Ebenezer Arnold

Born in 1816, Ebenezer Arnold was an American Methodist minister and author. Public domain library records for Elizabeth: the Disinherited Daughter identify him as the book's author and date his life as 1816–1900.

He is most closely associated today with Elizabeth: the Disinherited Daughter, a novel presented under the name “E. Ben Ez-er.” Project Gutenberg notes that the book is commonly attributed to Elizabeth Arnold Hitchcock, but likely written by Ebenezer Arnold, her father, and that the central figure of the story was his own mother, Elizabeth Ward Arnold. That family connection gives the book a personal, inherited quality as well as a religious one.

Although detailed biographical information is limited in the sources found, Arnold appears as “Rev. Ebenezer Arnold” in memorial records, which fits his identity as a Methodist clergyman as well as a writer. His lasting interest for modern readers comes from the way his work joins lived faith, family memory, and narrative drama in a distinctly 19th-century voice.