For many years it has been my desire to research the Noblit Genealogy. I was blessed to be a member of a fairly large family that cared very much for their elders and the contribution that was made to the area known as Puncheon Community near Minor Hill, Tennessee in the southwest corner of Giles County. As far as I can tell William Noblit came to Jenkins Creek near the current site of Bethel, Tennessee about 1810. At this time this land was still controlled by the Indians who were hostile neighbors. To make matters worse, Federal troops often burned the homes of settlers and destroyed their crops if they lived on Indian land.

As a small child I saw the tombstone of William Noblit and other ancestors who were buried in Noblit Cemetery. I heard stories of Thomas Hughes Noblit who amassed a sizable estate for that period of time in that part of the county. I have found that Thomas H. Noblit was active in the affairs of the county as an election official, magistrate, Mason and merchant. He often was appointed to administer wills upon the death of local inhabitants. It was this background that whetted my interest and caused me to visit the public library in Charleston, South Carolina several years ago while attending a meeting. I had always heard the Noblit family came from Virginia. However, I suspected they had a South Carolina connection. It was a hunch that proved to be accurate. However, Samuel Noblit apparently did migrate to South Carolina through Virginia. There is no evidence that he served in the Revolutionary War in South Carolina and there is little known about Samuel Noblit from the time he enlisted in the Revolutionary War until a Sam Noblit appeared in the 1790 Census of the Ninety Sixth District of Union County, South Carolina. From 1800 through 1830 Samuel Noblit is listed in the Census from Spartanburg County, South Carolina. We know that William Noblit was born July 18, 1785 and that he had a brother named Samuel born about 1800 which explains why there are two Samuel Noblits listed in the census of 1830. We also know there were three additional children: Joseph, Mary, and Jane born about 1792.

I want to especially thank my son, Jim for his assistance, counsel and the persistent prodding he provided to keep me going. I also want to thank distant cousins Welch and Andrew Noblit. The information they contributed gave me affirmation and physical material that I possibly would not have had access to in my search.

Finally, in a search such as this you have to stop at some point. I hope that you realize this is not a perfect document, but one that I believe is as accurate as I can determine at this time. I also know that there are probably some mistakes in names and spelling. Please let me know what these are and I will make corrections on the master list in case there is a revision. Also, please let me know of additions or deaths in the family.

I also want to thank Sam and Carolyn White Hale for their willingness to share historical family and community documents that were found in the attic of the Lytle house. Sam deserves a special word of thanks for bringing these documents to Nashville on a business trip where Jim Newton was able to scan them with a scanner that digitized each document and stored it in a computer and eventually transferred to a disk. From the computer or disk the picture can be extracted and printed upon demand easily and with greater clarity.

It should be noted that Samuel Noblit always spelled the family name differently than other family members. They spelled their name Noblitt. In old records the name is also spelled Noblet, Noblette, and Knoblett. There is possibility that it may also be associated with the name Neblett. The unique spelling that Samuel Noblit and his descendants used makes it more likely to confirm that research findings are accurate.

Fred B. Newton
2091 Landon Road
Clarksville, Tennessee 37043
[email protected]


Click HERE to see the Outline Descendant Tree of Samuel Noblit.