Merchant.
Born at London, England on 24 March 1839, he emigrated to Ontario with his wife Jane Thomas (?-1871) and young family of four children: Edith J. Arnett (1865-?), Lewis R. Arnett (?-?), Kate Arnett (?-?), and Alice Arnett (?-?). Widowed while in Manitoba as a member of the Wolseley Expedition, he returned to Ontario and, on 8 May 1872, married Angelina Hughes (1850-1944), of Metcalfe, Ontario, a sister of Anna Maria Hughes (who married their cousin Joseph H. Hughes) and Elizabeth Arabella Hughes (mother of W. A. Cuddy and J. A. Cuddy). They had nine children: Thomas Lewis Arnett, Frances Olive Arnett (1875-?), Margaret Lillian Arnett, Jonathan Hughes Arnett, Annie Arnett (1881-1882), Angelina M. “Ina” Arnett (1882-1975, wife of Clarence King), Clara Anett 1885-1885), Leslie Norman Arnett, and Vera Arnett (1891-1893). He brought his family to Winnipeg in late 1879. He became one of the pioneer merchants of the city, establishing Arnett’s Golden Lion which, a year later, was the largest dry goods and carpet store in Winnipeg. He closed the business in April 1883. By 1891, the family was living in Brandon. He died while visiting Winnipeg on 7 May 1891 and was buried in the Brookside Cemetery.
The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.
Manitoba Free Press, 24 April 1883, page 8.
1891 Canada census, Ancestry.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Advertisement, Winnipeg Daily Times, 21 April 1883, page 2.
Death registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary, Manitoba Free Press, 9 May 1891, page 1.
“Arnett Family” The People of Souris and Glenwood From the Early Beginnings to the Present, Souris and District Heritage Club, 2006, page 262.
We thank James Arnett for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 24 June 2019
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