Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/97

 NIXON

NOBLE

and was among the first in the state to free his slaves. His father removed to Indiana, where Oliver attended the common schools. He was graduated from Farmers college, Ohio, A.B., in 1848, and from Jefferson Medical college, M.D., in 1854. He was married in 1854 to Louise Elstun of Mt. Carmel, Ohio, During the civil war he was surgeon of the 39th Ohio volunteers, medical director of the Army of the Mississippi and a member of Gen. John Pope's staff. He was treasurer of Hamilton county, Ohio, for two terms ; was one of the organizers of the Cincin- nati Evening Chronicle in 1870, and with his brother, William Penn Nixon, consolidated it with the Cincinnati Times. In 1878 he joined his brother in the purchase of the Chicago Inter- Ocean, disposed of it to a stock company and became literary editor and president of tlie corpo- ration of the Inter-Ocean. He received the hon- orary degree of LL.D. from Whitman college, Walla Walla, Wash., in 1897. He is the author of : Ho!n Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon (1895). NIXON, William Penn, editor, was born at Fountain City, Ind., March 19, 1883; son of Samuel and Rhoda (Hubbard) Butler Nixon, and grandson of Barnaby Nixon, a Quaker preacher, and a resident of Virginia. His great grand- mother on his mother's side was a Cherokee Indian. He was graduated from Farmers col- lege, Ohio, in 1853 ; taught school in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1853-55, and was graduated from the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, LL.B., 1859. He prac- tised law in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1859-68 ; was a Republican representative in the state legislature, 1864-G7 : president of the Cincinnati Mutual Life Insurance Co., 1866-71, and in 1868, in connection with his brother. Dr. O. W. Nixon, established the Daily Chronicle, of which he was commercial editor and subsequently publisher and general manager. Upon the consolidation of the paper with the Daily Times, in 1872, he sold his interest and became business manager of the Chicago Inter-Ocean, serving until 1875, and as general- manager and editor-hi-chief, 1875-97. In 1897 he sold his controlling interest in the Inter-Ocean, but retained his connection with the company of which he was secretary and treasurer. He was appointed a commissioner of Lincoln park in 1896, and its president in 1897 ; was president of the associated press for several years ; was a delegate at large for the state of Illinois to the Republican national convention of 1896, and was ajipointed collector of U.S. customs of Chicago in Decem- ber, 1897. He was twice married, first in Septem- ber, 1861, to Mary, daughter of Hezekiah and Ruth (Ferris) Stites. She died in 1862, and he was married secondly, June 15, 1869, to Elizabeth, daughter of Charles and Sarah E. Dufiield of Chicago, 111.

NOAH, Mordecai Manuel, journalist, was boin in Philadelpliia, Pa., July 14, 1785 ; son of Manuel and Zipporah (Phillips) Noah, and grandson of Jonas and Rebecca Mendes (Machado) Phillips. His mother died when he was a child, and he was left in care of his maternal grandfather, who apprenticed him to a trade. He studied law in Charleston, S.C, and engaged in political jour- nalism and dramatic writing. He declmed the U.S. consulship at Riga, Russia, in 1811 ; was U.S. consul-general at Tunis, with a special mis- sion to Algiers, 1813-19, and during his term of service opposed the further payment of tribute for the security of our merchant marine, and also liberated a number of Americans held as slaves. He was recalled in 1819 by the government, who considered his being a Jew a drawback to the success of his mission, and he engaged in jour- nalism in New York city, where he aided James Gordon Bennett in establishing the New York Herald, and founded and edited in rapid succes- sion the National Advocate, the Coiirier and En- quirer, the Evening Star, the Union, and Xoah's Times and Weekly Messenger, the latter becom- ing eminently successful. He was appointed sheriff of New York in 1821 ; served as surveyor of the port of New York, 1829-33, and as asso- ciate judge of the court of sessions in New York in 1841. He was also an officer of the New York militia, attaining the rank of major, and was president of the Hebrew Benevolent society, New York cit\-, in 1842. He originated the plan of a permanent city of refuge for the Jews on Grand Island in the Niagara river, in 1820, which proved unsuccessful. He was married to Rebecca Jackson of New York city. His plays include : The Fortress of Sorrento ; Paid and Alexis, or the Orphans of the Rhine ; She Woidd Be a Soldier, or the Plains of Chippeica ; Oh Yes! or the New Constitution ; Marion, or the Hero of Lake George; The Grecian Captive; Yusef Caramalli, or the Siege of Tripoli, and The Grand Canal. He is the author of : Travels in England, France, Spain and the Barhary States (1819); Gleanings from a Gathered Harvest, newspaper essays (1845); Restoration of the Jews, address (1845), and a translation of the Book of Joshua (1840). He died in New York city, May 22, 1851.

NOBLE, Annette Lucile, author, was born in Albion, N.Y., July 12, 1844; daughter of Dr. William and Amelia Stiles (Denio) Noble ; grand- daughter of Elnathan and Mary (Weston) Noble, and of John and Harriet (Stiles) Denio. Harriet Stiles was a granddaughter of Ezra Stiles (q.v.). Annette Lucile Noble was graduated at Phipps Union seminary, Albion, N.Y., in 1863, and en- gaged in literary work, traveling extensively in Europe, Egypt, Palestine, Syria and other for- eign countries. Her stories have been translated