The genealogical line of the Arnold family who owned and built the house on the present Roger Williams Avenue, Lakewood, home of the Warwick Historical Society, is as follows:

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William (1) born England 1587; Stephen (2) born England 1622; Israel (3) 1649; Israel (4) 1678; Simon (5) 1717; Israel (6) 1749; John Waterman (7) Arnold 1791.
The name of William (1) Arnold appears on Roger Williams' first deed as one of the thirteen proprietors of the Grand Purchase of Providence. He was one of the first settlers of Pawtuxet in 1638 where he and his son Stephen (2) purchased large tracts of land from the Indian sachems. Eventually they owned 100,000 acres in Pawtuxet, including what is now Lakewood and Norwood. From time to time, parts of the land were sold, but the farm where the Arnold house stands was passed down from father to son for six generations. According to William Harris, a descendant, in 1886 Harrison Avenue was still a country lane and in his boyhood the farm was "a span of meadows and hills covering what is now Lakewood and Pawtuxet from Arnold's Pond, Warwick Avenue to the bay."
Israel (6) Arnold married Mercy, daughter of Colonel John and Sarah (Potter) Waterman. He was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Warwick. His seven children included four sons:

Israel, John Waterman, William and George Greene Arnold. His daybooks, dated 1772-1804, leave no doubt that he was running a large farm at this time. Entries mention farm produce, cattle, wood and tobacco. His help were often paid in pine board, cord wood and vegetables. In 1776 when the British occupied Newport, Israel's land supplied fire wood for the Continental troops. When he was in his 50's he was a sea captain. He was master of the ship "Rolla", captain of the sloop "Polly" and served aboard the "Ann and Hope" and the "Hermes".

The last male Arnold to own the farm was John Waterman (7) Arnold. As his diary testifies, he began work as a carpenter at an early age. He and his brother William were active in the Warwick Militia where John was commissioned Colonel of the 5th Regiment in 1822. His daughter, Ann Eliza (8) Arnold, was the last of the family to occupy the house. She was a spinster and when she died in the early 1900's, the property passed into other hands. The Arnolds rest in the family burial plot which is now a part of the New Pawtuxet Cemetery.

The exact date when the Arnold house was built can not be determined, but it was possibly built on the site of an earlier house. It is a two story clapboard structure in the colonial tradition with five rooms clustering about a central chimney. Characteristic of the middle or late 1700's are the beehive oven, the fireplace panelling in the dining room and panelled doors with H and L hinges. A borning room, whose partition has been removed, was located off the kitchen, or "keeping" room. The house underwent an extensive "modernization" sometime in the early part of the 19th century, possibly when John Waterman Arnold brought his bride here in 1825. The graceful, winding front stairway with its classic wall niche, probably dates to this renovation. The ell, of a later date, provided a summer kitchen and upper chambers for the hired help. A large cellar fireplace, with crane still in place, may have been used by slaves who are said to have slept in small cellar rooms whose partitions have long since been removed.

In December 1964 the Warwick Historical Society learned that the house was to be burned in order to expand the cemetery. Negotiations were begun with Mr. and Mrs. Frank Aldrich and Mrs. Harold Scott, owners, and through their cooperation, the house came into the possession of the Society. In May 1965 the deed was formally presented to the President, William H. Buffum by Mayor Horace Hobbs. This event marked the Society's first "Open House" which has since become an annual affair.

References: The Arnold Memorial, E. S. Arnold, 1935; Family Records of Mrs. John E. Kennedy; Records of the Warwick Historical Society.