Thomas Arnold (1734https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106411571/thomas-arnold - August 14, 1828) was an American silversmith, active in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

. Arnold was born in Newport and married Eliphal Wyatt on September 16, 1757 in

Bristol, Rhode Island Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, US as well as the historic county seat. The town is built on the traditional territories of the Pokanoket Wampanoag. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England. The population of B ...

. He worked as a silversmith from 1760 until either 1796 or 1817 (dates vary), serving as master to William Stoddard Nichols circa 1798. According to the ''Newport Mercury'' of September 12, 1774, he received a master's degree from college in Providence, where he was later elected a member of faculty and in 1800 chosen as a trustee. As a prominent citizen of Newport, in 1774 he served as a delegate to conventions in Philadelphia, in 1789 was appointed Justice of Peace, and in 1817 was appointed Inspector of Customs for the Port of

East Greenwich East Greenwich is a town and the county seat of Kent County, Rhode Island. The population was 14,312 at the 2020 census. East Greenwich is the wealthiest municipality within the state of Rhode Island. It is part of the Providence metropolitan st ...

. Arnold's work is collected in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, and

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, as well as the United Congregational Church in Newport.

References

* ''American Silversmiths and Their Marks: The Definitive (1948) Edition'', Stephen Guernsey, Cook Ensko, Courier Corporation, 1983. .
Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks, Hallmarks & Makers' Marks

Find-a-Grave entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Thomas American silversmiths People from Newport, Rhode Island 1739 births 1828 deaths