Noble family.

Royal H. and Florence Mary Noble were Montana farmers and ranchers whose families were among the first settlers of Broadwater County. Florence's father, Reuben A. Johnson (1845-1907), a Wisconsin man who had fought in the Union Army in the Civil War, walked to Diamond City, Montana, from Salmon City, Idaho, following the war, in hopes of becoming a successful miner. His young wife, Anna M. Earle Johnson, the daughter of a Scottish immigrant, joined him two years later, and they established a fruit farm. Their daughter Florence Mary married a local man, Royal H. Noble, in 1902. The new couple lived at the "old home ranch" until well after the deaths of Florence's parents, continuing to farm. Roy also seems to have worked in odd jobs later in life, especially during the Second World War. After the war, the Nobles moved to Southern California. Roy was an active Mason and Knight Templar, and Florence belonged to the Odd Fellows (Daughters of Rebekah).Florence Noble became seriously ill in 1965, and by 1969 had died. Royal died in 1971 in their home in Pomona, Calif.

Of Roy and Florence Noble's four children, Lester J. Noble figures most prominently in the collection. Lester enlisted as a Yeoman in the United States Navy in 1942 and was sent to Farragut, Idaho, where he trained and then served until the spring of 1943, when he was transferred to California. He shipped out of Port Hueneme in the late spring of 1945 as part of Acorn 48 aboard a ship of the Seventh Fleet, reaching the Phillippines in late June. He served in the logistics section of the Com Air, Seventh Fleet for most of that summer, and was ordered home on 17 September 1945. He was discharged that fall. Lester and his first wife divorced soon after his discharge. He remarried and moved to California with his wife and son within a few years after the end fo the war.

Roy and Florence's other children, Gladys Simons, Ethel Carter (later Hauk), and Lloyd H. Noble, also made their homes in California with their spouses. Most of the Noble clan gathered together in 1962 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the marriage of Roy and Florence. Many family members, friends and associates are represented in the collection, including Jesse Earle (Florence's cousin), Arthur Patrick 2Niche3 Moran (an early Montana pioneer), and C. Earle Noble (Roy's brother).