Although he has passed his eighty-second year on life’s journey,
George Washington Arnett, who is now living retired at Carlinville, is
greatly interested in the continued development of Macoupin county,
having been a resident of this county since 1834. He has been a witness
of the changes from the wild prairie to the beautiful farms, dotted with
homes, which are supplied with all the comforts of modern life. It is
doubtful whether there is any other man in the county who is more
familiar with the progress of this section than Mr. Arnett.
He
was born in Overton county, Tennessee, near Monroe, June 24, 1829, and
comes of pioneers on both sides of the house, being a son of Thomas and
Elizabeth (Reeder) Arnett. The father was a native of North Carolina and
the mother of Virginia. In 1829 he removed with his family from
Tennessee to Illinois and engaged in farming for two or three years in
Morgan county, near Jacksonville. He then moved to a farm near Waverly,
where he also spent several years, at the end of which time he came to
Macoupin county and settled in Bird township, becoming the owner of
about two hundred acres of land there. He died in 1874, at the age of
about seventy years. His wife died in 1863, being then about fifty-eight
years of age. He was a member of the Methodist church, while his wife
held membership in the Presbyterian church. An industrious and
progressive citizen, he was always willing to perform his part in
forwarding the interests of the community and served for a number of
years as justice of' the peace and also as township treasurer. In the
family of Mr. and Mrs. Arnett were twelve children, nine of whom grew to
maturity: Nancy, who married Holiday Peebles and is now deceased;
Martha, who became the wife of William Wiggins and is also deceased;
George Washington, the subject of this review; John H., who is deceased;
Sarah, who married George Wallace and is deceased; Paschal L., of
Wichita, Kansas; James, deceased; Thomas, also deceased; and William, a
resident of Oregon.
The paternal grandfather of our subject was
John Arnett, who was a native of North Carolina and of Scotch descent.
He engaged in farming and was also a blacksmith. He married Rebecca
Comer and moved to Tennessee, but in 1833 settled in Morgan county,
Illinois, where they continued during the remainder of their lives. Mr.
Arnett died at the age of sixty-two and his wife at the age of
seventy-six years. In their family were twelve children, among whom were
William, Thomas, John, Peter, Mary, Susan, Sarah, Nancy, Rebecca and
Martha. The maternal grandfather of our subject was Jeptha Reeder. He
was a native of Virginia but moved to Tennessee and in 1833 came to
Illinois and settled in Western Mound township, Macoupin county, where
he continued until his death, which occurred when he was sixty-two years
old. His wife was Winnie Fritty Harrison. She lived to the age of
seventy-six years and was the mother of twelve children, eleven
daughters and one son, five of whom died in early childhood, the others
being Nancy, Elizabeth, Brown, Margaret, Martha, Rebecca and Paschal L.
The great-grandfather of our subject on the maternal side was James
Harrison.
At the age of three months George W. Arnett was
brought by his parents to Morgan county, Illinois, and he has lived in
Macoupin county since he was five years of age. He grew to manhood in
Bird township, where he possessed advantages of attendance at the
old-fashioned subscription school. At twenty-one years of age he began
working out by the month and then rented land for two years, which he
cultivated on his own account. Plaving acquired sufficient capital, he
purchased ninety acres of land and built a comfortable home, devoting
his attention to such good purpose as a farmer and stock-raiser that he
became the owner of two hundred and fifty acres in this county. Since
1889 he has lived at Carlinville, retired.
On the 14th of
October, 1852, Mr. Arnett was married to Serena Elizabeth Lasater, a
daughter of Enoch and Charity (Hill) Lasater, and four children have
been born to this union: Viola, of Carlinville, who is the widow of Elra
P. Deeds and the mother of two children, Walter and Mary; Horace W., who
married Mary Wills and died at the age of twenty-two years; Lilly M.,
who became the wife of H. C. Wilhite, of Greenfield, Illinois, and has
one son, George M.; and George B., a record of whom appears elsewhere in
this work. Mrs. Arnett was born in Greene county, Illinois, February 3,
1836. Her parents were natives of Tennessee, her mother having been born
near Nashville. They came to Illinois among the pioneers that settled in
Greene county and the father died there when he was about thirty-five
years old. He was the father of six children, Eliza Ann, Serena
Elizabeth, Mary Ellen, Almira, Matilda Jane and a son who was killed by
a tree falling on him when he was eight years old. Mrs. Lasater married
a second time, her husband being John Courtney, and they came to
Macoupin county and settled in Bird township, where she died when she
was about sixty-eight years. By her second marriage she became the
mother of two children who lived to maturity: Carroll C., of Waverly;
and Cyrus B., of Carlinville. The grandfather of Mrs. Arnett on the
paternal side was Stanford Lasater, who' married a Miss Copeland, and
the grandfather on the maternal side was Abner Hill, a native of North
Carolina. His wife was Anna Johnson. They were pioneers of Bird
township, Macoupin county, and were the parents of ten children, among
whom were Mary, Anna, Charity, William, Robert, Abner, Lewis and Thomas.
Mr. and Mrs. Arnett accept the Bible as a divine revelation and
are both consistent members of the Baptist church. In politics Mr.
Arnett affiliates with the democratic party. Recognizing his duties as a
citizen, he filled most of the township offices during his active years,
serving with general satisfaction to the people as supervisor, assessor,
collector, school trustee and school director. Throughout life he has
had an abiding sense of justice and honor and he has always aimed to
follow the principles of the golden rule, thus earning the confidence of
neighbors and of all who have had the honor of his acquaintance. As a
result he is one of the most respected and venerated men in Macoupin
county.
Extracted 14 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 312-314.
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