Benedict Arnold (governor) - Family and Descendants

Family and Descendants

Arnold was married on 17 December 1640 to Damaris, the daughter of Stukeley Westcott and Julianna Marchante. They had nine children: Benedict, Caleb, Josiah, Damaris, William, Penelope, Oliver, Godsgift, and Freelove. All but William grew to adulthood, married, and had children. His son Caleb, a physician, married Abigail Wilbur, who was the daughter of Samuel Wilbur, Jr., and the granddaughter of both Samuel Wilbore and John Porter, two signers of the compact establishing the town of Portsmouth with Anne Hutchinson.

Notable descendants of Benedict Arnold, through his son Benedict, include his great-grandson, also named Benedict Arnold, one of the great generals of the American Revolutionary War who was best known for his treason to the American cause when he switched sides to fight with the British. Descendants through his son Caleb Arnold include Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, American hero of the Great Lakes during the War of 1812 and his younger brother Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who compelled the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854; and Senator Stephen Arnold Douglas who debated Abraham Lincoln in 1858 before a senate race and later lost to him in the 1860 presidential election. Rhode Island colonial Deputy Governor George Hazard is another descendant.