HENRY S. ARNOLD

    HENRY S. ARNOLD is the owner of a model farm in section 3, Eaton Rapids township, and is one of the well known and honored citizens of the county, with whose industrial and commercial progress he has been prominently identified. Mr. Arnold was born in Ogden, Monroe county, New York, December 26, 1830, and is a son of Aaron and Roxie (Brown) Arnold, the former of whom was born in Connecticut, August 15, 1787, while he died in the state of New York, September 15, 1859; his wife was born January 1, 1793 and died February 25, 1857. Of their eight children, six attained maturity, namely: Mrs. Esther Webster, who died in Ogden, New York; James N., who likewise died in that place; Aaron Bradford, who is deceased; Sarah Maria, who lived in Ogden, New York, until 1897, when she came to the home of her brother, Henry S., subject of this sketch, dying here in 1899, never having married; Henry S. was the next in order of birth; and Edwin B. now resides in Grand Traverse county; he came to Michigan in an early day and settled on a farm near Charlotte, Eaton county, in which city he later became associated with J. D. Parkhurst in the ownership and operation of a flour mill, continuing his residence here until his removal to his present home. The other two children died young.

    Henry S. Arnold was reared to manhood in his native state, having attended school in Brockport and later in Wilson, New York, and thereafter having been engaged in farming in Monroe county, that state, until 1854, when he came to Eaton county, Michigan and took up his residence on a farm, in Eaton township, near Charlotte. The place was partially improved and he reclaimed the remainder to cultivation, there continuing to make his home for fifteen years. In 1868 he removed to the city of Charlotte and entered into a copartnership with Mr. Bickford, engaging in the manufacture of barrel staves and heading, this being the first factory established in Charlotte. the partnership continued until 1872, when Mr. Arnold became sole owner of the business and plant. In 1873 the Charlotte Manufacturing Company was organized and incorporated, and the same absorbed the enterprise which Mr. Arnold had founded. He secured a large block of the stock of the company and was made its superintendent, retaining this office fifteen years, while he continued a resident of Charlotte for forty years, during all of which interval he was a deacon in the Congregational church, several terms a member of its board of trustees and also incumbent of the position of superintendent of the Sunday school, being active in all portions of the church work and liberal in the support of its benevolences. After removing to his farm he united with the M. E. Church at Dimondale, but in 1905 he joined the U. B. Church near his farm. In 1893 Mr. Arnold located on his present homestead farm, which then comprised two hundred and forty acres. Since that time he has sold a portion of the tract, and later sold another part, reducing his farm to eighty acres, but later added eighteen acres by purchase, while he made such improvements on the farm as to make it one of the model places of the county. He is a loyal supporter of the principles and policies of the Republican party and served for some time as a member of the board of aldermen of Charlotte, though he has never been ambitious for official preferment. He has ever been recognized as a progressive business man and public-spirited citizen, and he did much to advance the commercial prestige of Charlotte and of the county through establishing a factory there and pushing forward the organization of the Charlotte Manufacturing Company. He has ordered his life upon an exalted plane of rectitude and honor, and this fact has brought a reluctant popular confidence and esteem of the most unequivocal order. In the year 1852 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Arnold to Miss Jane C. Curtis, who died in February 1858, two children being the offspring of this union: Melva E., who is the wife of George Tubbs, of Charlotte, and Emma J., who became the wife of Frank C. Ives, of the same city, where she died in 1894. Mrs. Tubbs has one child, Myrta Grace, born February 12, 1887; the only child of Mrs. Ives was a son, who died in infancy. In 1858 Mr. Arnold consummated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Eunice C. Sprague, daughter of Philetus and Teresa (Whitmore) Sprague, who were numbered among the honored pioneers of Vermontville, this county. Mr. Sprague was born in Saratoga, New York, and his wife in the state of Vermont. Philetus Sprague was a son of Jonathan Sprague, and the latter's father was a patriot soldier in the Continental line in the war of the Revolution. Teresa (Whitmore) Sprague was a daughter of Sylvanus and Minnie Whitmore, both representatives of stanch New England stock, the latter having been a daughter of Benjamin and Della Haskins; she was born June 3, 1784, and was a second cousin of President Fillmore. Sylvanus Whitmore was a son of Joseph and Ruth Whitmore. Philetus Sprague was born in 1802 and died in 1888, at his home in Vermontville, and his wife died in Charlotte in 1891. They became the parents of nine children, of whom five are living, namely: Miss Pandora A., of Vermontville; Mrs. Lydia M. Scott, a resident of Minnesota; Mrs. Emma E. Lapham, residing in the state of California; Eunice C., the wife of the subject of this review; and Mrs.. Hannah Hawkins, of Vermontville. Mrs. Arnold was born in Leroy Township, Calhoun County, Michigan, September 19, 1840, and was afforded good educational advantages in her youth, having attended school in Albion, that county. She gave considerable attention to literary work in you younger years and is a lady of culture and gracious presence. In 1872 she wrote and published a book entitled "Maple Leaves and Myrtle Wreaths," which had a large sale at that time. Of the nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. Arnold the following brief data are given. Clairis Henry, born August 12, 1859, is a representative farmer of Eaton Rapids township, and has four children, whose names, with respective dates of birth are as follows: Nettie Mildred, august 7, 1884, now the wife of Rosco Canadey, has one son, Verne William, born January 14, 1905; Glenn Irving, February 9, 1886; Celia Ceressa, July 15, 1890; and Paul Dornan, September 3, 1893. Lynn Sprague Arnold, the second child of Mr. and Mrs.. Arnold, was born January 10, 1864 and is a bookkeeper in the city of Chicago. He has one daughter, Melva Louise, born January 19, 1897. William Bradford Arnold, born April 14, 1867, is a resident of Eaton Rapids. Jennie M., born May 10, 1869, became the wife of Charles Luce, and died in the state of New York, 1902, being survived by two children, --Harold Charles, born march 10, 1893, and Hazel Seresa, born November 5, 1894, Howard Hoyt Arnold, born May 22, 1875, died February 2, 1899. Kenneth S., born January 3, 1877, died in infancy. John J., born May 20, 1879, is a photographer in Olivet, this county. Roswell Clifton, born January 8, 1882, is a farmer in Eaton Rapids township and married, October 14, 1900, Viva Van Siclen, and they have one child, M. J. Howard Arnold, born July 14, 1905. Everett Octavius born June 4, 1884, is a student in Olivet College.