Seward & Cora Arnold and their daughter, Louise

Seward Arnold, born in 1881 the youngest child of Amos S. Arnold and Lora Ann Johnson Arnold began farming at a very early age when his father was called away to care for his brother, Silas, after his accident. At sixteen, Seward started farming his Aunt Hattie McNeil's farm on his own. He married Cora Yackee and lived on the original Arnold farm north of Roberts. One of the first to practice scientific farming, he obtained and studied data from the University of Illinois about lime, potash, and clover, promoted the use of soybeans and very successfully learned to graft peaches and apples.
An avid baseball player, he pitched for Roberts for many years at a time when most towns had a team and were very competitive, even hiring major league players when they could. He sold war bonds during World War I, worked on the OPA Board (price control) through World War II, and was township road commissioner. After moving to Roberts, he traveled throughout the United States and Canada collecting Indian artifacts, rocks, and other natural phenomena. Some of his collections are in the courthouse at Paxton. At 103 he resides in the Gibson City Hospital Annex and wins regularly at Bingo.
Seward and Cora had one child, Louise, who rode horseback to the same one-room school her dad attended. Her high school was Roberts, then on to the Northwestern University School of Music in Evanston. She received a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music. After teaching in the school and privately in Chicago Heights, she retired and is living in Roberts.
 

--History of Ford County Illinois. 1984.

Cora (Yackee) Arnold's brother, Ernest

Ernest Yackee (1892 to 1894)is the brother of Cora (Yackee) Arnold.  He was only 2 years old from the info found in FAG.  He was also a twin with brother, Earl Yackee.  This obit states he "died last Saturday."  The date of the article is 4 May 1894; "last Saturday" would have been 28 April 1894. 

 

 

--Gibson City Courier.  4 May 1894.  Page 1.

 

Henry Lobdell

--The Burlington Free Press.  Burlington, Vermont.   16 November 1868.  Page 4.

Phoebe Golden

We visited Plattsburgh, New York, in the late summer of 1996.  We visited many cemeteries, villages, and homes.  We found the burials of Stukley and Lovicy Lobdell in the New Schuyler Falls Cemetery, Clinton County, New York.  Also the burials of their daughters:  Samantha M. L. Arnold, Mary Lovicy Arnold and Harriet M. Arnold are in the same cemetery. 
But also on the stone was the name Phoebe Ann Golden.  Who was Phoebe Ann Golden? 
Today while on FamilySearch.org while looking at the 1900 census I found Phoebe Ann Golden.  She is listed as a servant of Samantha M. L. Arnold in this census, living in Samantha's household.  We kind of thought this might have been the case, but now proof. 
Case solved. 

 

The Farm

I wonder often about the house where I lived the first years of my life.  Who built it?  When did they build it?  Has it had additions over the years.  I asked Mom, but she didn't arrive at the farm until the mid 1950's.  If I would have only spoke with Grandpa Arnold or Dad more about the house. 
I can remember quite a bit of the home, where the bedrooms were, the telephone, the garden, the orchard, the clothesline.  But I will probably never know the story of that home. 
I was so excited to find this little bit of detail that Mom wrote for the Arnold entry in the publication of the History of Ford County, Illinois, 1984.  I asked Mom for more details, but she really can't recall writing the column. 

So the "small" home was located somewhere else on the property.  The home was moved to where we all recall it being located and additions were made through the years.  Mom and I kind of figured that, as the downstairs bedroom had a door that led to the backyard which made no sense.  No patio, just a few steps there.  Possibly that room was the main house. The addition of a large kitchen, utility room, bathroom and a second story of bedrooms would make sense for Johnson and Beckie's large family.
Jerry Shambrook (a cousin from the Robbins side of the family)related to Mom that he remembers the basement being poured under the home.  Mom and I have contemplated on possibly the front porch was added at that time also, because the stairs to the basement were located in this area.
I wonder where the home was first located.  The family oral history says the home of Beckie's parents, Carl and Tina, was once a cob shed.  That home (cob shed) was located at the end of the lane.  This being the lane north of the present home.  Maybe the shed and the home were both located at the end of the north lane. Would all of the buildings have been in the same spot at one time?
When were the barns built, the welding shop or what Mom calls the "grainery" added to the homestead? 

A lot of questions that may never be answered. 

jandowell@hotmail.com     

Note:  previous land owners and old plats for an original home location.  Have Mom draw a picture inside and out of the home.  Anyone else have photos of "the farm" house?