William Arnold (settler)
He initially settled in Hingham in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but he soon relocated to the new settlement of Providence Plantation with Roger Williams.
He was one of the 13 original proprietors of Providence, appearing on the deed signed by Roger Williams in 1638, and was one of the 12 founding members of the first Baptist church to be established in America.
He and his fellow settlers had serious disputes with their Warwick neighbors on the south side of the river and, as a result, separated themselves from the Providence government, putting themselves under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
[6] After the baptism of his oldest daughter Thomasine in 1572,[c] Nicholas moved with his small family from Northover across the river to the much larger town of Ilchester where he became well established in his trade, and where the remainder of his children were born.
[8] Arnold and his siblings were likely educated at the Free Grammar School associated with the parish church in Limington, slightly more than a mile to the east of Ilchester.
[11] Arnold gathered members of his immediate family and other relatives and associates in the spring of 1635, together with their baggage and supplies, and made the trip from Ilchester to Dartmouth on the coast of Devon.
[11] Fred Arnold provided a perspective of the group in 1921, as they prepared to load their ship destined for the New World: While their eyes rested upon these last scenes in the home land, the... young people... were perhaps thinking more of the village greens of Ilchester and Yeovil... and their playmates from whom they were now separated... while the older ones were more likely turning their thoughts toward the unknown sea with some doubts and misgivings mayhap, but yet with stout hearts and strong hopes facing the great adventure that lay before them in a new world.
Governor Winthrop recorded that 15 ships arrived in the Massachusetts Bay area in the six-week period beginning 4 June 1635, but he gave the names of only two of them.
"[3] William Arnold stated in 1659: "for as much that I was one that the very first day entred [sic] with some others upon the land of providence, and so laid out my money to buy and helpe pay for it".
[20] This was before a dividing line had been created between the two localities, and he physically resided at the location called Pawtuxet, although he continued to be referred to in some deeds as "of Providence" even after his move there.
"[23] Like Roger Williams, he also made an effort to learn their language and acted as interpreter many times; he was paid 26 shillings for his services in one instance.
[19][24] In 1641, the Pawtuxet settlers complained to the Massachusetts authorities of their neighbors in Warwick, the so-called Gortonites led by Samuel Gorton.
[25] Gorton had been causing disturbances for several years and had already been evicted from several places for creating difficulties which centered around his religious beliefs, insubordination towards the magistrates, refusal to pay taxes, and his dealings with and treatment of the Indians.
After being evicted from other places, Gorton attempted to join in the Providence government, but the Pawtuxet settlers wanted no part of him or his followers.
Arnold felt a strong affinity towards the Narragansett people, having acquired their language, and he accused Gorton and the other Warwick settlers of showing injustice to the Indians in a long letter to Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts in 1648.
[24][28] Arnold was so unhappy with the conduct of the Gortonites that he wrote to Massachusetts protesting Roger William's proposed errand to England to seek a charter for the colony.
In this letter, he spoke in very uncomplimentary terms of the Warwick settlers: "under the pretense of liberty of conscience about these parts there came to live all the scum and runaways of the country, which in time for want of better order may bring a heavy burden on the land.
Gorton's objectionable activities ceased following an appeal to the Massachusetts government, and he accepted Arnold's ownership of disputed land.
[23] Here he lived in relative peace until July 1675, when King Philip's War erupted into a major confrontation between the Indians and the English settlers.
[29] In December 1675, a detachment of Massachusetts troops led by General Josiah Winslow stayed at this garrison house on their way to the "Great Swamp Fight" in Kingston, Rhode Island, and they were given provisions.
[30] In January 1676, after the Kingston fight, about 300 Indians attacked Pawtuxet, burning buildings on William Carpenter's land, driving away livestock, and killing two members of his family.
He likely died that winter or spring, aged 88, and was buried in a family plot with his wife and grandson William, son of Benedict.
As he contemplated immigrating with his family to New England, he recorded all the baptismal entries in the Ilchester parish register pertaining to his children and siblings.
[32] In 1870 the genealogist Horatio G. Somerby compiled this pedigree of the Arnold family for a client in New York City based on his research in England.
Mr. Somerby's manuscript was "compiled from Herald's Visitations, Inquisitions Post Mortem, Subsidy rolls, Wills, Parish registers, and other original documents.
[24] In 1902, Edson S. Jones, a descendant of Thomas Arnold of Watertown and Providence mentioned earlier, visited England in search of records pertaining to his family.
[42] A very short distance north of Limington across the River Yeo is the town of Yeovilton where William Hopkins, the husband of Arnold's sister Joanne, lived.
Other descendants include US Presidents George Herbert Walker Bush and George W. Bush;[51] Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry,[52] American hero of the Great Lakes during the War of 1812, and his younger brother Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry,[52] who was sent across the Pacific Ocean in 1852 by President Millard Fillmore to open Japan to western trade; and Stephen Arnold Douglas,[53] who debated Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln–Douglas debates of 1858 while vying for an Illinois Senate seat, afterwards losing to Lincoln in the 1860 United States presidential election.
See note a. d. ^ Another (or possibly the same) Thomas Arnold was of Watertown, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and later of Providence and has erroneously been labeled as the half-brother of William.
[60] h. ^ Somerby had the family living in Monmouthshire, Gloucester, Wiltshire, and Dorset, as well as a part of Somerset that does not include the Ilchester area.
