According to this link below, a John Whitney was born 14 SEP 1621 in Isleworth Parish, England, and he died 12 OCT 1692 in Watertown, Middlesex, MA at age 71, and was married to Elinor Arnold (?). This is the first I have heard of the surname Arnold. http://www.genealogy.org/~bminnick/p845.html My line goes to John Whitney, who married Ruth Reynolds in 1642, but I have never resolved Elinor's last name. Does anybody know of evidence to support this Arnold connection? Steven

Dear Steven and the WRG, At 05:11 AM 2/28/01 -0500, Steven Wallace wrote: >According to this link below, a John Whitney was born 14 SEP 1621 in >Isleworth Parish, England, and he died 12 OCT 1692 in Watertown, >Middlesex, MA at age 71, and was married to Elinor Arnold (?). This is >the first I have heard of the surname Arnold. > >http://www.genealogy.org/~bminnick/p845.html > >My line goes to John Whitney, who married Ruth Reynolds in 1642, but I >have never resolved Elinor's last name. > >Does anybody know of evidence to support this Arnold connection? > >Steven First of all, the John WHITNEY (1621-1692) married Ruth REYNOLDS. It was his father John (1592-1673) whose first wife was Elinor -----. The name "ARNOLD" for Elinor is a bad guess. It is based entirely on the inventory of John-2 WHITNEY, which includes a lot of 17 acres "purchased of Father Arnold." This refers to a deed in Watertown on 17 Apr 1661, when John WHITNEY (presumably John-2 rather than John-1) purchased 17 acres from Thomas ARNOLD, a planter of Providence. This was a certain Thomas ARNOLD who lived first in Watertown, but moved to Providence, RI. He was a Baptist, hence his move to Rhode Island to escape the persecution of the Massachusetts Bay Colony authorities. He was born in 1605, according to his age on the passenger list of the "Plain Joan", so was much too young to be Elinor's father. Thomas married before 1640/1, Phebe PARKHURST, and had four children born in Boston. Why he was called "Father Arnold" is unexplained, but it was not because Elinor was his daughter. Her maiden name is currently NOT known. WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS PURE CONJECTURE!! I have no evidence to support this: Conceivably Thomas ARNOLD's wife Phebe (PARKHURST) ARNOLD might have died, and he might have married as a second wife Mary (-----) REYNOLDS, widow of Robert-1 REYNOLDS (who died in 1659 in Boston). That would make Thomas ARNOLD the step-father of Ruth (REYNOLDS) WHITNEY, and the step-father-in-law of John-2 WHITNEY. Regards, Robert Robert L. Ward WHITNEY Research Group <http://www.whitneygen.org/home2.html>