Arnold, Ransom G. (1840-1915)

ARNOLD

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 10/30/2017 at 10:35:58

ARNOLD, RANSOM G., farmer, Sec. 14, Linn Township; P. O. Norwalk; born in Ohio, in 1840; he was raised a farmer, and when nineteen years of age came to Iowa and engaged in farming; he continued this occupation for two years, and then enlisted in Co. F, 34th Iowa Infantry, August 16, 1862, and served three years; when he entered the army, he went from Wayne county, and after his discharge from the service he came to this county in September, 1865; owns 320 acres of improved land; he married Miss Clara Black, in 1871, a native of Ohio; they have one son, Arthur.
Source: History of Warren County, Iowa, containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, & etc., Union Historical Co.; Des Moines, IA, 1879, p.735

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.752
RANSOM G. ARNOLD
R.G. Arnold, a prosperous farmer and extensive landowner of Norwalk, Iowa was born in Summit County, Ohio September 21, 1840, the son of Wesley and Anna (Towsley) Arnold, who was his father’s second wife and who died while he was yet a baby. His father had been married before to Anna Gibbs, by whom he had three children, and after his mother’s death he married a third time [to Maria], two children being born to this union. During the war Wesley Arnold removed from Ohio, where he had followed the occupation of farming, and settled in Linn Township, Warren County, Iowa, where he passed away at the age of eighty-one years, being buried from the Methodist church, of which he had been an active member and ardent supporter.
The boyhood and youth of R.G. Arnold was passed on his father’s farm in Ohio and he is indebted to the district schools of his native county for his education. His father was of English descent and according to the custom of this nationality his son was supposed to give to him all his earnings and energies until he was twenty-one years of age, but at the age of eighteen years he bought his time from his father and engaged in farming on his own behalf. Quick to respond to the call for volunteers for the preservation of the Union at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, young Arnold enlisted in 1862 as private in Company F, Thirty-fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, from which he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. He served three years, participating in the first battle and siege of Vicksburg, in the battles of Arkansas Post, Blakeley, Spanish Forts and several others. He was mustered out of the service at Davenport, Iowa, at the close of the war. Although present at a number of engagements he was never wounded nor taken prisoner, nor did the exposure and hardships incident to the campaign effect in any way his hardy constitution, as he has always been a very healthy man.
At the close of the war he settled in Linn Township, Warren County, where his father then lived, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of wild land which he improved and made his home until 1893, when he sold this place and bought the farm upon which he now resides, and which adjoins the village of Norwalk, in which his residence is located. This farm consists of one hundred and forty acres of highly improved land and the residence built thereon is one of the finest in the town. Mr. Arnold owns another farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Linn Township and one of ninety-five acres in Greenfield Township.
Mr. Arnold’s first wife was Miss Clara Black, a native of Ohio, who died May 7, 1881. To this union were born two children, one of whom is dead and the other, Arthur, is married to Laura Ulster and lives on one of his father’s farms. On March 19, 1884, Mr. Arnold was married a second time to Miss Emma Comstock, a native of Michigan. They have two children, Edith, the wife of Fred Connard, of Cass County, Iowa; and Homer, how lives at home.
Mr. Arnold has always taken an active interest in the social and political affairs of his home community and has for over thirty years been a member of the Methodist church, in which he serves as an officer. His political support is given to the Republican Party and he has at various times been called to office, having served for two terms on the board of supervisors, also as township clerk, township trustee and other minor township offices. Fraternally, he is a member of the M.W.A. [Modern Woodman of America] of Norwalk, and formerly, as long as they had a post there, was a member of the G.A.R. [Grand Army of the Republic]. While still actively engaged in general farming, Mr. Arnold yet finds time for extensive reading and keeps himself well informed on the questions and issues of the day and by precept and example is regarded as a highly influential citizen.