NOTE
Anyone reading the following memorial is welcome to use it in its entirety or just bits and pieces. However, it is not only the lack of common courtesy to copy another's written work - published or unpublished - and enter it as your own. This practice is known as plagiarism. Do the right thing and attribute whatever you have picked up to the rightful creative person. Your cooperation will be deeply appreciated.
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When asked, by his young grandson, Clifford Arnold whether he had a middle name, William replied, in the soft, slow southeastern Louisiana tones that he had acquired years earlier, "Just plain William." Clifford, who had no middle name himself, concluded, as would thinking person, that his grandfather's short, cryptic response meant that he, too, had no middle name.
There is some debate about William Arnold having had a middle name. Due to an unfortunate space between the "W" and the "M" (the common abbreviation for William) on the burial marker carved more than a century ago plus a single record with data provided by the oldest son of his son James Dowdney "Jim" Arnold on Jim's Texas death certificate in 1954 listing a middle initial "M". The fact is lost to history but it seems rationale that had my great-grandfather William had a middle name, he would have said so.
William Arnold was the son of James Monroe Arnold and his first wife, the former Telitha Frances "Tillie" Katz. He had three brothers and two sisters. The questionable third brother may have been a half-brother. A possible fourth brother may also have existed but appears by name on none of the census records for the James Monroe Arnold's household.
Until the development of DNA testing, it was believed that William's mother, Telitha, was a full-blood Choctaw Indian woman. It never made much sense for an American Indian, born in a time when marital unions between Caucasians and Native Americans were frowned upon by society, one could only be puzzled as to how Telitha came to have such very Anglo-Germanic given and surnames. Furthermore, when Telitha - called "Tillie" - was born, the Choctaw people did not have surnames. The name issue is no longer puzzling.
DNA test comparisons between two direct descendants, this writer being one of the two, have provided proof that William's mother Telitha was only one-half Choctaw, that being through her female parent. We now know that she was the daughter of a descendant of an immigrant from Germany whose surname was originally Katz. Her father's father altered the spelling to Catt after continually being told by the local postmaster that there was no mail for anyone named Cats. It is still somewhat puzzling, though, why Telitha's surname was spelled in the original Germany spelling. We may never find the answer to that.
Telitha was brought up within the Choctaw community as a daughter of a sub-chief named Little Creek and his wife, Tishku. Tishku may have been her birth mother but there is no way of knowing since almost nothing is known of Tishku's life and absolutely nothing about death. Thus, DNA testing is not possible.
In the early 1820s, Telitha married James Monroe Arnold and together the couple brought several sons and two daughters into the world. William was the second-to-youngest of James Monroe Arnold's children who are on record as such.
In February 1862, 10 months after Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard's Confederate forces opened fire on the Union garrison holding Fort Sumter, William Arnold, at age 17, enlisted in the Army of the Confederacy with the rank of Pvt., serving in Co. E, 8th Regiment, 8th Brigade, Louisiana Infantry. Nine months later, he was honorably discharged by a 'Surgeon's Certificate of Disability". The disability is not defined on the form, so it is not known if it was even military-related. His name has not been found on any rosters of battle participants, which is more than just a suggestion that he never saw any action against the Union Army.
Seven months after his discharge, William married the former Sarah Jane Dowdney, whom he had known since his family relocated to Franklin County, two counties to the southwest of Copiah County in the late 1850s. He was exactly one year-to-the-day younger than his lady fair. Their marriage would endure for 60 years.
William and Sarah, who was often addressed by her middle name, were the parents of a large family, beginning in 1867 with the births of fraternal twins, Marion Richard and Mary Vienna, followed by William Bunyon in 1873, Emma Venora in 1875, Lucinda Victoria in 1878, James Dowdney "Jim" in 1880, and Telitha "Tillie", namesake of William's mother, in 1882. Only the twins and Bunyon were born in Mississippi; the others were born in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana. Of their seven children, only Bunyon, Venora, and Jim lived to an old age. Mary Vienna died at age 25, her twin Richard Marion died at age 32, and Lucinda Victoria at age 20, all before the turn of the century. and Tillie, at age 47 in 1929.
Tillie, whose last illness was treatable had the prescribed medication not been intentionally withheld by her husband, died six years after her mother Sarah Jane and four years after her father William.
It is the general consensus that the lives of William and Sarah Jane were never easy. Both appear to have been the children of honest but poor farmers who may never have used slave labor in their endeavors. Before his marriage, William worked on his father's farm and Sarah Jane went into service (at that time, "in service" meant being a house maid, not a soldier) at age 14. After his marriage, William supported his family by farming in every place they lived: Mississippi, Louisiana, and east Texas. Their last home and the farm were in Angelina County, Texas, not far from the town of Lufkin.
While only William and Sarah Jane's youngest son, Jim, seemed to have enjoyed higher than average success as a farmer, all their children followed their parents into farming or as the wife of a farmer. They loved and respected their parents, and that filial love linked to love of the land which was passed to successive generations.
ED.NOTE: The burial site for William's oldest daughter, Mary Vienna (Arnold) Knapp, who died in 1892, probably in LaSalle Parish, Louisiana, has not been found. Either her widower never put a marker in place or time and harsh temperatures have reclaimed it.
NOTE
Anyone reading the following memorial is welcome to use it in its entirety or just bits and pieces. However, it is not only the lack of common courtesy to copy another's written work - published or unpublished - and enter it as your own. This practice is known as plagiarism. Do the right thing and attribute whatever you have picked up to the rightful creative person. Your cooperation will be deeply appreciated.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When asked, by his young grandson, Clifford Arnold whether he had a middle name, William replied, in the soft, slow southeastern Louisiana tones that he had acquired years earlier, "Just plain William." Clifford, who had no middle name himself, concluded, as would thinking person, that his grandfather's short, cryptic response meant that he, too, had no middle name.
There is some debate about William Arnold having had a middle name. Due to an unfortunate space between the "W" and the "M" (the common abbreviation for William) on the burial marker carved more than a century ago plus a single record with data provided by the oldest son of his son James Dowdney "Jim" Arnold on Jim's Texas death certificate in 1954 listing a middle initial "M". The fact is lost to history but it seems rationale that had my great-grandfather William had a middle name, he would have said so.
William Arnold was the son of James Monroe Arnold and his first wife, the former Telitha Frances "Tillie" Katz. He had three brothers and two sisters. The questionable third brother may have been a half-brother. A possible fourth brother may also have existed but appears by name on none of the census records for the James Monroe Arnold's household.
Until the development of DNA testing, it was believed that William's mother, Telitha, was a full-blood Choctaw Indian woman. It never made much sense for an American Indian, born in a time when marital unions between Caucasians and Native Americans were frowned upon by society, one could only be puzzled as to how Telitha came to have such very Anglo-Germanic given and surnames. Furthermore, when Telitha - called "Tillie" - was born, the Choctaw people did not have surnames. The name issue is no longer puzzling.
DNA test comparisons between two direct descendants, this writer being one of the two, have provided proof that William's mother Telitha was only one-half Choctaw, that being through her female parent. We now know that she was the daughter of a descendant of an immigrant from Germany whose surname was originally Katz. Her father's father altered the spelling to Catt after continually being told by the local postmaster that there was no mail for anyone named Cats. It is still somewhat puzzling, though, why Telitha's surname was spelled in the original Germany spelling. We may never find the answer to that.
Telitha was brought up within the Choctaw community as a daughter of a sub-chief named Little Creek and his wife, Tishku. Tishku may have been her birth mother but there is no way of knowing since almost nothing is known of Tishku's life and absolutely nothing about death. Thus, DNA testing is not possible.
In the early 1820s, Telitha married James Monroe Arnold and together the couple brought several sons and two daughters into the world. William was the second-to-youngest of James Monroe Arnold's children who are on record as such.
In February 1862, 10 months after Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard's Confederate forces opened fire on the Union garrison holding Fort Sumter, William Arnold, at age 17, enlisted in the Army of the Confederacy with the rank of Pvt., serving in Co. E, 8th Regiment, 8th Brigade, Louisiana Infantry. Nine months later, he was honorably discharged by a 'Surgeon's Certificate of Disability". The disability is not defined on the form, so it is not known if it was even military-related. His name has not been found on any rosters of battle participants, which is more than just a suggestion that he never saw any action against the Union Army.
Seven months after his discharge, William married the former Sarah Jane Dowdney, whom he had known since his family relocated to Franklin County, two counties to the southwest of Copiah County in the late 1850s. He was exactly one year-to-the-day younger than his lady fair. Their marriage would endure for 60 years.
William and Sarah, who was often addressed by her middle name, were the parents of a large family, beginning in 1867 with the births of fraternal twins, Marion Richard and Mary Vienna, followed by William Bunyon in 1873, Emma Venora in 1875, Lucinda Victoria in 1878, James Dowdney "Jim" in 1880, and Telitha "Tillie", namesake of William's mother, in 1882. Only the twins and Bunyon were born in Mississippi; the others were born in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana. Of their seven children, only Bunyon, Venora, and Jim lived to an old age. Mary Vienna died at age 25, her twin Richard Marion died at age 32, and Lucinda Victoria at age 20, all before the turn of the century. and Tillie, at age 47 in 1929.
Tillie, whose last illness was treatable had the prescribed medication not been intentionally withheld by her husband, died six years after her mother Sarah Jane and four years after her father William.
It is the general consensus that the lives of William and Sarah Jane were never easy. Both appear to have been the children of honest but poor farmers who may never have used slave labor in their endeavors. Before his marriage, William worked on his father's farm and Sarah Jane went into service (at that time, "in service" meant being a house maid, not a soldier) at age 14. After his marriage, William supported his family by farming in every place they lived: Mississippi, Louisiana, and east Texas. Their last home and the farm were in Angelina County, Texas, not far from the town of Lufkin.
While only William and Sarah Jane's youngest son, Jim, seemed to have enjoyed higher than average success as a farmer, all their children followed their parents into farming or as the wife of a farmer. They loved and respected their parents, and that filial love linked to love of the land which was passed to successive generations.
ED.NOTE: The burial site for William's oldest daughter, Mary Vienna (Arnold) Knapp, who died in 1892, probably in LaSalle Parish, Louisiana, has not been found. Either her widower never put a marker in place or time and harsh temperatures have reclaimed it.
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