Ezekiel Arnold
Ezekiel Arnold, farmer, of Locust Grove, was born December 23, 1833, near Locust Grove, in Adams County, Ohio, the son of Josephus Arnold and Kate Pemberton, his wife. Josephus Arnold was born in 1788, on Long Island, in the state of New York. He learned the trade of shoemaking. He was in the War of 1812, having enlisted from New York City. He served there, and directly after the war came to Adams County. He married Kate Pemberton on July 16, 1828, the daughter of William Pemberton, who was born in 1750, in Culpeper County, Virginia. Josephus Arnold and wife had three children, Ezekiel and Mansfield, sons, and Indiana, a daughter, all of whom are living at or near Locust Grove. Ezekiel, our subject, was born December 23, 1833, near Locust Grove, and has resided there ever since. His mother was born January 10, 1795, and died September 30, 1889.
He attended the common schools, and was trained to be a farmer, which occupation he has followed all his life. His father, Josephus Arnold, died on April 10, 1858, at the age of sixty-nine years. On August 30, 1862, our subject enlisted, at the age of thirty, in Company E, 117th O. V. I., Captain James A. Murphy, and served until the twentieth of July, 1865. June 10, 1885. he was married to Miss Mary Tarlton, and has two sons, Josephus A., aged eleven years, and Jehu, aged nine years. His first wife died and he married Miss Cynthia Garmon, June 10, 1896. She was born June 5. 1859. Mr. Arnold has a tasteful and pleasant home in Locust Grove. He takes great pride in the fact that he was a soldier of the Civil War; also, that his father was in the War of 1812; but most of all that his grandfather, William Pemberton, was in the War of the Revolution. The latter was born in 1750, in Culpeper County, Virginia, on Stanton River. He served in the Revolutionary War in Captain Thomas Meriwether's Company, First Virginia State Regiment, Colonel George Gibson. He enlisted in September, 1777, for three years, and was at the siege of Yorktown, where he had part of an ear shot away by a shell. He was a successful hunter and farmer. He married Rhoda Luck, born October 24, 1755, and had a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters. His sons were William, Nathaniel, Fountain, James, and Ezekiel.
His daughters were Anna, married Thomas Murfin; Joyce, married Isaac East; and Kate, born January 10, 1795, married Josephus Arnold. William Pemberton came to Kentucky just at the time of the Indian massacre at Crab Orchard, and reached Boonesboro the next day after that event. Kate Pemberton was then a small girl, but remembered seeing the bodies of the victims of the massacre. Her father remained at Boonesboro nearly two years. In that time he was lost in the forest for several days. He shot and wounded a buffalo and it rushed at him. His dog seized it by the nose and saved Pemberton's life, but the dog lost his. Pemberton killed the buffalo and subsisted on its meat for several days. His friends had given him up as killed or captured by Indians. He returned to Virginia, but soon came back to Ohio and settled in Adams County, near Locust Grove, in 1808. He died, about 1823, of rheumatism. He is interred on the farm where Miss Indiana Arnold now resides. The spot is known, and will soon have a suitable mark. His wife died January 1, 1845, at the age of ninety, and is buried beside her husband. A prominent characteristic of Mr. Arnold is his industry and frugality. He made his start in life by traveling and selling clocks. He is the owner of about eight hundred acres of land, and has acquired a competence. He is noted for his integrity, and for living up to any obligations which he may assume. He is a free thinker of the Robert Ingersoll school. He is a Republican and a good citizen.
From "A history of Adams County, Ohio: from its earliest settlement to the present time" By Nelson Wiley Evans, Emmons B. Stivers, 1900