My Genealogy Hound

THOMAS HAZARD ARNOLD. There is an inspiration given to one in reading the history of a successful man, and such is the subject of this article. Mr. Arnold is one who, gifted with a sturdy constitution and an indomitable and persistent will, has had abundant success, notwithstanding the fact that he had many difficulties to overcome.

Mr. Arnold was born in 1809, the fourth in a family of six children of Solomon and Alice Arnold, who lived on a farm near Providence, R. I. In those early days, and on that rocky soil, farming was not an especially remunerative business, and the children early learned to do for themselves. Thomas H. began to work out at the age of twelve, receiving one shilling per day. At the age of fifteen, having a little surplus of his earnings, being of a self-reliant disposition and desirous of seeing something of the world, one fine May morning in the year 1824 he started for a walk of fifty miles to meet a friend in Connecticut. He arrived in the evening, somewhat footsore, but started with his friend the next morning to “go West.” They drove to Erie County, N. Y., crossing the Hudson River at Albany on a ferry. Returning in a few months, he was employed in farm work until he was about twenty years of age, when he obtained a position in the calico works, bleaching, etc., retaining this position eight years.

When about twenty-four years of age Mr. Arnold was married to Miss Catharine Douglass, and to them were born four children, two of whom are now living. David B., who is well educated, is a member of a firm dealing extensively in builders’ materials in New York City. William H. is a well-to-do farmer in the town of Tyre, and his life’s sketch follows this.

Not entirely satisfied with his position, in the spring of 1838 Mr. Arnold again turned his face Westward, this time going by steamer to New York City. From there he went up the Hudson to Albany, by rail to Schenectady (which was as far as the New York Central extended in those days), then by packet-boat to Buffalo. From there he crossed Lake Erie and went across the state of Ohio to the river, thence by steamer to St. Louis, then on the Mississippi to Alton, Ill. Concluding not to make an investment, however, he returned via the Ohio River to Pittsburg, then to Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and by steamer home. When one considers the state of the country more than fifty years ago, and what facilities for traveling there were in those days, it is easy to realize the effort and nerve it required to take such a journey.

In September of the same year, 1838, Mr. Arnold came to Seneca County and purchased seventy-five acres of land in the town of Tyre, where he made his home for twenty-five years. Then, disposing of that tract, he purchased the place where he now resides, a farm of about one hundred and fourteen acres. Soon after moving upon this estate, in the spring of 1866, his faithful wife, the mother of his children, who had so nobly borne her part in the privation and toil incident to a pioneer’s life, passed away. Bearing up under this sad bereavement as best he could, at the same time meeting with considerable pecuniary loss through the fault of others, he after a time again established a comfortable home, and in 1872 was married to Miss Helen Lavinia Dunham, of the town of Tyre.

Mr. Arnold is now the only survivor of his family. His two brothers, successful business men of New York City, have passed away, as have also his sisters, who remained in Rhode Island. Besides the travels already mentioned, Mr. Arnold has been to Washington twice, to the Centennial at Philadelphia, and a number of times to New York City and his old home in Rhode Island. In the early days a liberal education was not so easily obtained as now, but Mr. Arnold supplemented his deficiency in that respect by quite extensive reading, having a very retentive memory and quick natural intelligence, besides being a close observer. He is well known in this section, and all who have business dealings with him find him honorable and upright in all his methods.

Mr. Arnold voted the Whig ticket in 1832, but later he joined the ranks of the Republican party, and in 1856 supported Fremont. He has never desired to hold office, and much against his wish he was elected Overseer of the Poor. Socially he is a member of the Magee Grange. He has every reason to be proud of the manner in which he has worked his way up from the foot of the ladder, but is not in the least boastful of the way he has conquered Dame Fortune. Such a career is well worthy of emulation.