I am also researching the James Arnold family of Mecklenburg County, VA. Your posting is quite old but hopefully we can share information. I descend from the family of John Arnold. Some of his children moved into Tennessee. Joseph A. Arnold looks like my ancestor and I believe was the father of my earliest known 2nd great-grandfather, Captain Edwin Arnold (Rutherford County, TN) born 1818 in Mecklenburg County; died 1884 in Murfreesboro, TN.