The origin and history of the Armstrongs of my bloodline, along with their dreams, accomplishments and failures, are treasures buried in the tomes and folklore of the past and the forgotten memories of ancestors long dead. Uncovering what remains takes effort and persistence and presents certain challenges not normally faced in more conventional treasure hunts. For example, with genealogical research you begin with just a scrap of the map and a couple of nuggets. The genealogical explorer must then hunt for other pieces of the map that, in turn, lead through a series of deadends and wrong turns before begrudgingly yielding one or two more nuggets (but never, unfortunately the whole treasure).
Chapter 2 Sometimes, the hunt is almost as interesting as the nuggets you find. My interest in genealogy began with a conversation that I had with my father in November 1976 (see Contributing Relatives Listing, #1). As we will see, some of what he related contained elements of truth, but much had become slightly garbled over the years. Regardless, his memories were still interesting and they became the basis upon which most of my subsequent genealogical research was based. He began by telling me that my grandfather's name was George Armstrong, although he was known as Frank (his middle name being Francis). He also related that my grandfather had two brothers named Rolla and Ransom, and he believed that they both lived at one time in Steel, North Dakota. He vaguely recalled that Ransom was a druggist in that city and that he was named after my grandfather's uncle who, as my father remembered hearing, was hung as a horse thief back in the old Northwest Territory. He also recalled that Rolla's wife was named Amanda (or
Mandy) and went on to relate a personal recollection about this lady that can only be classified as unusual. For some reason (that he never knew) Amanda had one of her breasts removed and apparently had it pickled and kept it a jar at her home! Apparently, he had visited Rolla and Amanda when he was a boy and the memory of having seen it in all its pickled glory had stuck with him ever since!
He also remembered that my grandfather had lived for a number of years in a town by the name of Coin, (Page County) Iowa. In fact, he told me, my grandfather had title to six burial plots in that town (he later gave me the deed to one of them which was signed by grandfather Frank on March 5, 1907) (see Reference Listing, #2). I subsequently verified through a lady by the name of Margery Henning that the deed, which is to a plot in the Elmwood Cemetery in Coin, IA, is valid, but she was unable to verify if anyone is buried in the plot. In another conversation several years later, my father also seemed to recall that Frank had lived in Missouri during his early life (Page county is one of the southern most counties in Iowa, and is located on the Iowa/Missouri border).
My father went on to recount that his father had two sisters--one who was named Lillian, and another older sister who he believed was named Mamie. He remembered that Lillian had married a man by the name of Harlan Depew, that they also had a son named Harlan, and that they resided in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He also recalled that they owed a summer home in Clearwater, Florida. Mr. Depew was supposedly a railroad engineer. Several years later, my father repeated most of the above story, but this time he seemed to recall that Mr. Depew was a VIP with the old Pontiac Motor Company before it became General Motors and that they were apparently well-to-do.
I had a great deal of difficulty tracing the first 30 years of my grandfather's life as well as that of my great-grandfather Alva D. Armstrong (who's name I discovered when I ordered a copy of Frank's death certificate in December of 1976) (see Reference Listing, #3). As a result, I decided to try and follow up on the information given me by my father about the other family members named Ransom, Rolla and Lillian, as well as keep my eyes open for any reference to a Mamie Armstrong. I initially found Rolla in the 1900, 1910 and 1920 Federal Census' for North Dakota and Lillian in the 1900 and 1920 Census' in Michigan. It was through these sources that I discovered that my great-grandfather was born in Vermont and my great-grandmother in Indiana--this was new information, as my grandfather Frank's death certificate had indicated that his parents had both been born in South Dakota. I had spent a great deal of time unsuccessfully attempting to verify the South Dakota source, and now turned my attention to Vermont. It was here that I discovered my great-great-great uncle Ransom S. Armstrong (see Reference Listing, #4 and #5.
As indicated above, my grandfather George Francis Frank Armstrong's death certificate shows that his father's name was Alva D. Armstrong and his mother was Mary Cotton. By July 1994, my research had led me to believe that great-grandfather Alva had probably left Vermont sometime around the middle of the 19th. century and had lived for a time in Michigan (I found two Alvas, ages 16 and 17 in Parma, Jackson County, Michigan, and one A. Armstrong, age 25 in Bunker Hill, Ingram County, Michigan in the 1860 Census. I surmised that at some time around the Civil War he had moved on to Indiana where his wife, Mary, lived and where I had also discovered that his daughter, Lillian, had been born in June 1869 (see Reference Listing, #6). From there he must have moved on to South Dakota where Census records had shown that his son Rolla had been born in 1871 (see Reference Listing, #7), followed by the birth of my grandfather, Frank, three years later in 1874. However, at this time, I had been unable to uncover anything substantive to back up my premise.
Another family source (see Contributing Relatives Listing, #2, and References Listing, #11) had recalled having heard that Frank's mother had died when he was very young and that his father soon after remarried. Apparently a short period of time later, his father also passed away and his stepmother remarried. The story goes that the family relationship became increasingly abusive and that Frank and his older brother (Rolla), who were only about 10 to 13 few years old at the time, both ran away from home. Another family source (I no longer recall who) indicated that they believed that both great-grandparents Alva and Mary had died in Wahkon, MN. As a result, I decided to try and find a professional genealogist to help me pursue these leads.
After writing to several genealogists and reviewing their credentials, I chose a woman by the name of Carol Maki, in Stillwater, MN to assist me. Over the next couple of months she provided me with several good bits of information relative to grandfather Frank and my father. However, in July, she came across a biography on a Jerome B. Armstrong whose life and accomplishments had been summarized in the History of Page County (Iowa) that was published in 1909 (see Reference Listing, #10). The biography also provides information about his father, David, and mother, Sarah (Treadway) Armstrong. In addition, it provided some enticing clues about his brother, A. D. Armstrong who was a civil war veteran from Michigan--was he my great-grandfather Alva?.
Near the end of September 1994, I finally got the break that all amateur genealogist's dream of. Earlier in 1994 I had become a member of an organization known as the Armstrong Clan. This organization was established in 1969 (upon Neil Armstrong's historic landing on the moon) at the historical center of the old clan territory, Mangerton in Liddesdale, Scotland, in an attempt to reestablish the Armstrongs as a Clan (albeit a widely scattered one). After some months I contacted the Clan genealogist, William S. Armstrong V of Vancouver, WA, and he forwarded me a half-inch thick packet of genealogical information which went back to great-great-great-great-grandfather Martin Armstrong (see Reference Listing, #13). Not only was I introduced to Martin and his son Elliot, but I also verified that David W. Armstrong and Alva David Armstrong were, in fact, my ancestors! The feeling was one of wonder and excitement and no less enthralling than the best Tom Clancy novel. I was totally engrossed, and went through each page over and over noting geographical verification of my own research, discovering information that was completely new to me, and clarifying, verifying or disproving previously obtained family folklore. For example, I learned for the first time that my great-grandfather Alva was born on August 4, 1842, in West Haven, VT and died on July 21, 1884, in Shenandoah, Page County, IA. I learned that great-grandmother Mary's last name was Colton, not Cotton, and that she was born in Elkhart, Elkhart County, Indiana. I learned that Alva's second wife was named Maria S. Call and that they were married in Shenandoah, IA on November 8, 1881. In addition, I learned that there was no older daughter, but that a younger daughter named Mary had been born in 1876 (perhaps she had been called Mamie?). The information submitted, also indicated that she was born in Elkhart, IN that, if true, meant that they moved from South Dakota back to Indiana some time between 1874 and 1876 (this I later found to be incorrect).
After my initial good fortune with the Armstrong Clan, a number of sources opened to me. I was able to locate a distant relative, M. Virginia Armstrong (see Contributing Relatives Listing, #3), a granddaughter of Jerome B. Armstrong, who was living in Vancouver, Washington with her nephew. She proved to be an enthusiastic genealogist as well as an exceptionally painstaking researcher and was able to provide much of the information that is included in this narrative. She had also developed much of the information that I had been provided by the Armstrong Clan. In addition, she provided me the name of additional reference sources and I subsequently contacted one of them and purchased two genealogical source books that provided even more information. Two other sources had apparently submitted data to the Clan--Mrs. William West of La Habra, CA, and Reta I. Phelps of Prineville, OR. I was fortunate enough to locate Kay West and her daughter, Cathy Owens (see Contributing Relatives Listing, #4 and #5), but was not successful in locating Ms. Phelps. Virginia also gave me the name of another distant relative--Mrs. Gloria McKie, who I subsequently corresponded with (see Contributing Relatives Listing, #6). She is a retired school teacher who proved to be the great-grand daughter of Ellen Albina Armstrong, one of my great-grandfather Alva's older sisters. From her I obtained photographs, copies of family letters, and additional genealogical information that have been incorporated in this narrative.
The following is a compilation of all of these and other widely scattered nuggets of information relative to the Armstrong nameline and bloodline ancestors for as many generations in the past as they have allowed me and several of my cousins, to pursue them. This is not my narrative, but the combined effort of several Armstrong descendants who have pursued their labor of love without expectation of recompense or recognition. It is our hope that the reader will find at least a fraction of the pleasure in its reading that we have found in its preparation.
