422
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
copal High School at Alexandria ; Margaret
Cabell, unmarried, at home ; Robert Law-
rence, now a student ; Katherine Mason.
Joseph Alexander Noblin, M. D. Dr. Xob- lin is the son of Alexander Xoblin. born in Mecklenburg county, \'irginia. in 1834, died in Scott county. Virginia, in 1897, and Eliz- abeth Virginia Smith (nee) Chandler, born in Oxford. Granville county, North Caro- lina, in 1839, and survives her husband.
Alexander Noblin was a man of unusual ability and intellect, having acquired a good education by extensive reading and home study. During the war 1861-65 he served in a Mrginia regiment of infantry of the Confederate army. Was in several battles during the war and was wounded in the battle of Ball's Bluff. Was at Appomattox the day General Lee surrendered. Eliza- beth \'irginia Noblin was the daughter of Daniel H. Chandler and Martha (Jones) Chandler, of Granville county, North Caro- lina. She married William A. Smith, of the same county, in 1857, to which union were born one daughter and three sons, one of whom died in infancy, the other two, W^ D. Smith, superintendent of schools of Scott county since 1886 and also an extensive farmer and cattle raiser, and O. M. Smith, now a prominent farmer of Scott county, after twenty-two years of successful teach- ing in the public free schools of his county. Martha, the daughter, died in 1908, at the age of fifty-three years. William A. Smith, the first husband of Elizabeth Virginia Nob- lin. was a gallant officer in the Confederate army, holding the title of major, and was killed while in action at Petersburg in 1863. Alexander Noblin and Elizabeth Virginia Smith were married in 1866, in Granville county, North Carolina, and moved to Scott county in 1869. To this union was born two sons and three daughters : Joseph Alex- ander, of further mention ; Logan Preston, married Allie J. Epperson in 1903 and died in 1908 at the age of thirty-six years, leav- ing two sons. Scott and Floyd ; Loudema D., married H. C. Taylor, in 1887; Eliza- beth M., married S. P. Maness, in 1892; Dora A., married R. L. Shelton, in 1903. Alexander Noblin was of English and Scotch-Irish descent and Elizabeth Virginia Noblin was of English and German descent.
Dr. Joseph Alexander Noblin. now a prac- ticing physician of Radford, Virginia, was
born at Snowfiake. Scott county, \*irginia,
August 18, 1880. He was reared on the farm
and attended the public free schools of his
county, attaining a good preparatory free
school education. At the age of eighteen he
began to teach in the public schools of his
county and continued to do so until his
graduation from Shoemaker College in May,
1903, the last four years of which time he
attended college one-half the year and
taught school the other half. Dr. Noblin,
while attending Shoemaker College was a
very active member of the Phoenix Literary
Society. He represented his society in the
inter-society contests three times, winning
the prize for oratory in 1901 and the prize
for debate in 1902. He chose medicine as
his profession (his soul's desire from boy-
hood) and entered the medical department
of Central University of Kentucky, which is
the Univer&ity of Louisville, at Louisville,
Kentucky, in 1904. whence he was gradu-
ated Doctor of Medicine, class of 1907. He
began practicing the same year he graduated
for the Stonega Coke and Coal Company, at
Stonega, \^ise county, Virginia, coming to
Radford. March 31, 1909, where he has since
been engaged in successful general practice.
In 1910 he took a course at the Post-Gradu-
ate ^ledical School of New York City, and
by knowledge and experience is equipped
for the profession he has chosen. In 1908
he was appointed by Governor Claude A.
Swanson a delegate to the International
Congress on Tuberculosis, held in \\'ashing-
ton. D. C. September 21 to October 12. He
is a member of the American Medical Asso-
ciation, the Southern Medical Society, the
]\Iedical Society of Virginia, the South West
Mrginia Medical Society, the Montgomery
County Medical Society, and the Associa-
tion of Norfolk and Western Railway Sur-
geons. Using these societies and the jour-
nals of the profession, he keeps fully in-
formed of all advance made in the treatment
and prevention of disease. For the past
three years he has been health officer of the
city of Radford, and has during his few
years of residence in the city secured, not
only a clientele most satisfactory, but also
a wide circle of personal friends. He has
been surgeon to the Norfolk & Western
Railway Company since 1910 and is resident
physician to the Radford State Normal
School for Women. He is a member of \'ir-
ginia May Lodge, No. 38, Free and Accepted
