Arnow Family History & Genealogy

In 1808, ANDREW ARNOW,who was born in New Rochelle, New York on December 23, 1773, to JOHN and MARY RENOUD, purchased from EZRA CORNELL approximately five acres near the center of the village of Westchester. He paid $996.00 for the property. This EZRA CORNELL was the uncle of the famous EZRA CORNELL , who started Cornell University. The young Ezra was born on his uncle's farm. Elder EZRA CORNELL was the victim of a horrific storm that destroyed and sunk a ship that the family owned and also destroyed the family's grist mill. The CORNELLS were in trouble financially when Ezra sold the property to ANDREW ARNOW.

Over the next few years, (aft. 1810), ANDREW ARNOW moved his family up from New York City, where most of the older children were being educated in the city schools. Andrew, in one entry, is listed as being a wholesale grocer. In an article it mentions that because of some disagreement in the family, he changed the spelling from Renoud/Renaud to the present day spelling of Arnow. It is interesting that Andrew's father, JOHN RENOUD, chose his grandson, Cornelius Secord, son of Andrew's sister, Sussanah Renaud Secord, to take care of him in the last part of his life and not one of his sons. Cornelius was the recipient of the last piece of property that John Renoud owned in New Rochelle, New York which was approximately 50 acres.The Revolutionary War had devastated John Renoud, financially and he had to sell off his holdings.

Andrew Arnow is buried in the St. Peter's Episcopal church yard, where his grave has inscribed on it, the following" An Honest man, the noblest work of God ". His wife, Elizabeth Valentine, rests next to him. In the court records, it is brought out that he was a farmer, and not a good one, a cooper and he ran an inn,at which he, at a later date, operated and obtained permits from the town to also run as a tavern. In his older years, his farm was not well tended. When asked by the lawyers if Andrew Arnow Sr. was in the wholesale grocery business, during the questioning of the will, one deponent stated that the only groceries that he ever saw was ' a barrel of pickles' inside the Inn , which was called ' Public House' .

ANDREW ARNOW was the father of seven children, Simeon, Richard Golsbury,Matson Smith, Andrew Junior, William Henry, Louisa Jane and Elizabeth Ann. He died March 4, 1865.

Richard Golsbury Arnow was born in New York City around 1806. He was the son of Andrew Arnow .Andrew's family ( his father was John Renoud and mother was Mary Secor of New Rochelle, New York) originally spelled their name Renoud and Arnaud. Elizabeth Valentine,Richard's mother was the daughter of John Valentine and Sarah Williams. Richard was married to Betsy Ann Stinnard, who it is claimed , was part Native American, probably Siwanoy Algonquin.At the ripe old age of 41, Richard enlisted in the Army and was shipped off to fight in the Mexican War.He enlisted in the Army on December 2, 1846, in New York City. He was 5 feet 9 and 1/2 inches tall, with hazel eyes and brown hair and dark complexion. Upon the completion of his service, he and others were promised 160 acres of land , out West, through a government bounty land warrant. Although the family made a number of attempts to recover the land up until the 1950s, to the best of our knowledge, it was never claimed.

Richard entered as a Private, Company F - 1st Regiment, Burnett's New York Volunteers, under General Winfield Scott, for the duration of the War. Richard sailed out of New York on the ship named the Empire.He landed in Vera Cruz on March 8 , 1847.The only regiment that was commissioned in New York State and sent direct to the seat of war was the 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers, under the command of Colonel Ward B. Burnett. The officers received their commissions and, together with the men, were mustered into service January, 1847, and during the same month embarked as follows: Companies C, D, and E in the ship "Catherine," under the command of Major James C. Burnham; companies A and G, in the barque "Isabel," under Cpt. Charles H. Shaw; companies H, F, and part of K, in the brig "Empire," under Colonel Ward B. Burnett, companies I and the balance of K, in the barque "Jubilee," under Cpt. Morton Fairchild, and company B, under Lieutenant colonel Baxter.
Richard was in Vera Cruz, Mexico when the siege of that city occurred in March 29th of 1847. Unfortunately, he contracted Yellow Fever and died. His military records has him in a hospital in June of that year.He died July 5, 1847.Shipping his body back to the Bronx, New York was financially impossible for his wife, so he and others were buried in a mass grave in Vera Cruz.

Of the approximately 13,000 U.S. soldiers and sailors who died in the Mexican War, only about 2,000 were killed by the enemy or died of battle wounds. The majority of deaths were caused by disease or illness, often the result of poor sanitary conditions in camp. Yellow fever, malaria, measles, and dysentery were the most common ailments.

I recently found a newspaper article in an old newspaper, the New York Sun, where Richard N. Arnow had been fishing in Long Island Sound. He was a local judge in the Bronx.While fishing from their small boat, he and a friend had hooked, what Judge Arnow had described as being the largest striped mouth bass he had caught that year, about three feet long and about 15 pounds. He was reeling the fish in when a large power boat came by and severed his fish line. Angry, Judge Arnow and friend rowed over and asked the deck mates who owned the boat. The deck hands ( called jackies) answered that President Theodore Roosevelt and his wife were on board. This newspaper article was dated August 13, 1903.