William Arnold (settler) - Notable Descendants

Notable Descendants

Several descendants of William Arnold became prominent in either the military or the civil affairs of the United States. A great-great grandson, named Benedict Arnold, became one of the great generals of the American Revolutionary War but was better known for his betrayal of the American revolutionary cause. Other well-known descendants include U.S. Presidents George Herbert Walker Bush and George W. Bush; Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, American hero of the Great Lakes during the War of 1812 and his younger brother Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry who was sent across the Pacific in 1852 by President Millard Fillmore to open Japan to western trade; and Stephen Arnold Douglas who debated Abraham Lincoln in 1858 while vying for the Illinois Senate seat and winning the contest, but later losing to Lincoln in the 1860 presidential race. Stephen A. Douglas descends from both sons of William Arnold. Rhode Island colonial Deputy Governor George Hazard is another descendant. A published line of descent from Arnold to U.S. President James A. Garfield was later disproven.

Read more about this topic:  William Arnold (settler)

Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or descendants:

    Every notable advance in technique or organization has to be paid for, and in most cases the debit is more or less equivalent to the credit. Except of course when it’s more than equivalent, as it has been with universal education, for example, or wireless, or these damned aeroplanes. In which case, of course, your progress is a step backwards and downwards.
    Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)

    Your descendants shall gather your fruits.
    Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] (70–19 B.C.)