Samuel Arnold (1738-1805) is the great-grandfather of Daniel Webster Arnold, who is the grandfather of Laban Arnold and his brothers.
John George Arnold (Johann Görg Arnold) and his son Samuel Arnold came to America from Germany in 1738.
It has been suggested by one genealogist that these are the same Samuel Arnold. If true, this would settle the open issue regarding the ancestors of Samuel.
In the book Arnold Luckey Family Ties1, the author says that Jonathan Arnold had a son named Samuel:
The immigrant, Thomas Arnold, settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, about the year 1640 … by his second wife, Phebe Parkhurst, Thomas had: … Richard, born March 22, 1642 … Richard was the father of Thomas Arnold, and he, Thomas, had a son Jonathan, born November 18, 1708, who in turn had Samuel born in 1738.
Arnold Luckey Family Ties, 1931, p.18.
and:
It has been well and authoritatively established that Samuel Arnold of Somerset County, Pa., was a member of the family of Arnolds of Rhode Island.
Arnold Luckey Family Ties, 1931, p. 39.
This connection is discounted, however, by Richard H. Benson2 and others including genealogist, H. Minot Pitman3, who strongly disputes Samuel being the son of Jonathan:
That Samuel Arnold of Somerset Co. was not the son of Jonathan Arnold of R. I. is easily demonstrable since the children of Jonathan are recorded in the Providence, R. I. Friends’ Records in 7 R.I.V.R. 245. He had no son Samuel. He did have a daughter Elizabeth, b. 22 April 1740 who ca. 1756 m. Samuel Arnold (b. Smithfield, R. I., 12 July 1736), son of Joseph and Mary Arnold of Smithfield. While these dates fit in very well with Samuel Arnold of Somerset Co., Pa., whose wife was named Elizabeth, this couple lived and died in Smithfield, R. I. and had ten children born there l758-1777, none of them bearing the names of the proven children of Samuel of Somerset Co. except a Samuel and an Elizabeth, obviously in both cases named for the parents.
H. Minot Pitman, from [Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine] Vol. XIX:2 (Sept. 1953), 125-126.
Pitman believes Samuel Arnold of Somerset County, Pennsylvania to be the son of John George Arnold of Frederick County, Maryland — not Jonathan, son of Thomas, son of Richard, son of Thomas Arnold of Watertown and Providence, R. I., the immigrant. He starts his case by making a connection between the last known residence of Samuel Arnold (Somerset County, Pennsylvania) and the home of John George Arnold (Frederick County, Maryland):
Who then was this Samuel Arnold with wife Elizabeth, who died in 1805 in Somerset Co., Pa.? There is no record of Samuel Arnold in Somerset, Bedford or Cumberland counties except the inventory of his estate, dated 5 Sept. 1805, showing him to have been a farmer and Elizabeth to have been his administratrix, and three Somerset Co. deeds (Vol. 4. pp. 321, 323; Vol. 7. p. 5), dated respectively 30 Sept. 1805, 20 Dec. 1806 and 30 April 1812, where in his children dispose of his lands. … There is, however a deed in Bedford Co. (Vol. A, p. 276) , dated 26 Sept. 1778 wherein Samuel Finley of Washington Co., Md., conveys land in Bedford Co. to “Daniel Arnold, Sr. of Frederick Co., Md.” It is to be noted that Samuel Arnold had a son named Daniel.
H. Minot Pitman, from [Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine] Vol. XIX:2 (Sept. 1953), 125-126.
Pitman continues by showing that John George had sons named Samuel and Daniel, saying that John George Arnold’s sale of land on the same day to both Daniel and Samuel Arnold indicated they were his sons:
On 3 Oct. 1752 John George Arnold sold to Samuel Arnold 100 acres with houses and buildings called Hogyard. John George Arnold and Mary A. Arnold signed by their marks. On the same date John George Arnold, farmer, sold to Daniel Arnold part of a tract called Rams Horn excepting that part “that runs into Hogyard” conveyed on the same date to Samuel Arnold. (Deed Bk. E, pp. 61, 64) This would indicate that Samuel and Daniel were sons of John George Arnold.
H. Minot Pitman, from [Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine] Vol. XIX:2 (Sept. 1953), 125-126.
Pitman refers to another land transfer that specifically mentions a son, Daniel:
We find further confirmation of this assumption at Annapolis in the land records BY & GS #2, p. 158 wherein John George Arnold of Prince Georges Co. (from which Frederick Co. was later formed) assigned to his son Daniel on 20 May 1749 land laid out to John George Arnold 8 July 1747.
H. Minot Pitman, from [Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine] Vol. XIX:2 (Sept. 1953), 125-126.
Pitman then implies that Samuel and wife Elizabeth of Frederick County, Maryland moved to Somerset County, Pennsylvania after conveying property to John George Arnold in 1755:
Samuel Arnold of Frederick County had a wife Elizabeth who released dower in a deed dated 15 Aug. 1758. He probably married her after 19 Aug. 1755 when he reconveyed Hogyard to John George Arnold, no wife releasing dower. The last record of Samuel in Frederick Co., Md. was the deed of 15 Aug. 1758 (Deed Bk. F, p. 518). He was probably married shortly before then and moved to what became Somerset Co., Pa.
H. Minot Pitman, from [Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine] Vol. XIX:2 (Sept. 1953), 125-126.
Okay, so John George Arnold had a son Samuel with a wife Elizabeth. Perhaps they even moved to Somerset County, Pennsylvania. But is Samuel, the son of this John George Arnold, our Samuel Arnold (1st), the same Samuel of Somerset County who links to Samuel (2nd) ==> Daniel ==> Daniel Webster ==> Daniel Simon ==> Laban?
Perhaps so, and perhaps not. As is often the case, there are discrepancies, uncertainties, and holes in the record. For example, some of the historical records of John George have his son, Samuel, moving to West Virginia, not Pennsylvania. Did our Samuel do both, or are they different Samuels? Facts concerning dates and locations, and the wives and children of subsequent generations vary, and there appears to be no record of the descendants of John George Arnold that matches well with what we know about the ancestors of Laban, Daniel Simon, Daniel Webster, Daniel the husband of Susan Suttles and his father Samuel.
As of February, 2022, ArnoldWorld has found no documented connections between John George Arnold (Johann Görg Arnold) and Samuel Arnold, on ancestry web sites.
Perhaps, one day, we will have access to more or better records concerning this possible connection, but for now we must consider it as just that, a possible connection.
If you have information on this issue, please feel free to comment below.
1Arnold Luckey Family Ties, 1931,
2The Arnold Family of Smithfield Rhode Island, Richard H. Benson, 2009, p. 134.
3H. Minot Pitman, from [Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine] Vol. XIX:2 (Sept. 1953), 125-126.
