Christina McChesney Arnold (1817-1887)

Christina McChesney Arnold

Birth

11 Oct 1817

Herkimer County, New York, USA

Death

14 Mar 1887 (aged 69)

Little Falls, Herkimer County, New York, USA

Burial

Church Street Cemetery

Little Falls, Herkimer County, New York, USA Add to Map

Plot

Edward Arnold lot #118

Memorial ID

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My ggg grandmother Christina was the daughter of Robert and Nancy (Bellinger) McChesney. She was baptized April 5, 1819 sponsered by her parents.

Christina married 30 December 1841 in Herkimer County, New York to Edward Arnold (1803-1895). They were early pioneer settlers in Little Falls, NY. From this union were 6 children: Robert M Arnold; Delia S Arnold; Charles M Arnold; William Arnold; Peter M Arnold; & David E Arnold.

There is a discrepancy regarding her date of birth between 3 sources. Namely a transcription of her baptism record indicating she was born 4 Oct, and her tombstone inscription and death certificate where her brith is recorded as 11 Oct.

Christina is one of 14 children and the daughter of Robert McChesney (1792-1839) & Nancy (Bellinger) McChesney (1792-1830). Both her parents are buried at the Fall Hill Cemetery also known as the Hess Cemetery, Danube, New York. Christina's siblings are: Pamelia (McChesney) Budlong; Caroline (McChesney) Wager; Hiram (the first) b. 1811; Dinah (McChesney) Skinner; Peter; Catherine (McChesney) Hall; Hiram b. 1820; Elizabeth (McChesney) Farnam; Mary Margaret (McChesney) LeBart; Madillah (McChesney) LeBart; Lydia Ann McChesney; and Lucinda Tryphosia (McChesney) Stewart.

After her mother Nancy (Bellinger) McChesney passed away in 1830, her father Robert remarried to Betsy Swift. Robert and Betsy had at least two children, sons William H. & Robert D. McChesney.

Christina is the great granddaughter of Delia Herkimer and American Revolutionary War Col. Peter Bellinger.

Christina's great uncle General Nicholas Herkimer of Danube, New York (brother of Delia (Herkimer) Bellinger), is remembered with historical fame in the 1777 Battle of Oriskany during the American Revolutionary War.

Inscription

Rest where soft shadows lie and grasses wave
While summer birds sing round thy lowly bed
Sleep where the snow falls gently on thy grave
And winter winds sigh hoarsely o'er thy head
"Blessed the dead, who dying in the Lord
Rest from their labors" That sweet rest be thine!
Rest in the promise of His gracious word
Rise in the likeness of the life divine.

Note: This inscription is taken from the 5th and 6th stanzas in the "Rest" poem. Author unknown

Gravesite Details

The epitaph on Christina's tombstone is difficult to read and decipher. The "Rest" poem in its intirety is online at Old Fulton New York Post Cards website. It was published July 15, 1880 in the Watkins Express on 15 July 1880 in Schuyler County NY.