Arnold, Oliver

  • DCB profile notes:
    • Teacher, Church of England clergyman, and jp; b. 15 Oct. 1755 in Mansfield, Conn., eldest child of Dr Nathan Arnold and Prudence Denison; m. 9 Nov. 1786 Charlotte Hustice, née Wiggins, of New York, a loyalist widow, and they had seven children; d. 9 April 1834 in Sussex Vale (Sussex Corner), N.B.
    • Oliver Arnold was educated at Yale College, where he was a member of the class of 1776 (am, 1792). His activities and whereabouts during the American revolution are unknown but he probably served in the British provincial forces.
    • In 1783 he joined the loyalist migration to Parrtown, the future Saint John, N.B., and acted for a time as secretary to “The Directors of the Town at the Entrance of the River Saint John. ”
    • After involvement in a number of land transactions in Saint John and vicinity, Arnold secured, through Leonard’s influence as a local commissioner for the New England Company, a position in 1787 as schoolmaster to the Indians at Sussex Vale, the location of Leonard’s country seat to which Arnold removed. The London-based New England Company, titled in full the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England and the Parts Adjacent in America, transferred its program for educating, evangelizing, and apprenticing native people from New England to New Brunswick after the revolution.
    • In the mean time, Arnold’s involvement in Indian education and “civilization” became secondary to his other work as Anglican pastor to fellow refugees and new immigrants from Britain.
  • Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=223
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/173223792/oliver-arnold