H.G.A.'s page

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[1872]
(8) In the mean time I was intermarried to Rebecca Higgins May 29" 1872 as shown by copy of the following "Marriage Certificate,"

(8) This Certifies that Harris G. Arnett of Magoffin Co. Kentucky and Rebecca Higgins of same County and State were joined together. By me in the Holy Bonds of Matrimony at John Higgins' on the 29th day of May 1872 in the presence of Stephen M. Arnett and Martha Patrick.
signed by Rev. Joseph Howard.

[Stephen M. Arnett was likely H.G.'s uncle b. 1808. Stephen's sons Fleming (1835) and Wiley (1840) married Martha Rose and Easter Rose respectively. Their brother, James Buchanan Rose (1856) was the father of Samuel Lee Rose (1892) whose daughter, Marcille "Markie" (1916) married in 1943 Charles Dobbins (1916).]

(15) At the age of 23 years, 7 months and 21 days, I married Rebecca Higgins on May the 29th, 1872 who was then 17 years 1 month, and 11 days old.

[For a few months after their wedding H.G. and Becky stayed at the home of her father, John Higgins (1822-1911) and mother Phoebe (Howard) Higgins (1832-1918).]

[1872]
(15) The next fall we moved from my father-in-law's to the noted "Tibbs" hut on the head of the Levi Arnett branch [of the Gibbs Branch of the Middle Fork of the Licking River] where my oldest son [Eugene] was born March 26" 1873.
[The holler through which the Levi branck runs is owned now by Lester Patrick, a grandson of Galen Arnett. The "Tibbs" hut no longer stands and the hills on either side of this are now overgrown with vegetation. There were natural springs in the area, and this was a popular spot for moonshiners to operate.]

[1873]
[Eugene (1873-1950), in a brief memoir of his life written about 1947, stated "I was born [March 26, 1873] on the Middle Fork of Licking River in a little one room cabin made of hewn logs, one story of the roof was made of white oak boards held in place by a log reaching clear across the house. The chimney was constructed of small sticks made flat and held together with a clay mortar. Wood was used in the construction of the fire place and the jambs were daubed with clay to prevent burning. Wood was used as fuel. The floor was constructed of long flat heavy boards laid flat. No nails were available to hold it down. I, E.B.A. was the only child born there." E.B.A. memoirs. On the evening of Eugene's birth there was a great storm in the county, and the doctor was unable to make it to Rebecca. Rebecca's mother, Phoebe Howard Higgins, got on her horse and swam the river that night of the storm and delivered Eugene.]

[1873]
(15) Then the next September 30th [1873] my mother [Susan Ray Arnett] died [51 yrs] and the dower plantation all reverted back to all the four heirs of Ambrose Arnett Sr. dec'd.

[At the time of Susan's death, Ambrose Jr., aged 17, was the only once living in the house. This land may now be the E.B.Dyer property. Benjamin F. Arnett had married Louisa Fletcher and had apparently moved out.]

(15) All of us heirs still stood to all our former agreements and deals and divisions made (16) when we were all under 21 years of age and immediately after John Higgins surrendered and relinquished up full and peaceable posses[s]ions, turned over all their claims and rights to me. I meant to say my three brothers--Logan, Ben F. and Babe--turned over all their interests to me.

(16) My wife and I had the free privilege to go back to my old maternal home and the place where my wife had been cherished for the last twelve years before we married. You bet it seemed like "My Old Ky. Home" and is still my home today, at the age of 78 years [Jan 1927].

(16) Owing to my youngest brother Ambrose not being 21 years of age until March 16th 1876 the making of the deed was deferred until after said date, and all my brothers and their wives signed and acknowledged the deed before B. W. Higgins, D. C. [deputy clerk] for B. F. Howard C..M.C. [clerk Magoffin Co.] 1876.

[1873 - 1889]
(18) A few remarks of my sons and daughters who entered wedlock and their surviving offspring to the present--in regular order--[entry from pages 19-22 of the journal detail the offspring below]

(8) There were born to our union eight children, five sons and three daughters, their names follows respectively, viz--Eugene Brittain Arnett, Dury Mylne Arnett, Erin Mavorneen Arnett, Loulie Arnett, Nelus Arnett, Grover Cleveland Arnett, Dooney Arnett and Fritz Earl Arnett of which only now [1927] four survive viz.:- E. B., Erin M. Howard, Loulie Sublett, and Fritz Earl Arnett are still living.

(9) Bible Record of Births and Deaths etc.

Harris G. Arnett, born Oct. 8" 1848
Rebecca Arnett " Apr. 18" 1855
E. B. Arnett " Mar. 26" 1873
D. M. Arnett " Nov. 28" 1874
Erin M. Arnett " June 2" 1877
Loulie Arnett " July 15" 1879
Nelus Arnett " Jan. 2" 1882
G. C. Arnett " Mar.24" 1884
Dooney Arnett " Aug.24" 1886
F. E. Arnett " Mar.20" 1889

(9) Marriages

Erin M. Arnett to Calloway Howard, November 17" 1894
Dury M. Arnett to Miss Dora Thompson, June 19" 1895
Eugene B. Arnett to Miss Julia Sublett, Nov 1st, 1899
................also remarried to Miss Lucy Jones, May 4, 1910
................[date written in by Eugene Arnett]
Lulie Arnett to D. Glenn Sublett, June 18" 1902
Fritz E. Arnett to Miss Loula Dyer, July 14" 1910

(9) Deaths
........................................................yrs. mos. das.
Nelus Arnett died Nov. 13" 1892.....10 10 11 [died of TB; see epitaph]
Dooney Arnett " Feb. 5" 1897......10 5 11 [died of burns from fireplace]
D. M. Arnett " Apr. 23" 1904........29 4 25
G. C. Arnett " Dec. 8" 1910........26 8 14
Rebecca Arnett " Feb. 23" 1925...69 10 5
H. G. Arnett, deceased Oct 23" 1934 - at 11:10 AM......[86 yrs 15 days]
[written in the margin by Eugene B. Arnett. See notes for 1934 for more detail.]

[1874]
(7) July 10, 1874, A. B. Salyer, C.S.C.M.C. Kentucky issued to me my "Fir[s]t-Class" Certificate, signed by Joseph Gardner Sr. and John P. Salyers, examiners.

[H.G. Arnett taught in the public schools from 1868 until 1881 with one of the schools being the Turkey Branch school according to the late Beckham Arnett.]

[Dury Mylne Arnett, his and Becky's second child, was born Nov. 28, 1874.]

(10) In the year of 1874, I was elected County School Super[in]tendent [and served for two years] by the Fiscal Court and served two years defeating Professor John W. Moore. . . [H.G. was re-elected in 1892]

(17) During the year 1874 I purchased the Abraham Risner bottom and little hillside containing about 75 acres from John Higgins for the sum of $1400 cash in hand paid. The year after P. Hubbard began staying with me--I raised over 2000 bushels of corn and sold 1000 bushels in the summer of 1881 for $1000 cash. Parties came from Campton, Hazelgreen and Frenchburg, Ky here after corn .

[1877]
[Erin M. Arnett was born June 2, 1877 ]

[1878]
(10) In October 1878 I commenced selling merchandise in a general country store at this place with a cash capital of $900.00. [The store was located in a small building (no longer standing) located across the road between HGA's house and the creek below John Higgins' Hill.]

(17) In the year 1878 and 1879 I had a store house and large two story log and frame barn erected with stock sheds all around which cost me over $800.

[1879]
[Loulie Arnett was born July 15, 1879.]

[After many failures, Thomas Edison on October 19, 1879, found a filament -- carbonized cotton thread -- that allowed him to invent the first incandescent light. It finally burned out Oct. 21 when he tried to increase the voltage. Electricity would not reach Magoffin County until the early 1920's.]

[1880]
(10) Then in connection with my store, I embarked very extensively in the timber and poplar saw log business contracting to Lewis Emey Jr. and Buckwatter Bros. at Farmers, Kentucky, several million feet of poplar saw logs delivered loose and rafted at said place which I continued for more than ten years - with success. [H.G. would mark the trees to be cut and then supervise their cutting and rafting to the saw mill.]

[During the early logging days, H.G. borrowed from Jack Lantern the first wagon which had been brought into the county, and one day in attempting to pull the wagon up a steep bank, the team stopped, and the wagon rolled backwards into the river. After that experience he quickly learned how to use the brake. -- from an article in a local newspaper.]

["Oct 14, 1880, Court proceeding: H. G. Arnett presented bill for $9.27 for burial goods for Sarah Blevins (Jun 27: woolen flannel, bleach, fine juconet, calico, broad ribbon, edging, shoes, buttons, thread, tacks) and burial goods for Nannie Barnett (Jul 8: shoes, cotton hose, fine lawn, thread, lace, ribbon, buttons, calico). -- copy of court orders in Journal of MCHS, Winter 1995. This may have been the beginning of H.G.'s store enterprise.]

[1882]
[Nelus Arnett was born Jan. 2, 1882 .]

[1883]
(11) I served as Deputy County Court Clerk under Hon. William Preston Taubee, then our County Court Clerk and later elected [1884]Congressman from this the Tenth District and assassinated [1890] by Charley Kincaid at Washington. [See Appendix E.]

[Calloway Howard married his first wife, Sarah Power, at Harris' home in 1883]

[1884]
[Grover Cleveland Arnett was born March 24, 1884. President Cleveland, the Democrat for whom this son was named, served two non-consecutive terms of office, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897. Benjamin Harrison was the Republican President who served from 1889-1893. Like most of the folks in Magoffin Co during this period of time, H.G. was a Democrat.]
[Already limited by a congenital ankle deformity, H.G. sustained an injury in 1884 which would further bother him the rest of his life. One winter evening while setting some logs in the river, he slipped into the frigid water soaking his boots. Although not a heavy drinker, he enjoyed his whiskey and brandy, and when he got home had a bit too much and went to sleep without taking off his boots. When he awoke, his feet were frostbit. -- a family story]

[1885]
(17) Then during the year 1885, I had my present dwelling erected and completed together with a two-story brick smoke house at a cost of about $1500.

[1885 - 1897]
(11) During President Grover Clev[e]land's first administration beginning March 4, 1885, I had the Post office "Hendricks" established and I was appointed Postmaster and served continuously through said administration and through Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland's second term ending March the 4, 1897 holding said office for a period of twelve (12) years in succession without molestation.

[H.G. also served as a Notary Public in his later years.]

[1886]
[Dooney Arnett was born August 24, 1886.]

[1888]
(17) In the year of 1888 I purchased the Jerry Hampton farm (18) on Puncheon Creek at a cost of $1500 all cash. The tract contained 825 acres of fine poplar and oak timber which I sold in saw logs and standing trees--realized some good profits. Next, I bought all of K. G. Gullett's home farm for $1000 and I was forced to law him out of possession of it which consumed two years [after 1890] for a final finish. After I defeated him in the Circuit Court he appealed and I gained in the Appellate Court.

[1888 court orders: "G. W. Wheeler asked $4 for medicine and medical services reendered." -- from bits of history reported in Journal of MCHS, Fall 1995. Dr. Wheeler had been a partner with H. G. 's father, before Ambrose died in 1854. See Appendix E.]

[1889]
[1889 court orders: "Dr. G. W. Wheeler presented bill for waiting on Dianna Stamper and Ship Collins in Poor House; visits/medicine to Sarah McClain; visits/medicine for Jane Gullett at Philip Gose. -- from bits of history reported in Journal of MCHS, Winter 1994 & Fall 1995.

[Fritz Earl Arnett, their last child, was born March 20, 1889.]

[When but a boy, Fritz fell while running across a recently harvested corn field, and his left eye was punctured by a cut corn stalk with its resulting loss and insertion of a "glass eye" which his nephew, Walter, recalls seeing Fritz adjust in a mirror on several occasions. Despite his having only one eye, Fritz developed a beautiful writing style and in his later years, H.G. would dictate to Fritz who would write down his dad's legal documents. According to Skid Minix, Fritz had seven different styles of hand writing. Fritz stayed on the homeplace and took care of the farm and livestock for H.G. The farm grew corn and tobacco, and Fritz also had a few cattle he'd graze on the hillside by the Levi fork and some hogs he kept behind the barn. He used two mules to do the plowing and kept them and the cattle in the barn with the corn in cribs and tobacco hanging to dry.]

See photo of H.G. Arnett's family at about this time (1890).

[1890]
(18) After that [abt. 1890] I purchased a one half interest in the G. W. Jackson farm containing 50 acres (now belonging to J. D. Allen) for $400 "Store account he owed to me" the other half went to D. D. Sublett Committee for B. Frank Gardner for $400 note.

[1891]
[H.G. was] laid up in bed for some ninety days in 1891 with "malarial fever."

[1892 - 1896]
(10) and [I was] re-elected to the same office [Superintendent of Schools] by the qualified voters of the County in the year 1892 defeating Hon. H. W. Atkeson, by 25 votes and served for four years.

[He had previously served as Superintendent from 1874-76 and sought to make it possible for every child in the county to receive an education. He wanted to see a school established at Hendricks, and in 1892 according to Beckham Arnett, he supplied the lumber and his brother, Logan, the land on which the Hendricks school was built. H.G.'s nephew, Beckham Arnett, taught at the Hendricks school for some twenty-four years before taking a clerical job with the State. In another interview with Ruth Schoppe, she recalled, "He [H.G.]was a superintendent of schools. They say he was the first superintendent of schools that ever had as his motive educating every child in Magoffin County. He wanted a school over Hendricks, so he asked his brother Logan--he had a lot of land--if he would give him some land, he said he would give the lumber for the school. Logan did, so Grandpa had that Arnett school built, and it still stands today.]

[1892]
[Nelus Arnett was the first of H.G. and Becky's children to die on November 13, 1892 at age 10 yr 10 mos and 11 days presumably of TB. She was buried in the family plot on the John Higgins Hill overlooking the house. On the tombstone someone--possibly H.G.--carved the following epitaph:

She is not dead but liveth now Eternal life stamped on her brow Joys unconceived all now impart their full furition [sic] in her heart. all pain and Sorrow sin forgot. life everlasting is her lot. She lives with him who for her bled. if this be death then she is dead.]

(To be continued)

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