He was born in Northumberland County, Ontario, in Newcastle, on the 25th of March, 1848, and is the son of Captain Daniel Arnott, who was commander of a government revenue cutter in the queen’s dominion during the Mackenzie Rebellion in 1837.  Captain Arnott was born in Campbellton, Scotland, and when a young man crossed the Atlantic to the New World.  He was married in Toronto to Jane Fyfe, daughter of James Fyfe, who was a native of Scotland and a prominent contractor, having erected the market and other leading building in Toronto.  Captain Arnott died in 1873 at the age of sixty-three years.  In his family were thirteen children, then of whom are now living, namely; Catherine, wife of Charles Syer, of Chippewa County; Mary, wife of William Dickey, a resident of Gray County, Ontario; Daniel, William, and Mrs. Martha Allen, -all residing in Chippewa County; Andrew, who is engaged in carpentering in Sault de Ste. Marie; Duncan and James, who are living in Gray County, Ontario; and Charlotte, wife of Edward Hinshire, of Ludington, Michigan.

Mr. Arnott, whose name heads this record, was reared to manhood under the parental roof, and on leaving his old home in March, 1869, removed to Saginaw, Michigan, where he entered the employ of Marks & Flint, lumber dealers.  He superintended the erection of their dam on Chippewa creek, in Isabella County, and remained in that region four years.  He was afterward employed in the lumber woods, getting out ties under contract, to be used in the construction of twenty-one miles of the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad, and in other work of like character.  His time was thus passed until the spring of 1877, when he came to this city.

On the 23rd of December, 1875, Mr. Arnott was joined in wedlock, in Markdale, Ontario, with Miss Kate Tackaberry, daughter of John and Eliza (Douglas) Tackaberry, farming people of Canada.  Of their four children, three are yet living: Letitia, wife of John M. Davis, of Markdale; William, who is living in Duluth, Minnesota; and Mrs. Arnott.

When our subject first arrived in Sault de Ste. Marie in April, 1877, it was a village containing about 400 inhabitants.  He first secured employment at carpenter work on the new courthouse, and when the building was finished erected a planning-mill for H.W. Seymour on the site of the Sweatt mill, the first of the kind erected on this end of the peninsula.  After operating the mill for two years he engaged in general contract work, to which he devoted his energies until 1887, erecting some of the best buildings of the city.  He was appointed by C.H. Call, of Marquette, and served, acting as Deputy Collector and Inspector of Customs, and remained in the Government service four years, after which he went to Marquette County and took a contract on the Iron Range & Huron Bay Railroad, then being constructed.  After two years he returned to Sault de Ste. Marie, and on the 1st of May, 1893, was elected Marshal by the City Council.  In 1884-5 he had served as a member of the Village Council, was elected Justice of the Peace for one term, and was Treasurer of the township of Sault Ste. Marie, then comprising nearly the entire county, two terms, and for two years was Deputy Sheriff under the popular office, Donald M. McKenzie.  His business life has been characterized by straightforward, honorable dealing, his official career by fidelity to duty and faithfulness to the trust reposed in him.  He is an esteemed member of Bethel Lodge, F. & A. M.; Sault de Ste. Marie Chapter, R. A. M.; and the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of the Maccabees.  Politically he is allied with the Democratic party.