Arnold family

Arnold
Current region	New England and Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America Great Britain
Etymology	arnu & walda
Place of origin	Wales
Members	Benedict Arnold I, Benedict Arnold V, Richard Arnold, Lemuel H. Arnold
Connected families	Astor family Roosevelt Family Arnold family Bovee Family Longworth family Lee family
Motto	Ut vivas vigla

The Arnold family is an American political and military family with ties to New England, Georgia and Ohio. The descendents of American Revolutionary War general Benedict Arnold in Great Britain, while not particularly politically active, also achieved notable success in the 19th century.

History

William Arnold was a son of Nicholas Arnold of Northover and Ilchester in County Somerset, England by his first wife Alice Gully. William was born in Ilchester on 24 Jun 1587, and all four of his children were also born there. In 1622 he was the warden of St. Mary's Church in Ilchester, and remained in that town until emigrating to New England in 1635. One remarkable aspect of his emmigration is that he had copied baptismal, marriage, and burial records from the parish registers of Northover and Ilchester and brought these with him to the New World, beginning a record that would eventually encompass six generations of this family. In New England William Arnold first settled in Hingham in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but within a year joined Roger Williams] in founding the settlement of Providence on the Narraganset Bay. By 1638 William had moved to the Pawtuxet River, five miles south of Providence, and lived there the remainder of his life, dying some time in 1675 or 1676 during the turmoil of King Philip's War. William's son Benedict Arnold would later become the first Governor of Rhode Island under the royal charter of 1663.

Other members of the Arnold family came to Boston from England in 1687. The. Rev. William George Arnold, a minister, was charged with the task of establishing a parish of the official religion of England, the Church of England in Boston. Upon arrival he found he was disliked in Boston and quickly learned that no one would sell land for the construction of a church that was not Puritan. He established King's Chapel in Boston in 1689 on public land. William was soon followed from England by his brother Edward Arnold, who opened a successful general store in Boston.

Edward Arnold brought two daughters with him from England. The older of the pair, Charlotte, married the Puritan minster Ebenezer Punderson in 1730. He was a Yale graduate and was ordained as a Puritan minister in 1729 and began serving as the minister of the Congregational Church in North Groton (now Ledyard), Connecticut. It seems that her Church of England upbringing and beliefs made an impression on her husband, as he announced his intention to be ordained in the Church of England and left his Congressional Church and was ordained in London in 1734. He erected a parish of the Church of England in Preston, Connecticut in 1735 and at a service attended by William and Edward Arnold the place was consecrated St. James' Church.

Upon the 1737 death of William Arnold, many of his children moved to Connecticut near Preston and St. James' Church where the climate for Church of England members was less harsh. The family prospered in Connecticut and married well. One of Benedict Arnold's descendants Benedict III married his cousin Mary Arnold (who was descended from the William George side of the family) and gained control of the family estate in Norwich. They named their first son Benedict IV, who died in infancy. Their second son, Benedict Arnold V, became a general and war hero but is now best known as an infamous turn-coat for his treasonous attempt to surrender West Point and subsequent flight to the British side during the war.

During the American Revolution the family became active in politics. The William George Arnold side of the family remained fiercely loyal to English rule while the Benedict side favored independence. Jonathan Arnold (1741–1793) became a member of the Rhode Island Legislature in 1776 and then a delegate to the Continental Congress from Rhode Island from 1782 to 1784.

After the revolution much of the family left New England for Savannah, Georgia, where they opened a number of mills. The Savannah branch of the family remained active in politics until the American Civil War.

Notable family members

• Benedict Arnold (1741-1801), American and later British general during the American Revolutionary War
• Jonathan Arnold (1741–1793), member of the Rhode Island Legislature 1776, Delegate to the Continental Congress from Rhode Island 1782-1784, Vermont Governor's Councilman, Vermont State Court Judge.
• Richard Arnold, US Army General
• Richard Arnold, mayor of Savannah, Georgia
• Henry H. Arnold, the only US Air Force General to be given the five-star rank (General of the Air Force).
• Lemuel H. Arnold, Rhode Island State Representative 1826, Governor of Rhode Island 1831-1833, U.S. Representative from Rhode Island. Son of Jonathan Arnold.
• Isaac Newton Arnold, member of U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois and President of the Chicago Historical Society, wrote biographies of Abraham Lincoln and Gen. Benedict Arnold.
• James N. Arnold, compiled a massive collection of Rhode Island vital records.
• Samuel G. Arnold, Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island 1852-1853 1861-1862, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island 1862-1863. Granduncle of Theodore F. Green.
• Theodore F. Green, Rhode Island State Representative 1907-1908, candidate for Governor of Rhode Island 1912 1928 1930, Governor of Rhode Island 1933-1937, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island 1938-1961, Democratic National Committeeman 1936. Great-great-grandson of Jonathan Arnold.