My great grandfather Donald Noble (1861-1942) and great grandmother Helen lynn Melville (1888-1972) lived in Inverness and as far as I know the Noble line have lived in Inverness. However I had noticed on through lines on ancestry I noticed some relatives in Australia had linked them back to an Andrew noble born in 1740 in Fraserburgh. I was wondering if there is a connection to the broadsea Fraserburgh Noble family?
Never trust anything you find online, and especially on commercial web sites like Ancestry, unless it's an image of an original document, and even then be wary of errors in the original.
When you find a tree online, it is always necessary to check its contents by looking at the original documents, because there are many trees out there that are a mixture or errors, guesswork, assumptions and fantasy.
From the indexes to the original records at
www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk Donald Noble married Helen Kirk Lynn Melville in Inverness in 1916. If Donald was born in 1861, he would have been 55 in 1916, which is quite old for a first marriage. Have you got a copy of the marriage certificate? It will confirm Donald's age and tell you the names of his parents including his mother's maiden surname.
There is a birth of a Donald Melville Noble there in 1917, and an Ian William Noble in 1925. Donald Melville Noble, aged 67, died in Inverness in 1984. All three of these have mother's surname listed as Melville.
Donald Noble, aged 60, died in Inverness in 1942 aged 60. If this age is accurate he would have been born in 1881/1882. Do you have a copy of the death certificate to confirm his age, the name of his wife and the names of his parents?
There is a birth of a Donald Noble, mother's surname Stephen, in Inverness in 1881. There are also births of Jane in 1875, Alexander in 1877 and Isabella in 1879 in Inverness, mother Stephen.
In the 1891 census in Inverness are Donald Noble, 50, born Daviot, Inverness-shire; wife Jane, 42; children Jane M, 15; Isabella, 12 and Donald, 9; and James Stephen, boarder, aged 40, all born in Inverness. So I reckon that this is the Donald Noble who died in 1942 aged 60, assuming that his age in the index is correct.
The 1881 confirms Jane's surname; it lists Donald Noble, 42, born Boleskine, Inverness-shire, wife Jane Stephen, 35; daughter Jane, 6; daughter Isabella, 2; and brother-in-law James Stephen, 32; all born in Inverness.
Donald Noble and James Stephen are both listed as house painters in 1881 and 1891.
In 1871 Donald Noble, house painter, 31, born Dores, Inverness-shire is with his widowed mother Isabella, 56, born Daviot.
In 1861 Isabella Noble, widow, born Daviot, is in Inverness with sons Donald, 19, painter; Allan, 14; and Andrew, 12.
In 1851 in Inverness are Isabella, widow, 37, born Daviot; and children Donald, 11; David, 8; Margaret, 6; Allan, 4; Andrew, 2.
And in 1841, at Tullich, Daviot, are Alexander Noble, 30, agricultural labourer; Isabella, 28; John, 4; and Donald, 2; all born in Inverness-shire.
These match the sons of Alexander Noble and Isabella Kennedy: John, baptised 30 April 1837 and Donald, baptised 5 May 1839, both in Dores. Alexander and Isabella were married in Dores on 27 January 1836.
The fact that Isabella was a widow by 1851 means that Alexander died before the introduction of statutory civil registration in 1855, so there is no death certificate to confirm the names of his parents. His age is given as 30, but adults' ages were supposed to be rounded down to the nearest 5 years in the 1841 census, so he could have been any age from 30 to 34, and hence born any time between 8 June 1906 and 7 June 1811 (because the 1841 census was taken on 7 June 1841).
There are 4 surviving records of baptisms of Alexander Nobles in Inverness-shire between 1806 and 1811; there could be others whose baptism records have not survived. So the trail goes cold at this point.
There are 64 surviving records of births/baptisms of Nobles with mother's surname Stephen in Fraserburgh, so it would be very easy to jump wrongly to the conclusion that the four Noble/Stephen births in Inverness are connected to Fraserburgh, when in fact there is not a shred of evidence so far to support that.
