"William (Arms), born 1654, died August 25th, 1731, married Joanna Hawks, 1677, who died Nov. 22, 1729. William Arms, the ancestor of the Arms family in the United States, came from either the Island of Jersey or Guernsey, in the English Channel. It is presumed that he assumed the name of Arms, as none of this name are found on the island from whence he came. He was a knitter of stockings by trade. The first heard of him was his marriage with Joanna, daughter of John Hawks, one of the settlers of Hadley, Mass., in 1677. His name appears in the town records of Hatfield, Mass., in 1677. He removed from Hatfield to Deerfield, Mass., about 1684. It is said of him that he was a good farmer, industrious and economical, devotional and religious, and a quiet and obliging neighbor. He would knit a pair of stockings while going to and returning from the mill at Hatfield. In 1698 he was chosen farm viewer, and one of a committee to build a school house and hire a schoolmaster; in 1699, a constable; in 1700 a tythingman; in 1701, fence viewer and school commissioner. After that his name appears almost yearly in the town records. Also in the records of Sunderland, Mass., from 1714 to 1722, where he is spoken of as 'Good Mr. Arms.' He served in the Indian fight at Great Falls, where now is Gill, Mass., May 17, 1676, for which his son John was one of those entitled to the township granted by the General Court 1736. His body lies in the old burying ground at Deerfield, a little east of the center of the grounds, adjacent to his son William and grandson William."
