BIOGRAPHIES: Alexander A. ARNOLD, Galesville, Trempealeau Co., WI

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Alexander A. Arnold was born in Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, N. Y., Oct. 20, 
1833, son of Archibald H. R. and Catherine M. E. Schultz.  After mastering 
his primary studies he was sent to Starkey Academy and later to an 
institution known as the Nine Brothers Boarding School.  This was 
supplemented with a business course at a college in Poughkeepsie.  Thus 
equipped he started out as a teacher, but this profession did not appeal 
to him and he entered the Ohio Law School at Poland, from which he graduated 
in 1855.  Fresh from college he added to his knowledge of the law and 
acquainted himself with actual practice in the office of Hon. Thbeodore 
Miller, then a prominent lawyer of Hudson, N. Y.  Six months later he was 
admitted to practice before the supreme courts of that state and Ohio.  The 
tide was flowing westward and the young man saw his future in that direction.  
Early in 1857 he set out for Wisconsin, and having relatives at Elkhorn that 
was his first place of residence.  Elkhorn also was the scene of his first 
case as a trial lawyer.  Having two cousins located at Galesville, Mr. Arnold 
decided to visit them before fixing a permanent location, and later in the 
year 1857 found him in the settlement, which was then in its third year and 
was known as Galesville.  There was little demand for a lawyer, but there 
were thousands of acres of land to be entered and new settlers were arriving.  
The prospects looked good to the young lawyer andhe cast his lot with 
Galesville, which was destined to be his home to the end of his days.  There 
were few frame buildings at this time, and one of these (still a part of the 
W. A. Tower house) had just been completed by a Captain Finch.  This building 
was purchased by Mr. Arnold and his lawyer's sign was swung to the breeze.  
The building was small, but it provided ample room for his desk and a few 
books, besides space for the postoffice.  The late Dr. William M. Young was 
postmaster.  There was little mail, and as the doctor was a busy man in his 
practice the lawyer attended to the office most of the time.  In 1859 Mr. 
Arnold returned to New York and married to Hattie E. Tripp, returning with 
his bride to Wisocnsin soon after.  The young wife died two years later, 
leaving a daughter Blanche.  The child died at about three years of age.  When 
the Civil War broke out, in 1861, Galesville, along with the rest of the 
country, caught the martial spirit.  In August, 1862, the Thirtieth Wisconsin 
Volunteer Infantry was organized and Mr. Arnold enlisted in Company C and was 
chosen captain.  He was so commissioned by Governor Lewis.  The service of 
this regiment the first year was largely in this state.  The second year it 
was stationed on the Indian frontier in the Dakotas.  Not until the third year 
was the regiment sent south, and then its operations were confined to Kentucky.  
At the close fo the war Captain Arnold returned to Galesville.  He did not 
resume his law practice, but turned his attention to agricultural pursuits.  
He had, on his first arrival here, purchased eighty acres of land.  After the 
war he added 160 acres to this and continued to increase the tract to the 400 
acres which make up the present Arnold properties.  The Arnold place has for 
years been one of the finest farm homes in the state.  Farming fifty years ago 
was carried on on a much smaller scale than at the present time, and Captain 
Arnold found ample time to assist in shaping the affairs of the community and 
to study politics.  His college education had included a practical knowledge 
of surveying, and fw of the original stakes set in this section of the county 
were not placed by him.  He held the office of county surveyor many years.  He 
was also one of the early district attorneys and was once county superintendent 
of schools.  His first prominence in politics was gained in 1870, when he was 
elected to the state legislature.  From 1878 to 1880 he served his district as 
state senator.  In 1880 he was again sent to the assembly and was elected speaker 
of that body.  As an advanced farmer and breeder of purebred stock Captain Arnold 
has been known throughout this and in other states for forty years.  He was one 
of the organizers of the Trempealeau County Agricultural Society in 1859, and 
served as president and as secretary at different periods.  He was a member of 
the executive board of the State Agricultural Society for a time, and during the 
long period was one of the state's farmers' institute conductors.  He commenced 
the breeding of Shorthorn cattled when there was not a pure-bred animal in this 
part of the state outside of those on his farm.  The breeding of this particular 
strain has gone on for more than forty years and is continued by his sons.  
Captain Arnold was made a Mason in Trempealeau Lodge fifty-seven years ago.  
When Decora Lodge was organized he was one of its charter members.  He was a 
past master of the lodge and one of its faithful patrons to the end.  He was 
president of the Trempealeau County Historical Society and vice-president of 
the Bank of Galesville at the time of his death.  As one of the organizers of 
the Charles H. Ford Post, G. A. R., he was ever active in that body.  Captain 
Arnold was again married Feb. 1, 1869, to Miss Mary Douglas of Melrose.  The 
bride came from a family then prominent in Jackson County, and was the oldest 
of five children.  She was educated in the district schools and at Galesville 
University, first attending when Bishop Fallows was president, and then taking 
another course of two years seven years later.  For many years she was president 
of the Woman's Christian Temperance union, of which she is still a member.

Seven children were born to Captain and Mrs. Arnold:  Archibald H., Roy D., 
Kittie H., Mollie D., Gerald D., Alex. W. and Beulah.  Archibald H. is a fruit 
grower, residing at College Place, Wash., three miles from Walla Walla.  He 
married Fannie M. Parsons of Whitehall and has two children:  Dewey and Douglas.  
Mollie D. is the wife of S. C. French, Gale Township, a farmer and stock grower.  
They have three children:  Henry C., Miriam H. and ARnold S.  Gerald D., county 
surveyor, a resident of Galesville, is engaged in farming and raising Shorthorn 
cattle.  He married Jayne E. Burrows of New Richmond, Wis.  They have two 
children:  Wm. A. and John B.  Alex. W., who resides on the home place, is 
conducting the home farm and is engaged in stock farming.  He married Myrtle 
Smith of Tomah, Wis.,  Beulah is the wife of Gilford M. Wiley, principal of the 
high school at Greensburg, Ind.  They have two children:  Arnold R. and Mary 
Esther.

-Transcribed from the "History of Trempealeau County Wisconsin, 1917", 
pages 290 - 292