JOHNSON and SCHAUFELBERGER GENEALOGY
ARNOLD Research
Please title this page. (arnmain.html) contains an excellent and concise bibliography of sources (quoted below):
According to a paper entitled "Arnold Line and Lineage," prepared and read by Ethel Zuick Luckey in 1930 1, the Arnold line can be traced back to Ynir, King of Gwentland (now part of Wales) who reigned about the middle of the twelfth century. This Ynir was paternally descended from Ynir, son of Cadwaladr, King of the Britons, who built the Town and Castle of Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, England. Llanfihangel Court, located in Abergavenny, is the ancient seat of the Arnolds. The first of the line to use the surname Arnold was Roger Arnold of Llanthony during the 1500's. His wife, Joan Gamage, daughter of Sir Thomas Gamage, Knight, Lord of Coytey, was descended from Alfred the Great, King of the Britons, who was born in 849. However, Luckey was in error when she stated that the father of William, the first of the line in the American Colonies, was Thomas. She was also in error, along with many others, when she stated that the Thomas Arnold who settled in Rhode Island was William's half brother.
An excellent source of information about the first five generations of this line of the Arnolds in America is the Arnold Memorial, by Elisha Stephen Arnold. Published in 1935, it corrects many of the errors made by earlier researchers about the first William Arnold, his parents, and his half brother, Thomas--who remained in England. The Arnold Memorial is required reading for anyone interested in the early generations of this line of the Arnold family in America.
References to William Arnold and his son, William Arnold can be found in the History of Warren, Rhode Island in the War of the Revolution, by Virginia Baker. Note that Warren, Rhode Island was previously a part of Swansea, Massachusetts, which accounts for L.H. Evert's statement, in his History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, that William Arnold came from "Swansea" to Warren Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania in 1797.
An account of the migration of William Arnold from Rhode Island to Warren Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, and a record of his children, was recorded by Clement F. Heverly in Pioneer and Patriot Families of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, Volume I, pages 303 and 304. A similar account can be found on page 429 in the History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, by L.H. Everts, which was published in 1878.
1 ARNOLD LUCKEY FAMILY TIES, Written Expressly by Leonard Wilson Arnold and Ethel Zwick Luckey, Published by The Rev. Leonard W. A. Luckey, New York, New York, 1931