My Family Tree

Sometime between 1865 and 1871, Cornelius and his children emigrated to the United States, to Massachusetts. After his mother's death, Phineas was living with his father and his second family in the US 1880 census. By 1890, Phineas and his sister Melvina had moved out to Washington State, where they were both married, to a sister and brother from England, Lizzie and Edward Lacey. Phineas and Lizzy had a daughter Edda in Washington, but were living in Massachusetts at the time of their daughter Elsie's birth, and Phineas' death in 1893.

Lizzie went back to Tacoma with the two girls. In 1910, Lizzy and her two daughters were living with the Brown family in Durham, Maine. The Browns and the McArthurs can be found on a list of members of a religious sect, The Kingdom. (see the website for this sect)

Members of Shiloh Chappel, 1917, from the website of The Kingdom:
McArthur, Lille Edda
Born: Seattle, Wash., 11/11/1891
Father: Phineas McArthur, carpenter, born in United States
Mother: Lizzie (Lacey) McArthur, born in England
Marital status: single
Arrived at Shiloh: 6/22/1900
Previous residence: Tacoma, Wash.
McArthur, Elsie Beatrice
Born: Pittsfield, Mass., 4/18/1893
Father: Phineas McArthur
Mother: Lizzie (Lacey) McArthur

This sect went through some very difficult times while the McArthur family was living there. There were often shortages of food, and severe punishment of children was tolerated, even encouraged. After the death of some of the children, the leader was accused and convicted of murder, and the community started to fall apart.

Photo of Phineas from the Sexton family.