Noggle, David

Born: 1809-10-09 Franklin, Pennsylvania

Died: 1878-07-18 Janesville, Wisconsin

Flourished: Janesville, Wisconsin

David Noggle was a farmer, businessman, lawyer, and judge. Born to a family of limited means, Noggle’s early education was limited to a few weeks each winter in the district schools of his native Pennsylvania. At the age of sixteen, he moved with his family to Greenfield, Ohio, where he labored on the family farm. Looking for more remunerative employment, Noggle left home at the age of nineteen, moving to Madison, New York, where he found work in a manufacturing establishment. Returning home to Ohio in 1834, Noggle partnered with his brother to establish a successful water-powered saw mill. In October 1834, he married Anna M. Lewis, with whom he had eight children. In 1836, Noggle and his wife moved from Ohio to Winnebago, Illinois. He purchased a farm and began reading law in preparation for a legal career. Noggle earned admission to the Illinois bar in 1838, and a year later, he sold his Illinois farm and moved to Beloit, Wisconsin, where he opened a law practice that drew a large clientele from Boone and Winnebago counties in Illinois and Rock, Walworth, Green, and Iowa counties in the then-Wisconsin Territory. In January 1845, Noggle received appointment as postmaster of Beloit, a position he held until September 1848. In 1846, he represented Rock County, Wisconsin at the first Wisconsin state constitutional convention. In 1850, he moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he was practicing law and owned real property valued at $20,000. From 1854 to 1858, he represented Janesville in the Wisconsin State Legislature. In 1858, he became judge of the First Judicial Circuit of Wisconsin, holding this position until 1864. In 1860, he was living in Janesville's First Ward and owned real property valued at $2.5 million and had a personal estate of $50,000.

Noggle identified with the Democratic Party until the formation of the Republican Party. As a Democrat, he attended the national nominating conventions in 1844 and 1852. In 1860, he attended the Republican National Convention.

The History of Rock County, Wisconsin (Chicago: Western Historical, 1879), 431-32; Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971, NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls, Records of the Post Office Department, RG 28, 1845-1855, 18:230, National Archives Building, Washington, DC; Milo M. Quaife, ed., The Convention of 1846 vol. 27 of Collections, vol. 2 of Constitutional Series Publications of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1919), 784; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Janesville, Rock County, WI, 252; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 1, Janesville, Rock County, WI, 11; Gravestone, Oak Hill Cemetery, Janesville, WI.