This summary of the life of Julia Ellen Holcombe Arnold was prepared in June of 2002 by Alvin H. Roberts, son of Mary Florence Arnold Roberts, daughter of Julia Ellen and Franklin Smith Arnold. Information was obtained from several sources but most came from letters written by Mary to her sisters.
Julia Ellen was born July 20, 1867 near the town of Talledga, Alabama. Her parents were Andrew Glen Holcombe and Rebecca Ann Arthur Holcombe. Her father Andrew Glen had fought in the civil war. He was captured near Chattanooga with his cavalry detachment while attempting to confiscate a Union Supply Train. After his release he returned to Alabama and married Rebecca Ann Arthur and had two children Julia Ellen and Mary Ella) before migrating with his family and extended family members to Arkansas in 1870. His family settled on a farm which was later called Bearfield Place. They stayed there a short time and purchased a farm about eight miles north of Mineral Springs, Arkansas. Andrew Glen constructed three houses. One for his family; one for his sister, Mary Jane Holcombe Cotton, whose husband was killed in the war; and another for a family widow whose husband was also killed. Julia was about three years of age when they came to Arkansas from Alabama. She was baptized at the age of fourteen by Brother Thomas H. Ware and became a lifelong member of Bluff Springs Methodist Church. She lived and died within a few miles of the house that her dad built. She married Franklin Smith Arnold August 31, 1887. They had ten children but four of them (Clara Elvira 6/1888-06/1890, Lewis Franklin 6/1898-07/1901, Andrew hunter 06/1907-03/1908 and Annie Ozelle 02/1909-11/1913) died as infants or toddlers. The six who matured include Mary Florence Roberts (buried in Brinkman, OK Cemetery) Bertha Ellen Garner (buried in Restland Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville, AR.)Lelia Ellen McBay, Susie Pearl Toland, Ida Belle Edwards,and Walton Herbert Arnold are all buried besides their spouces in Bluff Springs. Franklin built a house for her and their family. It was a fine house with a very large open hallway which separated the living and sleeping areas. Julia was very near sighted and her eyesight became gradually worse until she became legally blind. She was a pleasant, gracious and gentle lady who cared for her family and supported her husband in the performance of his church, school and other community duties. She also supported her pastor and school teachers. As her sight worsened her daughters would line up for her to fix their hair before school. She became pregnant in 1908 with Annie Ozelle about the time she became legally blind. In February 1909 Annie Ozelle was born and in April Franklin was stricklen with Typhoid Fever and died in May. Her oldest dughter (Mary) was stricken with the dread disease and almost died. Julia was left with six daughters (including one with Typhoid Fever and a new baby girl) and a young son. There was no social security, welfare, aid to dependent children or any government program to aid her. She managed to keep her family together. This required that her daughters and young son work with primitive tools to eek out an existence on the frontier farm until Walton became a young man. She then lived with her children until she died September 7, 1945. Julia in her later years was blind but she was always pleasant and cheerful. She demonstrated a deep love and concern for her descendants. She died in the Mineral Springs Community and is interned in Bluff Springs Cememtery along with: her husband; their little children; her parents Andrew Glen Holcombe and Rebecca Ann (Arthur) Holcombe; Her Grandfather Joel Crawford Holcombe and her maternal Grandmother Lucinda Ball.