William Arthur Noland, who simply went by "Bud," was born to Edgar Noland and Mary Walton, probably on their Blanket Creek homestead, near Sonora, California, on February 18, 1877. He was the third of nine children. We do not know anything about Bud's childhood.

In 1906 or 1907, Bud met his future wife, May (or Mae) Beatrix Head (1889-1936), while she was working either at a boarding house or in a restaurant. On March 31, 1907, at age 30, Bud married May, age 17, in Sonora, California.

Bud and May would go on to have seven children: Wilma Mae (Noland) Stephens Mott (1908-1952), Charlotte (or Charlotti) Thelma "Lottie" (Noland) Schuh Keady Knoop (1910-1952), Louise Mary (Noland) Piccolotti (1912-1987), William Arthur "Bill" Noland (1914-1990), Edward/Edwin Jasper Noland (1915-1916), Walter Noland (1918-unknown), and Roy Bert Noland (1922-1983).

For much of Bud's adult life, he worked as a teamster, driving horse and mule teams transporting building supplies and materials, similar to what a trucker might do today. (By the way, there is some family history that as a teamster, Bud drove a mule team carrying building materials, possibly granite, marble, sandstone, or even lumber that were used to construct or repair San Francisco's landmark Ferry Building. It is also believed that Bud's name may appear in the building's cornerstone, plaque, or time capsule. Unfortunately, we have yet to find any physical evidence to support that story.)

In the 1910 Federal Census, Bud was listed as being a teamster working for a fuel oil company. Then, according to the (Voter) Precinct Register of Tuolumne County of 1912, Bud was a teamster, living in Chinese Camp. (He may have been working for the Brunson Freight & Stage Line, which operated in Tuolumne County.) By then, his three daughters would have been born.

Sometime after 1912, Bud may have moved the family to Jamestown, where son, Bill, was born in 1914. We suspect that Bud continued living there and working as a teamster.

In 1915, Bud was living in Standard City, about five miles east of Sonora, according to the October 12, 1915 Tuolumne Independent which announced the birth of Bud's son, Edward. (Unfortunately, Edward died just four months later.)

Then, by 1917, as stated in Bud's World War I draft registration card, Bud was living in Milton, Calaveras County, and working as a teamster for the Manuel Estate Lumber Company. Apparently, Milton is also where Bud's son, Walter, was born in December 1918, but sadly died shortly afterwards.

By September 1926, Bud and May were legally separated, and in December 1926, Bud filed for divorce. In his petition for divorce, Bud claimed cruelty and her riding with another man in his automobile, apparently quite scandalous for the time!

The judge granted the divorce, and gave custody of young sons Bill and Roy to May. Apparently, the judge made each of the older three daughters choose with which parent to live. We believe that all the daughters went to live with their father, although it was not long before they moved out on their own.

May Noland must have been seeing another man, because in a January 1927 Modesto newspaper article, it stated that, "W. A. Noland pleaded guilty to a charge of disturbing the peace ... and paid a fine of $10. Noland was arrested ... in a fistic combat with Chris Wesselhoft in which the latter received a broken finger." Bud and May were divorced in 1927. Perhaps Bud was justifiably jealous, because in 1933, May and Chris Wesselhoft, the same person that Bud struck in 1927, were married in Reno, Nevada! Bud never remarried.

By 1930, at age 53, Bud was working and living with his cousin, Charles Bertram (nicknamed "Bert") Noland, the son of Bud's uncle, Thomas Albert Noland. At this time, Bud and Bert were working as laborers for Pacific Gas & Electric Company, at their Lyon's Dam project on the Stanislaus River, near Sonora.

In 1947 Bud passed away after an illness that lasted over several months. William Arthur "Bud" Noland is buried in an unmarked grave at the Mountain Shadow Cemetery in Sonora.