Clara Vincent Noble ^{2 3 4 5 6 7 8}

  General Notes:

Misspelled in 1870 census as Sarah V.

Clara was claimed as an adopted daughter by Clement and Hester Johnson at the time of the 1880 census, He was a gardener in Fremont County, Colorado. He had come to Colorado from Monroe County, Iowa.

Source: "The Rifle Telegram", March 19, 1942

Mrs. Clara Armstrong died Thursday night, March 12, at 9 o'clock at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Herbert Brosius, on Rifle Creek. Mrs. Armstrong known to her many friends as "Grandma George" had been seriously ill since last Nov. when a paralytic stroke made it impossible for her to leave her bed. She suffered a third stroke before her death and lapsed into unconsciousness.

Clara Vincent Noble was born at Albia, IA, Sep. 4, 1860 and passed this life Mar 12, 1942, at the age of 81 years 6 months and 8 days. She was the daughter of G.W. and Marietta Noble. Her mother having passed away when she was yet an infant of 18 months. Her father passed away in 1912.

Clara came to Colorado at the age of 18 years. She was married to Alfred George, March 18, 1886 at Emma, Colorado [town no longer exists]. To this union five children were born; Claude, Annie (who passed away in 1901), Harry, Margaret and Jasper.

The family had resided on Rifle Creek since the year of 1887, a period of 55 years. Several years after the death of Mr. George, Mrs. George married Jack Armstrong of Grand Junction who passed away 6 months later.

Mrs. George is survived by her four children, 20 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren, several nieces and nephews, and one sister, Fannie Manifold of Fort Morgan, Colorado. Her husband Alfred George, preceded her in death in 1928.

Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon, March 15, at the Christian church with Rev. Otto B. Duckworth officiating. In the choir were Mrs. Harry Harp and Mrs. Wm Fulton, who sang Sweet Hour of Prayer, The Old Rugged Cross, and In The Garden, with Robert MacIntosh at the organ. Interment was in Rose Hill Cemetery. Sayer Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.

Some More of the Story - by Gene Homer George (1986)

Clara was actually 17 months old when her mother died at child birth, leaving the father with two small daughters to raise. He remarried two years later. As an adolescent she didn't get along well with her stepmother, so as a young teenager she went to live with the Johnsons, and lived with them until grown.

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were the parents of her father's first wife and no blood kin to her. Clara referred to them as Auntie and Uncle Johnson and they called her their adopted daughter, but none of this was legally so. The 1880 census lists Clement and Hester A. Johnson as their names but the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel calls him L. B. Johnson and calls Clara his niece. Willaim A. "Will" Reed was a son in law of the Johnsons. His wife was Alice A. Johnson Reed.

Clara grew up and was educated in the Monroe County schools. Her education was pretty good for that time, as the Albia school system was good enough to allow graduates to receive their teaching certificates. No record is found of Clara receiving hers, although her sister did.

In the spring of 1879 after she was 17 years old, she left with a wagon train from Iowa to Colorado. They traveled across the prairie ending up in Canon City. She said the wagons were heavily loaded and that she walked most of the way. She was traveling in the company of the Johnsons and Reeds and also among these Iowans was Josie Bitsenhauffer a childhood companion. Josie would remain a part of the rest of her life. Josie married McCamble and they settled in the mining town of Victor, and they are the ones mentioned in other stories in this text.

One story told, after their arrival in Colorado, was that of a picnic near Canon City. It seemed the young women were shopping for husbands, and a man was noted walking down the road toward the picnic. Clara said she told the girls "that one is mine". It turned out the man was Al George. In later years when Al was asked why it took so long for him to decide to marry her, he replied, "I had to wait for her to grow up". She was 17 and he was 26 at the time.

She lived a few years in Canon City, but no record shows of her being employed. She was living with the Johnsons during this time and Mr. Johnson worked as a gardener. The next record found she is listed with the early homesteaders on the Roaring Fork. Of the twenty or so listed she is the only woman. How this tiny little woman managed to prove up on a homestead is a mystery to me. Her land bordered that of William Harris, one of the earliest settlers and a brother to Charles Harris, the first settler on the Roaring Fork. William Harris made numerous attempts to get her to marry him, but she claimed all he wanted was her land. Charles Harris later married her sister Rose.

The homestead consisted of about 90 acres, and was sold for $3,000.00 to H. B. Gillespie, a wealthy mining man from Aspen. The deed was made 26 May 1886 and recorded in Eagle Co. 10 Aug 1886. He built a dance hall there and got a post office designation. It was Gillespie that named the ranch The El Jebel. The present town of El Jebel came from this beginning. Gillespie went broke in Aspen as the mining failed and went to South America to try again. He was returning to the U.S., but died two days out and was buried at the expense of the ship line.

The cattle brought to the Rifle Creek area in 1886 were probably hers or cattle bought from the sale of the ranch. Records for this period are not very good and records are scattered from Aspen to Eagle to Glenwood and over to Gunnison, so accuracy is not as good as it should be. Many questions still exist. It is interesting to note the family's land and cattle was always held in her name.

One other story that is worthy of mention is that of her inheriting property in Paris, France. The story goes, that in the 1930's she received papers from a probate lawyer stating that she and other members of her family had inherited property in Paris. A check was made on the property and it was determined the cost to claim it was greater than the value, so nothing else was ever done. So far I have found no ancestry to France, but her mother's maternal grandparents are not yet found. Her given name Vincent will probably someday tell more of the story. ⁸

Cad married Alfred George, son of Alfred George and Margaret Robinson Wilson, on 18 Mar 1886 in El Jebel Ranch, El Jebel, Eagle County, Colorado.¹ (Alfred George was born on 1 Oct 1851 in Fulton, Callaway County, Missouri,^{1 8} died on 2 Jun 1928 in Rifle, Garfield County, Colorado ⁸ and was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Rifle, Garfield County, Colorado ^{1 8 10}.). The cause of his death was heart trouble.

Cad next married John Wallace Armstrong in Apr 1932. (John Wallace Armstrong was born on 20 May 1859 in Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio ¹¹ and died in Oct 1932 ⁸.)