Bob Arnold, author of First in Texas, will be the featured
guest for the April 10 Local Authors Hour, starting at 10:15am at Helen Hall
Library.
His book chronicles the lives of three men who made
significant contributions to more than one hundred and fifty years of Texas
history.
In 1821, Josiah Bell and
his wife crossed the Sabine River into Texas as penniless squatters. They
settled in Austin Colony on the upper Texas coast where Bell was often left in
charge of the colony’s affairs during Stephen F. Austin’s negotiations with
Mexican officials. Bell built a river landing on the Brazos River that became a
supply depot for settlements near the river and a major trading port for goods
coming into and out of Texas. He was a respected leader within the colony,
a successful entrepreneur and businessman, and the founder of two towns, one of
which was briefly the capitol of the Republic of Texas.
Josiah Bell’s third son, James Hall Bell, was educated at Harvard Law School and became the
first native-born Texan to serve as a justice on the Texas Supreme Court. Judge
Bell was an outspoken opponent of secession as well as a staunch defender of
citizens’ rights against the undue powers of government, often taking political
stances that resulted in disfavor with his friends and colleagues. After the
Civil War, he was instrumental in bringing the Republican Party to Texas and
was an important Texas politician for many years.
Red Arnold was
raised in Longview, Texas, and enlisted in the Marine Corps following high
school graduation. After his Marine service, he became a Texas Highway
Patrolman and married the great-granddaughter of Judge James Hall Bell. When
World War II began, he reentered the Marines and fought in several Pacific
island battles. At the conclusion of the war, he returned to Texas as a wounded
veteran to restart his law enforcement career, ultimately serving nearly
twenty-five years as a Texas Ranger. Known as the “law in Northeast Texas,” Red
was often involved in deadly encounters with hardened criminals,
strikebreakers, and petty criminals as well as with election fraud, robbery,
murder, and other crimes.
Bob Arnold graduated from Texas Tech and served as a
Signal Corps officer in the United States Army. Following his military
service, Bob was employed by Union Carbide Corporation as a polymer chemist and
had a thirty-five-year career in various roles within the laboratory,
manufacturing, and business organizations of Union Carbide and Dow Chemical. He
and his wife, Bejie, reside in Friendswood, Texas, and have two children and
two grandchildren.
Please join us to learn more about these memorable and
entertaining facts about Texas history.
