************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ Submitted by Cheryl VanWormer OLIVER ARNOLD Oliver Arnold was born on March 16, 1793, at Smithfield, in the state of Rhode Island, and later moved to Herkimer county, New York, and from that place came to Michigan in the spring of 1833 with the Dexter colony. Samuel Dexter had come to Ionia in the year 1832 and located one hundred and sixty acres of land, a part of which is the present site of the Hayes Ionia factory, and the land extended north to near Lincoln avenue, near the Arbeiter hall. Mr. Dexter had told the colonists, that they could cut all the hay wanted for their cattle in his dry prairie, the prairie alluded to being the muck land north of the Hayes factory, where celery is now raised. The year before must have been a very dry year, so Mr. Dexter got the impression that this marsh was dry, but when the colony arrived they found it a frog-pond. This discouraged Mr. Arnold and things did not look as he expected, and he looked for land on the north side of the river for two days but found nothing that suited him. On the morning of the third day Mr. Arnold was at the river near the north end of the present iron bridge and an Indian was passing in his canoe. Mr. Arnold motioned that he wanted to get across and the Indian took him in and landed him on the south bank. At that time the present Arnold creek flowed into the river at this point, near the south end of the present bridge. Mr. Arnold followed the creek--the timber was large sugar maples--he having no knowledge that the river overflowed its banks, it all looked good to him, and he decided that he would make his future home there. He located one hundred and sixty acres of land, the northeast corner being near the south end of the present bridge, and the southwest corner is the present Loomis school house lot. Mr. Arnold later deeding this lot to the school district for school purposes. Mr. Arnold built his log cabin about ten rods east of the present Arnold factory, on the northwest part of lot 12, of Crawford's survey, in the north half of section 30. Later he built a house on lot 6, of same survey, and in this house Oliver Arnold died on May 26, 1859, aged sixty-two years, two months and ten days. Oliver Arnold had three wives, the last surviving him. His first wife was a daughter of Elder Silas Barnes, formerly from the state of Connecticut, and she departed from this life in Herkimer county, New York, July 7, 1822, aged twenty-seven years, three months and ten days. By this union five children are known to have grown to manhood and womanhood. Horace Barnes Arnold, born April 3, 1813, died in the state of New York, October 31, 1890, a dentist by profession. Silas Dexter was born on February 18, 1815, and died on October 18, 1892, aged seventy-seven years and four months. He died at the home of William Lord, three miles north of Ionia. Mrs. Lord was his adopted daughter. Anthony Phylena Arnold was born on July 10, 1817, and died on April 8, 1893, aged seventy-six years, eight months and twenty-nine days. She was the wife of Doctor Lincoln and is buried in Ionia. Anthilda H. Arnold was born on September 4, 1819, and was married to Mr. Teft, dying in New York (date unknown). Oliver Edison Arnold was born on June 6, 1822, and died in Lockhart, Texas, on July 1, 1894, aged seventy-two years, twenty-five days, a dentist by profession. There is no date of Oliver Arnold's second marriage, or his wife's maiden name. She came with the colony to Ionia, and died on February 11, 1834, only about eight months after their arrival, aged thirty-nine years, one month and twenty-seven days, leaving Mr. Arnold with four children of her own and five by his first wife--nine children in the wilderness. Susan Arnold, the second wife of Oliver Arnold, was doubtless the first grown white person to die in Ionia county. There were no burying grounds, no churches and, I think, no minister, no coffin and no lumber to make one. So planks were split from trees and a rude box was made to answer for a coffin. A pleasant spot was selected on top of the hill, some three hundred feet southwest of their cabin, and there she was laid to rest. Oliver Arnold wished to be laid beside her, and when he died, twenty-five years later, his wish was carried out, and today they are sleeping side by side on the land they bought of the government. The spot is located about three hundred feet due south of the present Arnold factory on the very top of the hill, under the spreading branches of a large beech tree. The four children born to this second marriage were Chauncey Fairchilds Arnold, born on April 24, 1824, and died on September 23, 1901, at his home in South Ionia, aged seventy-seven years, four months and twenty-five days. James Hutton Arnold, born on September 4, 1826, also died in South Ionia. Mary Amanda Arnold, born on June 5, 1828, and died on August 8, 1834, aged six years, two months and three days, only six months after her mother died, and she was buried on the hill by her mother. George Wesley Arnold, born on March 21, 1832, died at his home in south Ionia, March 11, 1888, aged fifty-five years, eleven months and eighteen days, and is buried in Balcom cemetery. The maiden name of Oliver Arnold's third wife was Fannie Bourden, and she was an aunt to the late Hiram Bourden, and great aunt to Byron Bourden, now living east of Palo. No children were born by this marriage. Fannie (Bourden) Arnold died on April 15, 1866, aged seventy-eight years, eleven months and eighteen day. SHORTAGE OF PROVISIONS. Before the colony left Detroit they bought a quantity of flour and shipped it to Grand Haven. It was five months on its way and a trip was made to that place after it. It was found to be damaged and worms were devouring it, but these were sifted out and every particle saved, as it was considered precious, as there were no mills to grind wheat or corn. If corn bread or cake was had, the corn had to be hammered fine, then sifted and for many years the only way to utilize corn easily was in the shape of hulled corn, and hulled corn and milk were their main living for several years. Later Mr. Welch settled west of Ionia on the stream now known as Bellamy creek. He improved the water power and put in a saw-mill and a grinder that would grind corn. Oliver Arnold was a blacksmith by trade and as the government had established a shop at Grand Rapids, to do work principally for the Indians, Mr. Arnold got employment there and worked several years, in fact was forced to do so to keep his large family from starvation, for while some of his elder children were large enough to earn money, there was no chance here to do so. In later years the creek near his house was made to turn a grindstone and operate a bellows in a small shop he established near his home, and later the water power the creek afforded was improved in a more modern way, and it now furnishes power for the Arnold machine shop and foundry owned by Mr. Fred E. Arnold, the only descendant that still makes the old Arnold homestead his home. Fred E. Arnold was born and always lived on some part of the land his grandfather, Oliver Arnold, bought of the United States government in 1834, and is the son of George Wesley Arnold. Mr. Arnold still has two deeds from the United States of America to Oliver Arnold. The first is dated November 4, 1834, and is signed by President Andrew Jackson, and describes the west half of the northwest quarter of section 30. another deed, dated May 1, 1839, signed by Martin Van Buren, President, describes the west half of the southwest quarter of section 30. Job Arnold, the father of Oliver Arnold, was a native of Smithfield, Rhode Island, and was a soldier during the Revolutionary War. [This account of the life of Oliver Arnold was compiled by his grandson, Fred E. Arnold, of South Ionia]. This biography is taken from "HISTORY OF IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN: HER PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS," by Rev. E. E. Branch. Vol. I. Indianapolis, Indiana: B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., 1916. Pages 481-484. Also contained on the facing page 465 in this book are pictures of Louis and Sophie Campau, Oliver Arnold, Dr. and Mrs. William B. Lincoln, Judge and Mrs. Erastus Yeomans, Rix Robinson, and Hon. and Mrs. Samuel Dexter.