This was on the Owsley County, Ky list and I thought someone might be interested. I am
not related and have no further information.
Following is an excerpt from the autobiography "Will Makes Way," written by
Rev. Stephen A. Noland in 1889.
My birth took place May 13, 1818, as I learned from my father's Bible. Of the accuracy
of the date I have no doubt. My father was a very honest and sensible man, and would not
falsify dates to give me a particular birthday. Indeed, I have always observed that the
truest history we have is the family history written in the Bible. Not many men are so
hardened as to write a lie in the sacred volume. They may write any number of falsehoods
about the Bible, but in the book itself they write the truth.
The place of my birth was Wayne county, Indiana. It was about three miles south of
Centreville. I was the oldest of four children. The two next to myself died young and
entered paradise. The youngest of the four, a sister, lived to be fifty years old, and
died only a few years ago, a Christian woman. I was born in a cabin, a house with one
room. We had a large fireplace on one side for burning wood, and only one window with
small panes of glass. My father was a very poor man, being a school teacher, and receiving
a salary that did not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars per year at any time. On this
meager sum the family was supported. Of course food, clothing, and every thing else had to
be of the plainest and cheapest kind. When he died, after a long sickness of a year or
two, it was about the time of my release from my first embarrassment in debt, named
hereafter, and he only owed three hundred dollars, which I paid for him so that my
step-mother could hold the household!
property.....
One of the saddest of memories will conclude this chapter of early incidents. My young
sister was four weeks old. I awoke one morning and a kind woman took me by the hand and
led me close to my mother. She was lying down covered with white covering, and was very
still. Not seeing her move, I was surprised and alarmed; I reached out my little hand and
touched her face, and it was cold. My mother was dead. I had never known grief until that
hour. When I came to understand that she was gone from earth to heaven, and would have to
be buried out of our sight, and that I would never see her again in this world, I felt
that I had lost all that was dear to me, and did not see how I could live. But she passed
to heaven, and I was left to struggle with poverty, sickness, and many trials through a
long pilgrimage.
"Will Makes Way," written by Rev. Stephen Noland, published in 1887, is an
autobiography. He also had two other books published: "Christians, or Disciples"
and "Sermons and Parables
Stephen Noland was the son of Daniel Noland b. 11/25/1797 Rowan Co., NC and Asenath Lena
Noland b. 1/7/1798 Wayne Co., IND. Stephen married (1) Amanda F. Miller 9/24/1839 Madison
Co., KY. She was b. 11/3/1820 Madison Co., KY. (2) Virginia Barr Brown 8/8/1872. Stephen
& Amanda had two sons, Samuel H. Noland b. 1841 KY and F. William Noland b. 1843 KY.