Putnam County GaArchives Biographies.....Arnold, Rev. William March 4, 1786 - January 12, 1860
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Dianne Crawford diannegen@yahoo.com July 4, 2005, 9:51 pm

Author: W.J. Scott D.D.

From the book:  
Biographic Etchings of Ministers and Laymen of the Georgia Conferences 
by W.J. Scott, D.D.
copyright 1895
 
William Arnold
 
     I am quite sure it was in the summer of 1839 that while a boy attending 
the popular Harris County camp-meeting, I first heard "Uncle Billy Arnold" of 
the old Georgia Conference,  As I recall him, he was of imposing presence, the 
impersonation of neatness, and distinguished for a suavity of manner that won 
the hearts of all who came in contact with him.  He seemed a born versifier; 
so much so that if he had been reared in Italy he would have been reckoned an 
improvisator.  
     His sermons were interspersed with snatches of Wesleyan hymns and with 
other verses which he produced upon the spur of the moment, greatly to the 
delight of his congregations.  Some of these verses of his own coinage would 
have pleased the critical taste of Isaac Watts or Philip Doddridge.
     Nor was he less skillful in the use of a rhetoric that roused the 
religious sensibilities and made him a favorite amongst all classes of hearers.
     Added to this was a glow of deep personal piety that constitited him one 
of the most effective revivalists amongst his contemporaries.  His son, Rev. 
Miles W. Arnold, still in the flesh, and his late grandson, Rev. Willie 
Arnold, both inherited some of these special gifts of thier illustrious 
ancestor.  While stationed in Milledgeville in 1860,I was hoping to have him 
with me every third Sunday in the month, but he sickened and died almost at 
the beginning of my pastorate, so that I missed his valuable help.  Father 
Arnold has left few written memorials of his pulpit work, but all through 
Middle Georgia there still linger traditions of his great moral worth, and of 
his ministerial usefulness.  
     His wide-spread popularity as a preacher of funeral discourses was a 
striking feature of his ministry.  A few of the older citizens, who heard him 
at sundry times on these sad occasions, testify that in this respect he was 
without a peer in his generation.
     After a life of spotless integrity, he long ago entered a world 
where "the inhabitants shall never say, I am sick."  Where "no mourners go 
about the streets" of that golden city, whose walls are salvation and whose 
gates are praise.  


Additional Comments:
From George Ferguson's research in 1941:
Rev. William Arnold joned the Methodist Church at the age of 16.  He came to 
Georgia shortly after his conversion, and was licensed to preach at the age of 
18; he joined the conference at the age fo 20.  He was one of the Pioneer 
preachers of Georgia in the days of Bishop Asbury and Coke.  Rev. Arnold was a 
great man in his day.  He was a presiding elder for many years.  He once rode 
to Philadelphia, Pa. on horseback to conference.  Rev. Arnold preached many 
funerals and married many couples.  He preached a funeral on Sunday, went 
home, was taken with pneumonia and died one week later.  He had always 
expressed a desire to die in his right mind, this he did.  He was unconscious 
from the day he was taken sick until the day he died, but gained consciousness 
on the last day and died with a clear mind.  He died in Putnam County, Georgia 
and is buried at Eatonton in that same county.  On his Mother's side he was of 
German descent.

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