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
