Biography of George Noirot, pages 584/585/586. History of 
DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.,  
Indianapolis, 1914.



It is not an easy task to describe adequately a man who has 
led and eminently active and busy life and who has attained 
a position of relative distinction in the community with 
which his interests are allied. But biography finds its 
most perfect justification, nevertheless, in the tracing 
and recording of such a life history.  It is, then, with a 
full appreciation of all that is demanded and of the 
painstaking scrutiny that must be accorded each statement,  
and yet with a feeling of satisfaction, that the writer 
essays the task of touching briefly upon the details of 

such a record as has been that of the honorable subject of 
this sketch whose eminently successful career now come 
under review. George Noirot was born on February 18, 1864, 
in Paulding county, Ohio, and is a son of Nicholas and 
Magdalene (Hurtig) Noirot, the former born in France in 
March, 1826, and died in January, 1905, at the age of 
nearly seventy-nine years, while the mother was born in 
Alsace, formerly France, now Germany, in March, 1823. These 
parents were married in France in 1850, and in the spring 
of 1853 they came to America, locating first in Findlay, 
Ohio. The father was called a knife maker, but was really 
and expert at any kind of edged tools. He was employed at 
his trade in Findlay for seven years and then went to 
farming in Defiance county, that state. From there he went 
to Paulding county, and lived at various places in Ohio, 
going from Paulding to Putnam county, where he made his 
permanent home. To him and his wife were born ten children, 
three of whom died young and seven grew to maturity, all of 
the latter marrying but one and having homes of their own. 
In his old age Nicholas Noirot sold his property, dividing 
the proceeds among the children with whom he afterward 
lived. His wife died on January 22, 1892. The subject of 
this sketch was reared on the home farm in Putnam county, 
Ohio, and being about ten years old when the family located 
there, he worked for his father until past the age of 
twenty-two years, and in the summer of 1886 he went to 
Kansas, where he worked by the month until the fall of that 
year.  He then returned to Ohio and rented his father’s 
farm, which he operated for about two years.  He then went 
to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and engaged in business which 
occupied his attention for two years, after which period he 
sold his business or exchanged it for eighty acres of land 
in the southeastern part of Grant township, DeKalb county. 
In Ohio from boyhood he had been trained in the raising of 
potatoes and onions on muck land and having discovered this 
class of land in DeKalb county,  he conceived the idea that 
it could be developed to splendid potato and onion land, 
and ideas that had never been though of by the residents of 
this community. The land which he bought was covered with 
swamps, tamarack bushes abounding everywhere, the only 
improvement on the entire tract being an old log cabin. To 
most people to produce a farm from this forbidding prospect 
seemed impossible. However, Mr. Noirot, with far-sighted 
shrewdness, saw a possibility and he drained, tiled, 
grubbed and cleared and in 1892 commenced to plant potatoes 
with some corn. In 1893 he put in some onions, being thus 
the pioneer in the onion and potato raising industry on any 
considerable scale in this county.  In 1893 Mr. Noirot 
bought more land adjoining his first tract and added more 
in 1894,  thus becoming the owner of one hundred and twelve 
acres of land in one body, about two-thirds of which was 
genuine muck land such as he had proved to be the most 
desirable for the potato and onion business. He continued 
the raising of these crops with splendid success until the 
fall of 1899, when he bought the Emerick farm in Fairfield 
township, to which he moved, renting out the farm in Grant 
township. The Fairfield township farm comprises about two 
hundred and forty-nine acres, lying on high and rolling 
ground, and here he followed general farming and stock 
raising, together with the raising of potatoes and onions 
as side crops. Mr. Noirot lived in Fairfield township until 
December 14, 1903, when he moved to the city of Auburn, in 
order to give his children the advantages of city schools, 
and rented his farm.  During the first year in Auburn he 
rented a residence and then bought the Garwood home, one of 
the most beautiful and substantial residences in Auburn, 
where he now resides. He is now extensively engaged in 
dealing in timber and lumber, operating a saw mill in 
southeastern Missouri for two years, and in this, as in all 
other of his business ventures, he has been successful. He 
has also owned farms in various other localities, now 
owning a farm in Grant township, one in Fairfield township 
and a small place in Union township. to him this locality 
owes a large debt of gratitude, for he demonstrated a fact 
that has been taken advantage of by many others who have 
acquired fortunes in the raising of onions and potatoes 
from muck land.  The land which was formerly worthless 
cannot now be bought for one hundred and fifty dollars an 
acre and thus the agricultural resources of the county have 
been materially increased. In January, 1894, Mr. Noirot was 
married to Emma Kessler, who was born in Coshocton county, 
Ohio, the daughter of Louis and Mary (Webber) Kessler, both 
of whom were natives of Germany. To Mr. and Mrs. Noirot 
have been born five children, namely: Cletus, Paul, George 
Leo, John Raymond, Mary Magdalene and Corina Effie.  
Religiously, Mr. Noirot and the members of his family  are 
members of the Catholic church and he belongs to the 
Catholic Benevolent League of Indiana. Mr. Noirot occupies 
a conspicuous place among the leading men of DeKalb county 
and enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him. 
His record demonstrates that where there is a will there is 
a way and that obstacles to success may be overcome by 
courage, self-reliance and persistency. His career, though 
strenuous, has been faught with good to the community and 
he enjoys a well deserved popularity in the circles in 
which he moves.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com