PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
LESTER ARNOLD.
Some of the distinguishing traits in the character of Mr. ARNOLD may be
readily guessed from the statement of one of his fellow citizens to the effect
that he has scarcely an enemy in the world. An honorable business career in the
city of Xenia has made him well known to a large portion of the residents of
Greene County. In addition to his regular business as a dealer in boots and
shoes, he is also the junior partner in the well-known firm of WALTON &
ARNOLD, who are quite extensively engaged in the manufacture of linseed oil. He
has had an experience of thirty years in the milling business and in addition to
his other interests is prominently connected with the famous Spring Valley
ham-curing establishment, which receives orders from all parts of the country.
It will thus be seen that Mr. ARNOLD must naturally spend few idle moments and
that he has been no unimportant factor in promoting the business interests of
Greene County.
Mr. ARNOLD was born in Westfield, Mass.,
December 2, 1828, and is the son of William ARNOLD, a native of New York State,
who, departing from the usual direction of emigration, went east instead of west
and located in Westfield, there met and married Miss Clarissa LOOMIS. This lady
was the daughter of a Revolutionary soldier and the off-spring of a fine old
family. Soon after his marriage William ARNOLD set out on horseback for Erie
County, Ohio, where he purchased one thousand acres of government land,
intending to settle there and establish a permanent home. The young wife,
however, was reluctant to go thus “out of the world”, as it were and Mr.
ARNOLD finally settled on a farm near Westfield, where all of his children were
born and reared. When Lester, our subject, was a lad of fifteen years, the
family removed to Dayton, Ohio, where one of the sons, William, had already
established himself. There the parents spent the remainder of their lives, the
father prosecuting his farm labors until his decease in 1876. The mother
survived her husband six years, dying in 1882. Mr. ARNOLD was a member in good
standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church from his youth. The parental family
consisted of nine children: of these are William ARNOLD (deceased), Franklin E.,
of Xenia, Clarissa, Mrs. GRANGER, also of this city, Lester, our subject, Julia
and Amelia (Mrs. DALSON), both of Miami City.
The subject of this notice was a youth of
sixteen years when his parents settled, in 1845, in Dayton, Ohio. They traveled
by rail to Buffalo, thence by the lake and canal to Dayton. Lester soon
afterward entered upon his business career as a clerk in a mercantile
establishment at Dayton, for the consideration of $10 per month and boarded
himself. On the 1st of January 1850, we find him in Cincinnati, where
he was engaged as a clerk until 1857. Then in company with a Mr. MARVIN,
formerly of Westfield, Mass., he repaired to St. Anthony Falls, Minn., and in
the dead of winter, opened up a new stock of goods.
This experiment proved a little too much
for the heroism and courage of young ARNOLD and he in 1858, was glad to return
to the bounds of civilization. Going back to Cincinnati he purchased a stock of
goods and established himself at No. 65 Pearl Street. Soon afterward he
associated himself in partnership with his brother, W.I. ARNOLD, of Dayton and
they carried on a successful business. Later they admitted another partner into
the firm, which then bore the style of LOCKWOOD, ARNOLD & Co., and they did
a general commission business at the corner of Pearl and Walnut Streets until
1859. In the fall of that year the partners came to this county and rented the
FROST Distillery at Frost Station which they conducted until 1861, when they
purchased the entire property and operated under the firm name of W. & L.
ARNOLD with warehouses at Xenia. Our subject became interested in milling and
feeding swine. They thus operated until 1807, doing a very heavy business. In
the meantime they paid $1 per bushel for corn, $3 for wheat and upon one
occasion they paid as high as $3.10 for five thousand bushels of wheat which
they purchased from one man.
In the meantime, in 1865, Mr. ARNOLD
becoming interested in Xenia real estate, purchased property in the city.
Notwithstanding his extensive business interests he found time to devote to
public and political affairs and after filling other positions of trust and
responsibility was in 1875 elected by the Republicans as Treasurer of Greene
County, and gave such good satisfaction that in 1877 he was complimented with a
re-election and served in that capacity until 1880. In 1881 he took an interest
in the aforesaid mills again.
In 1888 he severed his connection with the
mill and in 1889 took an interest in the Spring Valley ham-curing establishment
and also became interested in the boot and shoe business in Xenia. He is a
Director of the First national Bank and in all the enterprises tending to
promote the general welfare of the city is found in the front rank.
In 1864 Mr. ARNOLD purchased the fine home
of Mr. DRAKE on Spring Hill. The residence was originally a seminary building
and under a process of remodeling is now with its surrounding one of the most
elegant homes in Green County. It occupies a gentle eminence and the grounds are
laid out tastefully and in consonance with the refined tastes and ample means of
its proprietor. By a course of strict integrity Mr. Arnold has made for himself
an honorable name in the business world, while his natural generosity and
courteous bearing to all has gained the esteem and confidence of his
fellow-citizens in more than an ordinary degree. He has for many years been
connected with the Odd Fellows, being at present a member of Magnolia Lodge in
Cincinnati with which he has passed all the Chairs. His religious views coincide
with those of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a prominent member
in Xenia.
Mr. ARNOLD was first married in Dayton in 1858, to Miss Fidella GLEASON, of Ithaca, N.Y. This lady was a daughter of the Revolutionary soldier and there were born to them no children. The second wife of our subject was Lina, daughter of Jacob HERRING, of Beaver Creek Township, who died in 1874, leaving two sons, Harry L. and Frederick W. The elder is now in the store with his father and the younger is engaged in the insurance business in Xenia. The present wife of our subject was Mill Pauline, daughter of John CROFT, of Clark County, where she was born in April 1848.
transcribed by Jean Hehn