ARNOLD, Guy P.

ARNOLD, BAKER, HOWE, BREWSTER, LOVETT, CULVER

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 1/20/2014 at 00:29:35

History of Decatur County Iowa and Its People
Illustrated, Volumne II.
Prof. J. M. Howell and Heman C. Smith, Supervising Editors
The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. pp. 417-88. Chicago. 1915.

Guy P. Arnold

For many years Guy P. Arnold was actively engaged in agricultural pursuits and gained a gratifying measure of success as a farmer. He is now living retired in Garden Grove, enjoying the fruits of his former toil. He has resided in Decatur county for over fifty years, has always taken much interest in local history and is now president of the Decatur County Historical Society. The birth of Mr. Arnold occurred in Seneca county, Ohio, March G, 1843, and he is a son of Sylvanus Arnold, who was born in Baileytown, Seneca county, New York. He engaged in merchandizing and farming in Iowa and later followed those occupations in California, where he passed away in 1866 when sixty-five years old. He left a large tract of land in that state. His father, John Arnold, was a son of Sylvanus Arnold, of Trenton, New Jersey. The family is English but has been represented in New England for two hundred years. It is probable that Benedict Arnold was a member of the same family as our subject. The mother of Guy P. Arnold was in her maidenhood Lucretia Baker and was a daughter of Samuel Baker, a veteran of the Revolutionary war. He was born in Connecticut of English descent and passed away in Steuben county, New York. His daughter Lucretia was born at Lake Keuka, that county, and died in Decatur county, Iowa, when eighty-six years old. She became the mother of two sons, but the brother of our subject has passed away.

Guy P. Arnold accompanied his father to Iowa county, Iowa, in June, 1853, when ten years of age and the following year the family located in Garden Grove township. Our subject attended the public schools of Decatur county and also pursued a high-school course, thus preparing himself for taking an intelligent part in the life of his community. He decided to devote his energies to farming and was very successful as an agriculturist, becoming the owner of several hundred acres of land in Decatur county. He gave considerable attention to stock-raising and owned a valuable herd of high grade shorthorn cattle. For a number of years he has lived retired in Garden Grove, as he has accumulated a competence.

In 1875 Mr. Arnold married Miss Elsie Howes, who was born in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Howes. She is descended from Revolutionary stock and her ancestry is traced back to Elder Brewster. Her parents removed to Wisconsin, where they lived for many years, but in 1873 they settled in Decatur county, Iowa. Mrs. Arnold was a sincere Christian and a loyal member of the Episcopal church. She was a devoted wife and mother and her demise, which occurred in 1898, was an irreparable loss to her family. To Mr. and Mrs. Arnold were born four children: H. G., a farmer and stockman residing in Garden Grove; Helen, the wife of E. J. Lovett, of Garden Grove; Ethel, who married H. C. Culver, of Garden Grove township; and John Dent, a senior in the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts at Ames.

Mr. Arnold is an independent democrat and has been quite active in local political circles. His ability and integrity is recognized by his fellow citizens and he represented his district in the twenty-third general assembly of Iowa. Fraternally he holds membership in the Masonic order and in the Knights of Pythias and is popular not only in those organizations but also in the community at large. He is president of the Decatur County Historical Society, which has done so much to preserve the records of the earlv days of the county, and he has written a number of interesting articles on local history, some of which appear in the historical volume of this work.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2014

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Garden Grove Township, Decatur County, Iowa
Biographical and Historical Record of Ringgold and Decatur Counties Iowa
(Lewis Pub. Co. Chicago. (1887.)), p. 676:

"G. P. ARNOLD, farmer and stock-raiser, in Garden Grove Township, lives on section 35, where he owns 800 acres of land in a high state of cultivation. He was born in Seneca County, Ohio, in 1843. His parents were Sylvanus and Lucretia (Baker) Arnold, who were among the first settlers in Decatur County, having settled here in 1852. They were hard-working people, and good managers, and had accumulated 1,800 acres of land. They have five children, two of whom are living -- Ann, wife of S. W. Shepard, and the subject of this sketch. The father served as justice of the peace several years. He died in 1871, aged seventy years. The mother is living with her son, and is remarkably smart for one of her age. Mr. Arnold is a well-educated man, and well informed upon the topics of the day. He was married in Decatur County in 1874, to Miss Elsie Howes, daughter of Nathan and Ereda (Baker) Howes, born in Wisconsin, in 1853. They have four children -- Henry G., Helen E., Ethel F. and Alice P. Mr. Arnold served seven years as Deputy Marshal during the late war, and is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Politically he is a Republican. He is handling short-horn cattle, and has a herd of fifteen thorough-breds. He is grazing most of the time."

(Submitted to the Decatur County GenWeb site by Christy Jay, email: Jaygenie@aol.com)