Arnaud History

Goodspeed on p. 152 of his Barry County History records the family of Stephen Arnaud.

"Emile Arnaud, one of the successful farmers and stock raisers of Capp's Creek Township, Barry co., Mo., was born in France on September 8, 1856. He is a son of Stephen and Marie Arnaud, who were born on September 9 and July 4, 1829, respectively. Stephen Arnaud was extensively engaged in raising silk worms and growing grapes for wine in his native country and for five years was mayor of his commune. In 1876 he immigrated to America, settling in Capp's Creek Township, Barry Co., Mo., where he became the owner of 360 acres of fine land. Here he died in 1882. His widow died in 1886 on November 28. The were the parents of five children, viz: Emmeline, Emile, Louise, Simeon (who died in 1884 at the age of twenty years) and Edith.

Since the death of the parents the children have been keeping house, all living together. Emile, being the only son living, has had full control of the old home place and has managed it as skillfully as many men would have done who have had years of experience. He has not only retained the old place, but has added acre after acre and tract after tract until he now owns 720 acres, all of which is valuable land. In addition to cultivating the soil and raising grass, he is much interested in growing blooded stock. He owns "Gray Eagle," sired by an imported Norman stallion. The former, now four years old, is eighteen hands high, weighs 1,600 pounds, and is considered the best horse in the county. Mr. Arnaud also owns some very fine blooded short-horn cattle. He is a progressive man, who is fully up with the spirit of the times, being held in high esteem by all who know him. He is a member of the WALDENSIAN Church and is president of the Bible Society of the same."

Waldenses (wôlden'sez) or Waldensians, Protestant religious group of medieval origin, called in French Vaudois. They originated in the late 12th cent. as the Poor Men of Lyons, a band organized by Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant of Lyons, who gave away his property (c.1176) and went about preaching apostolic poverty as the way to perfection. Being laymen, they were forbidden to preach. They went to Rome, where Pope Alexander III blessed their life but forbade preaching (1179) without authorization from the local clergy. They disobeyed and began to teach unorthodox doctrines; they were formally declared heretics by Pope Lucius III in 1184 and by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. In 1211 more than 80 were burned as heretics at Strasbourg, beginning several centuries of persecution.

The Waldenses proclaimed the Bible as the sole rule of life and faith. They rejected the papacy, purgatory, indulgences, and the mass, and laid great stress on gospel simplicity. Worship services consisted of readings from the Bible, the Lord's Prayer, and sermons, which they believed could be preached by all Christians as depositaries of the Holy Spirit. Their distinctive pre-Reformation doctrines are set forth in the Waldensian Catechism (c.1489). They had contact with other similar groups, especially the Humiliati.

The Waldenses were most successful in Dauphiné and Piedmont and had permanent communities in the Cottian Alps SW of Turin. In 1487 at the instance of Pope Innocent VIII a persecution overwhelmed the Dauphiné Waldenses, but those in Piedmont defended themselves successfully. In 1532 they met with German and Swiss Protestants and ultimately adapted their beliefs to those of the Reformed Church. In 1655 the French and Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy began a campaign against them. Oliver Cromwell sent a mission of protest; that occasion also prompted John Milton's famous poem on the Waldenses. At the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), the Waldensian leader, Henri Arnaud, led a band into Switzerland; he later led them back to their valleys.

After the French Revolution the Waldenses of Piedmont were assured liberty of conscience, and in 1848, King Charles Albert of Savoy granted them full religious and civil rights. A group of Waldensians settled in the United States at Valdese, N.C. The Waldensian Church is included in the Alliance of Reformed Churches of the Presbyterian Order. The principal Waldensian writer was Arnaud.