This page last updated January 6, 2004.
Florence Whitten (often called "Flonnie") was born in 1884 in the Noxubee Hill community of northern Winston County, Mississippi, the oldest child of Jack and Mollie Whitten. She married Samuel Lee Arnett on January 18, 1909 in Louisville, MS. They had four children who survived to adulthood: Ida Lou Arnett, Clarence Edgar Arnett, Freeman Arnett, Harvey Arnett. The 1910 Census shows that their first child was a son, Willie Arnett. Nothing else is known about him, so he must have also died as a child. Beulah Watson, Flonnie's youngest sister, said that Flonnie once lived in the Sulphur Springs Motel in northern Winston County, MS before it began to have regular customers. Beulah remembered staying with her there on occasion. Flonnie died in Louisville, Winston County, MS on August 19, 1938 and was buried alongside many members of her family in Noxubee Hill Cemetery in Winston County.
Samuel Lee Arnett was the son of Charles Elmore Arnett and Lou Ganie Cordell. Sometime after Flonnie's death, Sam married Myrtle Alyne Coleman and had several more children, including a set of triplets that died as infants. Sam and Alyne had three surviving children: a son James Arnett, daughter Aavlyn Arnett, and daughter Patricia Arnett (married Williams Powers). Sam died in 1971 in the hospital in Ackerman, Choctaw County, Mississippi. His granddaughter Mary Florence Richardson Hatfield was there on that Sunday, and he died that night. Her mother, his daughter, Ida Lou Arnett Richardson was with him when he passed.
Sam Arnett's second wife Alyne was born February 16, 1903. She died June 30, 1980. She and Sam are buried together at Poplar Flat Cemetery in Winston County.
Samuel Lee Arnett
Born: February 15, 1889 in Birmingham, Alabama
Married: January 18, 1909 in Louisville, Winston County, Mississippi
Died: May 3, 1971 in Ackerman, Choctaw County, Mississippi
Buried: Poplar Flat Cemetery, in Winston County, Mississippi
Father: Charles Elmore Arnett
Mother: Lou Ganie Cordell
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Florence Caroline "Flonnie" Whitten
Born: March 17, 1884 in Louisville, Winston County, Mississippi
Died: August 19, 1938 in Louisville, Winston County, Mississippi
Buried: Noxubee Hill Cemetery, in Winston County, Mississippi
Father: William Jackson "Jack Sr." Whitten
Mother: Mary Ann "Mollie" Thomas
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This child was enumerated in the household on the 1910 Winston County, MS census. I assume he died as a child. Mary F. Hatfield shared with me where he was buried.
Beulah Watson, Flonnie's youngest sister, said that there was another son, Meredith Arnett, who died as a baby. Mary F. Hatfield shared with me where he was buried.
After World War II, Ida's family moved to Mobile, Alabama where Connor worked as a construction worker. They had six children: Dorothy Nell Richardson (married John Wesley Kent), Thomas O'Nea Richardson (married Lillian Faye Tomasich), Mary Florence Richardson (married Donald Wayne Hatfield), Connor O'Neal Richardson Jr. (married Deborah Sue Ridderbjelke), James Michael Richardson (married Lois Marie Bannon), and Dewanna Ann Richardson (married Andrew Marion Howle).
Connor O'Neal Richardson, Sr. was also buried at Memorial Gardens, Tillman's Corners, Mobile County, Alabama.
After Clarence married Agnes Evelyn in 1938, he worked for a few years with a construction company out of Mississippi that had building projects all over the South. Just after 1941, he moved to Mobile, Alabama where he later owned a sub-contracting company. They had two children: a son John Edgar Arnett (died as an infant), and a daughter Jimmie Faye Arnett (married Donald James Rouse). After he and Agnes Evelyn divorced, Clarence remarried about 1956 to a lady named Dorothy, and they had a son, Terri Arnett. Clarence and Dorothy lived in Paspagoula, Mississippi. He died there in 1980, killed by a young man that had been drinking.
Agnes Evelyn Crowell, daughter of Samuel Crowell and El Vira Mitchell. She was born December 2, 1919 in Louisville, Winston County, Mississippi and died December 17, 1989 in Watervliet, Michigan and is buried in Michigan.
Freeman served in World War II in the Army. He married at a young age but later divorced and married Mary Kent. Freeman and Mary moved with their son to Mobile, Alabama where he went to work in construction with his brother Clarence. Later Freeman started his own construction company, but when the building industry declined, he sold it and purchased a clock factory. Freeman and Mary had a son David Arnett (married Diane Williams), and a daughter Sandra Arnett (married Robby C. Howell).
Mary Florence Richardson Hatfield told me about this child. Truitt was 6 years old when he died with a ruptured appendix. He was taken to West Point, Mississippi to have surgery, and he did not make it. According to Ida Lou Richardson, Mary's mother, his body came back to Ackerman on the train and she remembered how sad that day was. Mary believes that Truitt was born after Freeman and before Harvey.
Harvey was the youngest of the Arnett children. He lived with his brother Clarence for about a year and then moved to Tennessee. He worked for the Tennessee Valley Authorthy. Niece Faye Rouse remembered him as a tall, thin man with a stutter. He and Ruby had four children: Jackie Nell Arnett, Harvey Wayne Arnett, Ronnie Ray Arnett, and Michel Arnett.
1900 Winston County, Mississippi Census: Enum. Dist 96, Supervisor Dist 5, Beat 1 North of Robinson Road, Sheet 7, House 116/117
Florence Whitten, dau, born March 1885 (15) in MS, Living with parents Jack W. Whitten, Sr. and Mollie A. Whitten
1910 Winston County, Mississippi: Enum. Dist 118, House 232/239, Sheet 15 (page 211A)
Sam Arnett, head, age 21 (1889), married 1 yr, born in AL, parents born in U.S.
Florence, wife, age 26 (1884), mother of 1/1 children, born in MS, parents born in MS
Willie, son, age 4/12 months, born in MS
1920 Winston County, Mississippi: Supervisor Dist 5, Enum. Dist. 129, House 98, Family 99 (page 680).
Samuel A. Arnett, head, age 30 (1890), born in MS, parents born in AL
Florence, wife, age 35 (1885), born in MS, parents bor in MS
Lola L, dau, age 4 6/12 (1915), born in MS
Clarence, son, age 1 3/12 (1918), born in MS
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