiek County, Iowa.³ But, somewhere in there, Eleanor or Ellen was born. TO, whom? What siblings if any, did she have? Where were her parents from?

Dear Grandma Ellen! It’s so good to meet you!

I hope you like chicken — I figured baked was a pretty safe choice, and, the Penzey’s Mural of Flavor seasoning I use, with, Himilayan pink salt have gone over so well with previous dinner guests. If you’d prefer fish, though, I’ve salmon filets waiting in the fridge just in case. Baked potatoes, salad, & rolls will round things out and, I’ve purchased wonderful mini tarts from Whole Foods Market for dessert. Would you like some coffee or tea while we chat a bit?

I have to ask first, please, who were your parents and, what siblings did you have?

I cannot find a birth or baptism record naming your mother & father, nor a marriage record with same. No other genealogy researchers out there — none I’ve seen anyway — has ventured a guess as to your parents and quite frankly this is just driving me nuts. I’m lost for leads. Please please: tell me the answer(s) to this riddle, and then, all about your life growing up and, yours & Grampa Joseph’s together…

**Grave Marker of Eleanor (Ellen) (Lemmon) Noble** (Contributed to FindAGrave.com by “The Locator.”)

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SOURCES
¹ ” ‘Iowa, Cemetery Records, 1662-1999’ {database on-line}. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Original data: Works Project Administration. Graves Registration Project. Washington, D.C.: n.p., n.d.;” “Grave Stone Records of Poweshiek, Iowa; Page Number: 536,” at https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=4711&h=388439&ssrc=pt&tid=79831532&pid=34405383952&usePUB=true , accessed Jan. 31, 2018.
² U.S. Federal Censuses of 1850: “Joseph Noble” household, “Township 14 N R 5 W, Mercer, Illinois,” family number 382; 1860: “Joseph Noble” household, “Township 14 N 5 W, Mercer, Illinois,” family number 1651, dwelling number 1651; 1870: “Joseph Noble” household, “Jefferson, Poweshiek, Iowa,” dwelling number 62; 1880: “Joseph Noble” household, “Belle Plaine, Benton, Iowa,” dwelling number 537. All four give Ellen’s (1850, 1870) / Eleaner’s (1870) / Eleanor’s (1880) birthplace as Kentucky. Census of 1850 notes daughter “Margaret” as born Indiana.
³ FindAGrave.com, “Eleanor ‘Ellen’ Lemmons Noble,” memorial ID 61418799, at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61418799 , accessed Jan. 31, 2018.
⁴ Anecdotal family knowledge.
⁵ U.S. Federal Census of 1900: “Granvil S Greger” household, “Field, Jefferson, Illinois,” sheet number 12, “number of dwelling in order of visitation” 238, family number 239. (As of Jan. 31, 2018, at Ancestry.com at, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=7602&h=78703146&ssrc=pt&tid=79831532&pid=34405382591&usePUB=true .)
⁶ FindAGrave.com, “Alta M Falls Greger,” memorial ID 31743986, at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31743986 , accessed Jan. 31, 2018.
⁷ “Iowa Department of Public Health; Des Moines, Iowa; Series Title: Iowa Marriage Records, 1880–1922,” at Ancestry.com as “Iowa, Marriage Records, 1880-1940,” at https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=IAMarriageRec&h=904036251&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=60716 , accessed Jan. 31, 2018.
⁸ “Illinois State Marriage Records. Online index. Illinois State Public Record Offices,” via Ancestry.com’s, “Illinois, Marriage Index, 1860-1920” at https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=60984&h=1713482&ssrc=pt&tid=79831532&pid=34405384674&usePUB=true , accessed Jan. 31, 2018.
⁹ FindAGrave.com, “Mary Margaret Noble Falls,” memorial ID 45374884, at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45374884 , accessed Jan. 31, 2018.
¹⁰ U.S. Federal Census, 1850, “Joseph Noble” household. Ancestry.com, at https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8054&h=16451571&ssrc=pt&tid=79831532&pid=diana34405384674&usePUB=true , accessed Jan. 31, 2018.
¹¹ ” ‘Iowa State Census, 1895,’ database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VT3J-TV4 : 30 June 2016), Mary Falls, Benton, Iowa, United States; citing p. 55, 1895, State Historical Society, Des Moines; FHL microfilm 1,021,711;” at FamilySearch.org, accessed Jan. 31, 2018.
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