Hannah White Arnett (January 15, 1733 – January 10, 1823) was a Colonial American woman who is known for preventing a group of men in Elizabethtown, Province of New Jersey (now Elizabeth) from proclaiming their loyalty to Great Britain in exchange for "protection of life and property.
A chapter was formed in her name and a memorial to her and other patriots was erected in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth, New Jersey.
[4][5][a] If the colonists claimed to be loyalists, meaning loyal to The Crown, within 60 days they would receive amnesty.
Unusual for Hannah and other woman of the time, Arnett entered the room and interrupted their political discussion.
[7] On July 13, 1890, after the Sons of the American Revolution refused to allow women to join their group, Mary Smith Lockwood published the story of Hannah White Arnett in The Washington Post, ending her piece with the question, "Where will the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution place Hannah Arnett?
"[7] On July 21 of that year, William O. McDowell, a great-grandson of Hannah White Arnett, published an article in The Washington Post offering to help form a society to be known as the Daughters of the American Revolution.
[9][10] A memorial "honoring the patriotic dead of many wars laid to rest in this hallowed ground especially a noble woman Hannah White Arnett" was erected in 1938 in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth, New Jersey by the Boudinot Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
[1] Another marker on the wall of that cemetery, which is now illegible, read in part, "Near here rests Hannah White Arnett...
Her patriotic words, uttered in the dark days of 1776, summoned discouraged men to keep Elizabethtown loyal to the cause of American independence.