William Frederick Milton Arny
William Frederick Milton Arny (1813–1881) was born on May 9, 1813 in Georgetown, District of Columbia.the son of Joseph Arny from Krummenau, St. Gallen, Switzerland and his first wife, Elizabeth Hyde, who was from England. He died September 18, 1881 in Topeka, Kansas.
He was educated in the public schools and at Bethany College, at Bethany, Virginia. He was for several years secretary of Bethany College, when the celebrated preacher, Alexander Campbell, was its president.
He moved from Illinois to Kansas in 1855, and settled at Hyatt, now Garnett. He was the general agent of the National Kansas Committee, and was United States Indian agent for the Navajos for several years, being described as "the worst agent the Navajos ever had to deal with"[1] A close friend of Abraham Lincoln, he moved to New Mexico in 1862, when President Lincoln made him secretary of the territory, and settled at Santa Fe. During much of his tenure he acted as governor.
Upon the expiration of this service he was again appointed Indian agent of the Utes and Jicarilla Apaches in the New Mexico Territory. He represented New Mexico at the Centennial Exposition, at Philadelphia, in 1876.
References
- Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography by Dan L. Thrapp
- University of New Mexico info on Arny
- ↑ Locke, Raymond Friday. The Book of the Navajo. (Holloway House, 2002) p. 398