Richard Arnold, 1643–1710

Occupation

Location

Biography

The inventory of Captain Richard Arnold, born 22 March 1642/3 of Thomas Arnold (1599-1674) and Phebe Parkhurst (d. after 1688) and died in Providence 22 April 1710, lists his woodworking and other tools, which include "Carpenters Tooles 31s,” “nailes 10s," "sledge & one old hoe 7s,” “2 Axes, a hoe & a Crow 00-14-08,” “a Tenant saw & an old hoe 7s, & 4 Augers 8s 00-15-00,” “more goods and Old Iron at Thomas his house,” “Armes, Tooles, Old Iron, &ct Not household goods 08-12-00,” and “old Iron 00- 5-00.” In his will, proved 10 May 1710, Arnold gave his eldest son Richard (d. 1745) his share in a saw mill “at the Falls” on the Woonasquatucket River near Providence. No evidence of Arnold’s furniture production has been found; however, he owned several chests, a trunk, some chairs, and “a deske with some Bookes,” in addition to other goods at his “house at Towne” and property at Woonasquatucket. He and his first wife Mary Angell (d. 1695) had two younger sons in addition to Richard: John (1670-1756), who was a miller and probably also a carpenter, and Thomas (1675-1727), and a daughter Mary. (1)

1 John Osborne Austin, The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island (Albany, NY: Printed by Joel Munsell's Sons, 1887), 240-1; Probate inventory of Captain Richard Arnold, Providence, taken 12 and 19 May 1710, recorded 19 May 1710, in Horatio Rogers, George Moulton Carpenter and Edward Field, The Early Records of the Town of Providence, vol. 7 (Providence: Snow and Farnham City Printers, 1894), 6-9.