Roots Researches

Members are able to take advantage of the extensive collection of Armstrong pedigrees that have been accumulated since 1969. Thousands of Armstrongs are now listed on computer databases worldwide.

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ROOTS ENQUIRIES FROM EDITION 83 November 2016

1773/5011 Welcome to new member Penny who has found a kindred spirit in long time member Chris. Sadly we have not been able to progress the pedigree any further backwards but have at least managed to add a bit more information. Their common ancestor is JOHN Armstrong (C1805/6) who married Ann PATTERSON at St Lawrence’s Church, Pittington, DUR Eng 12 April 1830. Their children were THOMAS (bp 9 Oct 1831, Houghton le Spring DUR), from whom Chris is descended, JOHN (bp 22 Dec 1833, Hetton-le Hole DUR), JOSEPH (bp 1836, Easington South Hetton), from whom Penny is descended, ELENER (b C1840 DUR), ELIZABETH (b C1844 DUR), who married in 1898 John James DEFTY, and WILLIAM (b C1848 Wingate). Joseph married in June 1858 Sarah Watson their children being: ANN (1858), Thomas (1860), SARAH ELLEN (1864), who married Caleb BELL, JOHN (1866), JOSEPH (1869), WILLIAM (1871) and ELIZABETH (1875).William married Dora CRANSON and JOSEPH LESLIE A*, Penny’s father, was born in 1917. Chris’s line is in NEWS 76 which can still be downloaded from the website.

3412 New member Susan has a link which goes back a number of generations around Oldham, LAN, England. SHAKESPEAR A* (1826) was born at Waterhead, Oldham. His siblings were MALLY (1819, JAMES (1821), MALLY (1822) and GEORGE (1824). His parents were THOMAS (1796), born at Sholver, Oldham who married Betty DYSON in 1818. His siblings were SALLY (1798), JAMES (1800), JOHN (1803) and SALLY (1804). All died in infancy apart from John. Thomas’ father was JAMES A* born c1776 who married Mally SHAW in 1796. James likely had a brother JOHN who was born in 1778. He married Betty DUNKERLEY in 1799 their other children being MARY (1801), and twin sons JOHN and JAMES (1808). The brothers’ parentage cannot be proved by primary sources. There were very few Armstrongs appearing in Oldham before 1800. GEORGE Armstrong (1733) & his wife Martha BUTTERWORTH (1776) were living in the small hamlet of Sholver from their burials. Their marriage date and their abode makes is highly likely that they were the parents of John and James. Also the movement of both lines to the Copy Nook (or Coppice Nook) area on the west side of Oldham in the latter half of the 1830s. George and Martha were married at St Chad’s Church at Saddlesworth, Oldham on 12 March 1775. There are some clues on the publishing of the banns as to George’s abode. . There is an interesting possibility there where Robuckloe (or Robucklow "within Saddlesworth") is mentioned. I believe the abbreviation prior to this means "sojourning in" in other words that wasn't his permanent place of residence. So where did George come from? It is not that common an Armstrong forename. Perhaps we need to look across the moors to further places in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Can any members help?

3420 Most of the time we begin with a birth in one country, sometimes if fortunate we can identify the ancestor who was the emigrant and then continue our search for ancestors across a body of water. In our new member Scott's case, he was born in the US and is currently residing in the UK and now we are trying to identify his emigrant ancestor. Not one but two. We have another Armstrong-Armstrong marriage. And wouldn't you know both of the possible lines are Henry Armstrong's. .So let's start with the paternal side of Scott's family. Scott's mother was JEAN MAXINE A* b in Iowa [IA], the dau of Max A. A* and Florence L METCALF. They married in IA, and had two children, JACK METCALF A* and Jean. Max A* was the only child of ALBERT FREDERICK A* b 1849 IA d Dallas, Texas [TX], and his 1st wife HENRIETTA. Sadly, Max was b 1884 in IA, and his mother Henrietta died two days after his birth. Albert F. married 2nd in 1886 in Indiana [IN], Jeannie BEARD [b 1860 IN d Texas]. They had 7 children, EDITH b 1888 IN, NORA b 1889 IN, INEZ b 1891 IN, HOWARD B., b 1893 Minnesota [MN], RUTH b 1895 MN and ALBERT F., Jr., b 1897 MN. Albert F. was the son of SAMUEL A* b 1806 Kentucky [KY] d 1853 IA & Ann F LONGLEY b 1814 KY d 1854 IA. They married 1831 in Mason Co., KY and had 9 children: ELIZABETH, WILLIAM H., ELIZA, MARY P., ANGELA, JAMES, FRANCES E., all born IN, Albert F., and THOMAS HART BENTON b IA. Samuel is thought to be the son of HENRY A* & Elizabeth FISHER. We know that a Henry over age 45 yrs was in Mason Co., KY in 1800 and Fleming Co., KY in the 1820 and died shortly after 1820, because Elizabeth, widow is in Montgomery Co., IN in the 1830 census with her three youngest children. According to the History of Montgomery written in 1881, she left KY with at least two sons and two dau arriving in Brown Twp., Montgomery Co, IN, about 10 Sep 1829, where she met her brother Samuel Fisher who came from Fayette Co., KY. Elizabeth died 1846 in Montgomery Co., IN and is buried next to her brother Samuel Fisher according to Find A Grave. There is circumstantial evidence that Henry & Elizabeth had at least 8 children born in KY, thought to be: POLLY CHARITY, b Abt 1800, THOMAS b Abt 1802, MARGUERITE b Abt 1805, SAMUEL b 1806, HENRY b Abt 1808, AMBROSE W., b 1812, ELIZABETH and NANCY. The 1820 Fleming Co., KY Census list 2 males under 10, [Ambrose & who?], 2 males 10-15 [Samuel & Henry], 1 male 16-18 [Thomas], 2 females under 10 [who?] 1 female 10-15 [Marguerite], 1 female 16-25 [Polly Charity], 1 male over age 45 [b Bef 1775] Henry and 1 female 26-44 [b Bet 1776-1794] Elizabeth, Total 11 in the household. The 1830 Montgomery Co., IN Census list, Elizabeth A* widow is b Bet 1771-1780, 1 male 15-19 [Ambrose] 2 females 5-9, 1 female 10-14, Total 3. Next door is Thomas A* b bet 1790-1800, 1 female b Bet 1800-1810, 1 dau under 5.In 1830 Mason Western Division, KY, Samuel b Bet 1801-1810 is by himself, Samuel married Ann LONGLEY in 1831 in Mason Co., KY. In 1840 they are in Putnam Co., Indiana and before the birth of Albert F in 1849 they had moved to Iowa.In the 1840 Brown Twp, Montgomery Co., KY Census, we find Henry A* b Bet 1801-1810 married with children and possibly his mother Elizabeth b Bet 1771-1780. Henry A* married Isabell Fisher in 1837 in Montgomery Co., IN. She was born Abt 1817 in KY and probably a cousin on the Fisher side of the family. Help, we need hard documentation!!!

3420 The Maternal side. Henrietta A*b 1863 IN d IA married Albert F. Armstrong (b 1849 IA) in Sep 1881 [son of Samuel A* & Ann Longley]. Henrietta A* was the dau of JAMES A* b Abt 1819 Franklin Co., IN d 1886 Shelby Co., IN, who married Mary L SHEPPARD (b 1839 IN) 1862 in Rush Co., IN. They had at least HENRIETTA b 1863, JAMES W. b 1867 AR, d TX, married Lula Alice WADE; HAYDEN b 1871, CHARLES O b 1876, and LEONA M b 1879 James A* was son of HENRY b Bet 1795-1797 in KY & Elizabeth CLAYTON. They married 1816 in Franklin Co., IN and stayed in IN. He died after 1870 in IN. They had at least 5 children all born in Franklin Co., IN: our James b 1819, WILLIAM C. 1821-1876 m Eliza Jane GROCE 1848 Franklin Co., IN, HANNAH b 1829, Joseph b Abt 1833, married Marium Mary OVERMAN 1856, and MILTON b Abt 1838.Some believe Henry was the son of JOHN A* who d Abt 1846 Franklin Co., IN & Elizabeth EADS but there is no documentation to support this.[Do not forget Scott's oldest ancestors on his paternal side are most likely Henry A* & Elizabeth Fisher]

3421 New member’s Michelle’s great grandmother was JANE A* (1848) who was born in Kings Lynn NFK Eng who married John BRANNIGAN in 1871. Jane’s father, MATTHEW (1821) had married Sarah Ann Carol HASTINGS in Longham NFK in 1845, but he was from the Graitney, Dumfries, SCO family of WILLIAM (born in Gretna, SCO 1784) who had married Jean GILBERTSON on 13 Jan 1805. His parents were probably ALEXANDER A* and Mary COLTHERD, although the copy of the register is hard to read, but is likely to be Alexander. William and Jean had 11 more children, James being the eighth. They were: ELSPETH (1805), JOHN (1806), GEORGINA (1809), JAMES (1812), WILLIAM (1815), THOMAS (1817), ALEXANDER (1819), RICHARD HALLIDAY (1824), ROBERT (1826), ANDREW (1828) and MARY (1831). All were born in Gretna. We have nothing further back than the tentative Alexander and Mary, and are rather puzzled as to where the “Halliday” naming came from. Can you help?

3423 New member Christine wrote: “Kate Armstrong was born on 23 July 1914 at home 22 Market Street, Dalton in Furness, Cumberland. Kate was the daughter of a Thomas Armstrong and his wife Gertrude nee Whittaker. As an adult Kate was known as Catherine Armstrong and in September 1939 she married my father in law. She had three sons and I am married to the youngest. To complicate matters further she was given away at 6 weeks of age in a solicitor’s office in Barrow in Furness to a Charles and Jane Clark. This couple only kept Kate for a few years because as a very young child she was brought up by a family in Millom called Eagers. She stayed with the Eagers until adulthood.” A birth certificate of that date should lead us to a marriage certificate and then we would be on the case. No marriage certificate! Tried all combinations, forenames, spellings etc and it comes up blank. Look in the 1901 and 1911 census for them married or unmarried nothing even vaguely obvious. The only thing I have proved by Google Maps is that 22 Market Street in Dalton on Furness exists and someone was living there in 1911 but not them! The only possible clue to all this is that Kate was given away at 6 weeks. Our feeling is that she was certainly born at 22 Market Street but Gertrude wasn’t married and made up the husband’s name to avoid any embarrassment. Also it might be significant that this birth was at the beginning of WW1. Maybe he was Thomas Armstrong, maybe he abandoned her, maybe he was an early casualty, but without positive information other than Thomas and Gertrude – no age, no parentage, no birthplace and no addresses other than Market Street we are all stumped! I suppose one would now have to fall back on the “rumour machine” and try anything that seems a possibility there…. Or maybe you have some ideas or clues!!!

3424 New member Chris’s Armstrongs come from Co. Durham and Northumberland ENG. Her grandmother EDITH ISABELLA (1878) [siblings HORACE ST PAUL (1880), GEORGE GORDON (1885) and LILIAN MARY (1888)]. Her father HORACE ST PAUL A* (1851) married Elizabeth MOUNTFORD. Horace’s father was another HORACE ST PAUL A* (1818) of Wooler NBL who married Isabella BAILEY with other children MARY BAILEY (1838), MARGARET J (1855) and JOSEPH J (1859). Father JOSEPH (1774) had married Barbara HOWEY in 1795 who died in 1804. Their children were CHRISTIAN (1795) and JOSEPH (1797). By his possible second marriage to Margaret BROWN as well as Horace they had children GEORGE (1808) and BARBARA HOWEY (1810). At that time there was a Sir Horace St Paul living in Wooler and that is where it was assumed that was where Joseph had got the name from! Joseph’s parents were CLEMENT A* (C1741) and Eleanor ALLANSON (C1737) who married in Wooler in 1770. No record can be found of Clement’s birth. It might be significant that son Joseph was buried 12/04/1819, his father 20/04/1819 and his mother 18/09/1819. In Wooler there are numbers of A*s popping up all over the place, but there are some interesting possibilities. For instance Joseph’s first wife, Barbara Hovey name perpetuated in Joseph’s second marriage (?) to Margaret Brown. There is also another Barbara Hovey A* (1834) dau of Joseph and Ann HALL who had at least another 5 children and he was a shoemaker as was his father Joseph. ISABELLA A* and CATHERINE A* both produced illegitimate children and the child of the latter was named CLEMENT (1820). If Clement was born in Wooler C 1741 his father could have conceivably been THOMAS bp 04/06/1723 or 09/07/1723. (Are these the same person?). His father was also THOMAS. Perhaps it would be a good idea to follow up the “dissenter” route as obviously Clement and Eleanor did as the children were baptised as Presbyterians. Clement might even have been one prior to his marriage but had no option but to be married in the Parish Church. This might well mean that his parents were also and that is why no baptism can be found. Have we a volunteer who lives near the Northumberland County Archive Service?!

3425 New member Karen comes from a well-documented line in Workington CUL Eng. However her great grandfather ALBERT (1892) was the first generation to be born across the border from Scotland. Albert’s father WILLIAM (1844) of Ruthwell DFS Sco had married Elizabeth PRIESTMAN in Workington in 1871, his father’s name being given as JOHN. William was baptised in Ruthwell in August 1844 and his mother’s name was given as Janet RODDICK. All plain sailing so far until suspicions are raised in the 1851 Census! William is shown along with his mother and brothers JOHN (1847) and WALTER (1849). Janet is described as a Railway Labourer’s Wife but there is no sign of husband John. In 1861 things get worse. In addition to JANE AGNESS (1856) Janet is described as an “Agricultural labourer disserted by husband”. In 1871 and 1881 both mother and daughter are the only household occupants. Then to cap it all the following baptismal record is found in Ruthwell Parish Register. Jane Agness Hill 28 Dec 1856 father Murray HILL, mother Janet Roddick. Needless to say this is the only time Mr Hill is mentioned as Jane appears in all the censuses as an Armstrong. As emphasis of this the following memorial appears in Ruthwell Kirkyard “In memory of John Roddick of Ruthwell who died 16 Feb 1824 age 54 years, also Jane Carruthers his spouse who died 23 Nov 1841 age 60 years, also Jane Agnes Armstrong their grand-daughter who died at Ruthwell 26 Feb 1888 age 31 years, also Janet their daughter and widow of John Armstrong who died at Dumfries 27 Dec 1906 age 86 yrs.” So who is this elusive John Armstrong? The only time he’s mentioned is as William’s father! He’s not there in 1851 or in any of the other censuses but would appear to be living in 1861. Then it was found that it was unlikely he was the father of Jane Agness. We cannot find an A*/Roddick marriage in the OPRs or even irregulars at Gretna or a civil registration for Jane Agness in 1856 under either the name of Armstrong or Hill. Neither is John buried with his wife. It would appear that the Marriage Registers for Ruthwell between 1807 and 1843 have been lost which would be a vital clue in tracing John’s age, father and residence when he married.

4252 If you recall, we Welcomed new member 4252, Sherry in News 82. Sherry's grandfather was Edward Douglas A* and great grandfather Edward Burton Armstrong were both born in Washington State (WA), a long way from WVa where her great-great grandfather William Burton A* was b 1864 in Marshall Co.,. William Burton A* married Mary Bieber Hoyt (b 1870 in Maine) in 1890 in Kings Co., WA. William Burton A* was the son of Singleton Townshend Armstrong b 1841 MD d 1916 in WA and Arabella Burton who married in Ohio Co., WVa. Well there is another A* line buried here. Mary Bieber Hoyt b 1870 Maine was the dau of Theodore N. Hoyt b Abt 1841 in Maine d 1919 in Kitsap Co., WA, Age 78 yrs & Sarah Fitzhenry b Abt 1843 in Maine, d. 1905 Kings Co., WA. Sarah had 2 Hoyt children b Maine, Mary Bieber b 1870 and Percy Hoyt b 1876. We know that Theodore N. Hoyt and Sarah were in WA state before 1880. We do not know what happened in the marriage, but Sarah married a 2nd time in 1890 King Co., WA to John Pevey. Sarah left a will naming dau Mary B Armstrong and son Percy Hoyt. Theodore N. Hoyt was the son of [here it is] Nelson Hoyt b Abt 1812 Maine, d Abt 1883 Maine, who married Bef 1838 in Maine, Elizabeth thought to be nee Armstrong b Bef 1819 England, d 1881 Washington Co., Maine. We have not yet found any documentation for her birth, death or marriage. That brings us back to circumstantial evidence which seems to fit but certainly is not proven. In his Naturalization record William Armstrong said he was b 1792 Dumfries-shire Scotland, emigrated 19 Jul 1819 Port of Arrival Machias, Washington Co., Maine. He died in Washington Co., Maine. We know he married Margaret nee Langhorn / Langhome / Lanfgum / Lang or Long-something!! 3 Mar 1814 at Bewcastle Cumberland England, and had a son Robert chr at Gretna, Dumfries, Scotland 4 Sep 1814. The farm according to the chr record was Lenwalk but we do not known where this farm was actually located. Her last name is not spelled the same in any of the documents we have found, but all show she was born in England Abt 1788. We have not found a passenger list, but we know this family was in Macias, Washington Co., Maine in the 1820 census, with 2 sons under 10 and 1 dau 10-15. Robert W. A*'s 1905 Death Record lists his parents as William Armstrong & Elizabeth Langhorn, all three shown as born Scotland. So Margaret's middle name may have been Elizabeth. Using death records, and census, we think they had children Francis F. d 1828, Robert W. 1814-1905, maybe Elizabeth, William, Joanna S., John, George F., Jacob B., and Charles F. A*. Using the same records, son Robert W. A* 1814-1905 married Ruth W. Hoyt, dau Joanna S. A* b Abt 1823 d 1911 married Lewis W. Hoyt, and Elizabeth thought to be a dau married Nelson Hoyt. The three Hoyts were siblings and thought to be children of Benjamin Hoyt and Mary Waterhouse. Are you totally confused yet? Well we are and could really use some help from our members.

4253 Welcome new member 4253, Linda. Linda's parents were Hillis LeRoy A* and Wilma Goodlove of Linn Co., Iowa [IA]. Her grandfather was William Henry A* b 1866 Linn Co., IA, who married in 1890 Linn Co., IA, Nettie Kimball b 1872 Linn Co., IA. They had at least 8 children all born in Linn Co., IA. They were Myrl Analiza b 1891, Lloyd R., Ivan Leland b 1896, Kenneth William b 1898, Clifford Aubrey, Hillis LeRoy (Linda's father), Iolene Della, and Beulah Maxine. William Henry A* was the son of John A* b Abt 1828 Ireland d after 1885 in Linn Co., IA. John A* married Eliza Ash 1855 in Walworth Co., Wisconsin (WI). Eliza Ash was b 1835 Ireland and d 1872 in Linn Co., IA. They had at least 7 children: Robert S. (b Abt 1856 WI d 1873 IA), Thomas Richard (b May 1858 WI d 1924 Lawrence Co., South Dakota (SD)), Annelisa "Liza" (b 1860 WI, d 1879), John A. (b 1862 WI, d IA), William Henry (b 1866 IA, d IA), George Erwin (b 1869 IA), and Francis Edward "Frank" (b 1871 IA). Linda's believes Eliza Ash's full name was most likely Annelize shortened to Eliza. All of the documentation we have found uses Eliza with the one exception of a possible emigration record.. Although there are several John Armstrongs b 1828 Ireland coming to the US during this time frame, there is only one 1854 New York passenger list departing from Liverpool, England that contains both John Armstrong, 26 Abt 1828 Ireland Labourer, and A. Ash, female, Age 19 b Abt 1835 Ireland. Combined with this information is the fact that the earliest record found for this couple in the US is their 11 Nov 1855 marriage in Sugar Creek, Walworth Co., WI, which names John A* son of John & Elizabeth A* and Eliza Ash dau of Thomas & Mary Ash. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

4268 Welcome new member 4268. Ruth's parents were Harold Bertram A* & Ruth Olson. Harold Bertram A* was the son of Lewis Thomas A* (b 1874 Missouri, d Seattle, Washington [WA] ) & Maud Merlin Richards (b 1881 Iowa [IA], d WA]. Lewis Thomas A* was the son of Robert Marion A* b 1840 Illinois, d 1886 Iowa, who married 1866 in Iowa, Elizabeth Cornelius Martin b 1844 Indiana d in Wenatchee, Washington. They raised at least six children in Iowa: Surilda Jane b 1867, Daniel Mark b 1870, Lewis Thomas b 1874 Sarah Elizabeth b 1876, Nancy Ann b 1879, & George Alfred b 1882. Robert Marion A* was the son of Daniel Friel A*b 1797 Virginia, d 1884, who married 1822 in IA, Sarah Nutter b 1801 VA, d 1889. Daniel Friel A* was the son of William A* & Catherine Friel. William A* was the son of William A* b Abt 1738 Augusta Co., VA, d 1802 Augusta Co., VA & Jane Erwin. William A* was the son of Thomas A*, b Abt 1710 possibly in Ireland, d in Augusta Co., Virginia [VA] will proved 20 Aug 1776, and his 1st wife (her name is not known). He married 2nd after Mar 1758, Ann or Mary Ann Lafferty (nee Stuart?). The earliest land transaction we can find for Thomas A* in Augusta Co., VA is 1738. Thomas A* had at least five children by his 1st wife, Sarah thought to have been b 1729 in Ireland, m. Edward Rutledge b Abt 1725 d 1787 (thought to be son of Thomas Rutledge & Jane or Jenny A*); Jane b Abt 1737 in Augusta Co., VA m Robert McKittrick, William b Abt 1738 Augusta Co., VA, m Jane Erwin; Rosanna b Abt 1740 VA m Henry Murray, and Abel b 1748 Augusta Co.,VA m Mary Wanless, possibly sons Robert, Thomas & John We are back to one of our brick walls. Does anyone have anything new to add to this Armstrong family of the Jennings Branch of Middle River in Augusta County Virginia that might help us find the parents of Thomas A* b Abt 1710 possibly in Ireland? Or of his 1st wife?

William Hollingsworth's mother was Anna. Using census records, she was b Bet 1785-1794 in Virginia and died in Grainger Co., TN after 12 Nov 1870 leaving a Will, naming 4 Hollingsworth children, William, his brother Joseph, who was deceased before 1870, two married daughters, and two Parker children by her second marriage. Anna married a total of four times, the Hollingsworth marriage Bef 1811 not yet found, William Parker in 1824, Joseph Beeler [Bealer] in 1834, and Valentine Phelps [Fulps] in 1851. We have the marriage bond for the 1824 marriage to William Parker which names Josiah Hollinsworth as Bondsman. We believe this Josiah was possibly the brother of Anna's deceased spouse, b Abt 1789 where we do not know. He married Rebecca Whaling in 1812 in Grainger Co., TN. Some think that Anna may be Mary Anna Whaling, possibly the sister of Rebecca nee Whaling Hollingsworth. Now the closest DNA match we have seems to be an ANCESTOR of Samuel Armstrong b 1792 TN d 1867 Missouri, who married Margaret Sproul Abt 1828 (Residing in Hawkins Co TN 1830-1850 and Polk Co., Missouri in 1860), they had six children, including a son James A* b1830 TN, d 1913 Polk Co., MO, m Sara C. Donnell 1844-1924, who had 7 children, including son Sterling Webster A* b 1866 MO d 1956 MO, m. Ressa A Vanderford, who had 12 children, including son James Paul A* b 1895 MO, d 1975 MO, m. Ruthe Butler. However, the parents of Samuel Armstrong are not documented and he was in Hawkins Co., not Grainger Co., TN. Assistance of any kind with either of these families would be greatly appreciated.

4269 New member Lisa’s tree is an interesting one as it spans four countries bringing two Armstrong lines together. ROBERT FRANCIS Armstrong (1912) in Salt Lake City, UT, USA was the child of WILLIAM (1870) in Ashfield, NSW Australia and Emma Louise ARMSTRONG (1878) in Salt Lake City, UT, USA. William was the son of WILLIAM and Caroline CARR and had siblings MARY KATHERINE (1871), LUCY HARRIETT (1873), ISABELLA JANE (1875), ROBERT (1877), CAROLINE K (1879) and BESSIE RHODA (1882), all were born in Australia. Father William was born in 1829 in Irvinstown, Ireland and married Caroline in Ashfield NSW in 1868. William was the son of WILLIAM born C1794 in Enniskillen, Fermanagh, Ireland who died in Ireland before 1859 and married Catherine BLAKELEY in 1819 On the Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896 for NSW she arrived on the ship “Abyssinia” in 1859 as a widow with in addition to William, children Thomas and Jane. Emma Louise was the daughter of FRANCIS A* (1839) of Plenmiller, NBL England. He first married Isabelle Dawson SIDDOWAY on 10 Dec 1864 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA^,then Sarah CARRUTH on 30 May 1870 in Salt Lake City, and finally Mary Hannah on 24 Jun 1897 in Salt Lake City. His parents WILLIAM (1818) and Mary KIRK’s other children were ANN (1840), GEORGE (1842), JOHN (1843), WILLIAM (1845), THOMAS KIRK (1847), JAMES (1849), MARY (1851), SARAH JANE (1853), HANNAH (1855), OBADIAH KIRK (1858), ISABELLA (1860) and EMMA (1862). William was the first child of FRANCIS A* (1795) born in Haltwhistle NBL England and Mary TEASDALE. His siblings were JOHN (1819), HANNAH (1823), SARAH (1824), ISABELLA BARBARA (1828), FRANCIS (1829) and THOMAS (1831). The parents of Francis A* (1795) were WILLIAM (1754) and Elizabeth SHORT. Francis’ siblings were SARAH (1784), MARY (1786), WILLIAM (1789) and ANN (1792). William’s (1754) parents were FRANCIS Armstrong (1730) from Haltwhistle, NBL and Sarah WHITFIELD (1731), married in 1752 in Haltwhistle. Their other children were JOHN (1753), ELIZABETH (1757), MARY ARMSTRONG (1759), ROBERT (1761), MARY PICKERING (1763), MATTHEW (1764) and THOMAS (1767) all born in Haltwhistle. We would be particularly interested if anyone can help us with the Irish line as this has hit the usual Irish brick wall! Certainly there will be other members connected to this Haltwhistle line. If you are interested in contacting Lisa let us know.

5212 New Australian member Marj has now joined the ever increasing list of “Bewcastlers”! Her interest relates to the family of JAMES A* (1844) who married Elizabeth Jane TELFORD 13 Nov 1875 in St.Cuthbert’s Bewcastle, and whose ancestors go back to WILLIAM A* born in Cummerstree, Annandale SCO in 1739. James and Elizabeth had 13 children and Marj is looking for the offspring of any of the 13 who still carry the Armstrong name. Amazingly as far as can be ascertain this comes down to possibly only one person! The first child WILLIAM TELFORD (Armstrong) (1874) b. Bewcastle CUL, was born out of wedlock. He died in 1893. JOHN (1877), Marj’s direct ancestor, in Rigg Foot Bewcastle died in 1907 leaving wife Clara BELL and two daughters who emigrated to Australia. THOMAS (1878) was born in Rigg and died in Wigton CUL in 1935. There is no record of a marriage or children as far as we can ascertain. JAMES (1879) in Blackpool Bewcastle may have married Mary Jane AINSLIE with a child JAMES AINSLIE A* (1908). It seems he went to Canada then USA. James may then have married Alice HAXTON in Lochgelly, Fife, SCO 1908 and had CHRISTINA OLIPHANT A* (1916). James died in July 1920 Lumphinnans, Fife, with self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. ALICE (1880) in Blackpoolgate Bellbank Bewcastle married George Geves DOWNS in 1908 in Bucklow Cheshire and died before 27 Aug 1930 in Indoorapilly Brisbane Queensland Australia. REBECCA (1882) in Headgate Bewcastle. Married Joseph GILBERTSON Wigton CUL in 1924. There seems no children of the marriage. RICHARD (1883) in Headgate Bewcastle he appears on Bewcastle War Memorial. Died WW1 fighting with Australian Forces from gunshot wounds to head at Gallipoli landing. Not married. Not married. Migrated to Australia in 1909 with brother Jacob. Died 1915 in Netley Military Hospital, Netley, Hampshire UK. MARGARET ANN TELFORD A* (1884) died in 1937 Winwick Mental Hospital Lancashire.JACOB (1885) in Headgate died 1937 in Sydney Australia in Callan Park Mental Hospital of natural causes. JANET (1886) in Headgate died 1966 in Kyogle, NSW, Australia Migrated to Australia 1912 marrying Albert FEATHERSTONE. George A* (1889) in High Onset Bewcastle died Oct 1918 in Etretat Hospital France, during WW1 fighting for Australian Forces in France, from influenza, bronchitis & pneumonia and is buried Etretat Churchyard Extension. WALTER was George’s twin. He died in 1973 in Carlisle CMB Migrated to Australia in 1911. Enlisted Australian Imperial in 1916 in Sydney. Survived the war & was demobbed in England in 1919. Returned to live with mother at Crossings Carlisle. He probably married Ethel DAVIDSON with children WILLIAM (1929), CAROLINE (1930), BETTY (1932), JEAN (1934) and EMILY (1936), all born Wigton CUL. ELIZABETH JANE A* (1891) was the thirteenth child born in Sunnyside Bewcastle and died the same year. Sadly this comes down to the fact that the only known male to survive from the brothers was Walter’s son William. Has anyone got any leads on him or his sisters?

5213 New member Jayde joined us with a pedigree that apparently put her in the ever growing group of “Bewcastlers”. However it proved to be short lived as ‘her’ Bewcastle Robert was alive and well there while her real Robert had died in Australia. Still at least the problem was found early on and Jayde, spurred on by the discovery accessed the Australian death certificate for Robert which set her on the right trail. One can only be envious of all the Australian BMD records which have so much on them compared to the English ones. Sadly Jayde resolved the problem but then hit the famed “Irish Brick Wall”! Jayde’s grandfather LAURENCE VINCENT A*(1904) was born in New South Wales and married Emily Jane BALLY in 1927 at Dubbo. Laurence was the son of JAMES A* (1873) and Eliza CLEAVER whom he married in 1869. James’ siblings were: FRANCIS (1870), WILLIAM (1872) and PRUDENCE ANN (1875). All were born in Rylstone NSW. James’ father was ROBERT (1839) who arrived in NSW from Ireland from County Donegal, Ireland, on the ship Broom arriving in 1842 with his father FRANCIS (1811) His occupation was a blacksmith, he could read and had two sons – Robert (3yrs at time of voyage) and WILLIAM (6yrs at time of voyage) and a wife by the name of Anne who died on board. Formal information gave Francis’ abode was Acheneay (probably Aghavea), Fermanagh and his parents were ROBIN A* and Mary. She is listed as still being alive at that time in 1842. Francis’ age was confirmed as 31. What we are now looking for is more details on Robin and Mary. It’s a long shot, but does anyone have any information?

2618 New member Marilyn has traced her first ancestor to arrive in Canada as being John of Templemaghey, Fermanagh IRE. It is believed he was the son of JAMES A* (1742) who was born in Terninney, Fermanagh and who married Alice Jane ELLIOTT. JOHN was married to Ellen NOBLE, but John arrived in Canada as a widower. He was born in Enniskillen Fermanagh NI in 1774 son CHRISTOPHER was born in Co Fermanagh in 1807 and married Nancy Ann DORNING of March Ontario in 1842. Their son JOHN (1843) was born in Huntley Township, Carleton County, ON and married Mary Elizabeth HEDLEY. Son ALBERT (1882) in Cumberland, ON married Martha Elizabeth DOYLE in 1902. From this established family we are looking for the ancestors of James and Alice in Ireland. There have been some attempts to link them to Christopher of Barngleish, but this is very tentative. Can you help?

ROOTS ENQUIRIES FROM EDITION 82 May 2016

3408 New member Cathy’s pedigree was a little difficult to pin down at first due to a bit of “border crossing” around Longtown in the later part of it. However it has thrown up some interesting results and has given us some additional information with the combination of various records. Working from Cathy’s chart showing John Armstrong (1874) who married an Elizabeth Warwick in Canonbie DFS, Sco. It was established that they were married in Canonbie 29 December 1899. They couldn’t be found in the 1901 Scottish Census, but did so in the English one in Longtown (not quite Scotland!). Having then confirmed that John was born in 1874 in Canonbie a search for him in 1891 provided no real conclusive evidence, and then in 1881. What it did turn up was that there was a GRANDSON of the correct age living with his grandparents in Canonbie, but there was no mention of John’s parents. On looking carefully at the marriage cert there was a large blank space where the father’s name should have appeared and the mother was named as Mary A*! So it would appear that Mary (1852) was a single mother and it could be confirmed that we were on the right trail when Mary’s name appeared in the 1871 Census of the same family. Mary’s father was David A* (1812) who married Hannah Kinnear. Their other children were Elizabeth (1849), Robert (1853), Andrew (1858), David (1862), Jane (1864) and William (1868). The Canonbie residence given on the censuses was Boatbankhead. Moving back from David at Boatbankhead through the censuses it was found that David’s father, Robert (1776) was head of house. Coincidently this solved another problem on the way of the entry from the Parish Records. Canonbie Registers: Robert Mar 5 1776 in Knowhead Canonbie son of _Armstrong. By comparing this with both the location and the locations on the Censuses it is safe to say that his father was Thomas Armstrong and his mother Mary Little. Sadly we have no other records as to their marriage or their ages. In the Canonbie registers for David’s christening his place of residence is given as Rowanburnfoot and his mother’s name Elizabeth (Betty) Underwood, David’s siblings were Jean (1805), Margaret (1806), Peter (1809), Jane (1817) and Robert (1825). Mary (1852) eventually married a Walter Hudson. There is nothing to prove that he was the father of John.

5209 New member Jo from Australia is getting us to do something we have never done before, and that is a backwards and forwards search from her father as she is keen not only to learn of her ancestors but also find some living relatives in the UK!First the ancestral bit. We have traced her links back to JOHN Armstrong (1808) who married Mary LYNN in 1840 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne NBL Eng. The wife’s maiden name is very significant as it is used on a number of occasions as a second or third forename. Their children, all born at Gateshead were JOHN (1842), WILLIAM (1847), THOMAS (1850), ROBERT (1852), FREDERICK (1855) and JOSEPH (1858). The 1841 Census says that John was not born in the same county as he was living (Co Durham) but of course this could just be Northumberland just over the river. However this was spoilt when on one occasion he gave his birthplace as Scotland! On extraction of his marriage certificate for 23 November 1840 his age was given as “full age” (annoying) and residence was given as “of this Parish”, St John, Newcastle (even more annoying). His father was named as THOMAS, a collier. It did not have “deceased” after his name but as there was no legal compulsion to say so if he was, or in other cases we have come across to say they were dead when in fact they were in the full bloom of health! Leads on Thomas were not forthcoming. Can you help on this part?Robert married Mary Ann WALTON at the tender age of 17 but decided it was best to lie to the enumerator in 1881 by saying he was 23! No doubt he was trying to keep his father-in-law happy who just lived two doors away. They had five children: MARY (1870), JOSEPH (1873), THOMAS (1875), FREDERICK (1876) and ANNIE (1880). Already there was the other family trait coming through with the multiple use of Joseph and George in the generations. Frederick married Emily Jane ELLIOT in 1897 in Gateshead. He was Jo’s grandfather. They had four and possibly five children the first four born in Gateshead Co Durham ENG and the possibly one William E in Newcastle. JOHN ROBERT L (1898), FREDERICK 1900 (died 1909 – registered as Frederick Lynn A*) JESSIE (1905). [This info fits the 1911 Census details of 1911 – three children two still living although John was living with his Elliot grandparents.] In 1911 the birth indexes started giving the mother’s maiden name (Elliot) which added in Gateshead JOSEPH L 1912 and possibly WILLIAM E in Newcastle. This left quite a gap between them and Jo’s father but her father’s mother’s maiden name was not Elliot but Jones! So this led to a new avenue of search. Emily Jane A* died registered at Newcastle in 1923 aged 45. Frederick married Emily JONES in 1924 and they had two children EMILY (1924) and FREDERICK LYNN (1929) both registered in Newcastle. We know that mother Emily was living in Heath Crescent, Scotswood, Newcastle in 1948. An E Armstrong was also a witness at his wedding, likely his mother, as his sister Emily possibly married an Albert Harris in 1947.Her father could have had four living half brothers and sisters their mother being Emily Elliot. For two of them Joseph L (1912), Gateshead, William E (1915), Newcastle, the only information is their birth index entries. John Robert L A* possibly married a Sarah RICHARDSON in 1929. However there is an undisputable entry for him in the death indexes for NW Durham in 1969. Jessie has possibly been traced as by a matter of elimination we believe she was named JESSIE DOWNS M T Armstrong and was registered in the second quarter of 1905 in Gateshead. Following this through she married James A Neave in 1924 and her death was registered in Gateshead in March 1983.So we are looking for help in both directions. Can you help with John’s father Thomas? Do you live in the north east of England and know of any, Josephs of Fredericks, in particular, or any other Armstrongs with Lynn as a forename?

3321/1922 Two long standing members Ross and David have after many years of waiting been able to extend their lines with a full back up of primary evidence. This is, in the main, due to the efforts of our US Convenor Bobbie Jean, who spends a couple of weeks a year at the Church of the Latter Day Saints Center in Salt Lake City extracting Armstrongs from Parish Records both Anglican and Non-Conformist from the records which as time permits gets entered on our “Borders” database which already holds over 43,000 entries. Thanks are also due to Ross, who rekindled this problem, for his donation to the Association in thanks for the work done by Bobbie Jean and Carol our US Genealogist.We pick up Ross’ line when Benjamin Hopkins (1850) marries JANET A* (1854). Her parents were WILLIAM A* (1819) in Longtown CUL and Margaret IRVING, her siblings, CATHERINE (1843), ELEANOR (1845), JANE ANN (1848, FRANCES (1850), ROBERT (1852), MARGARET (1856), MARY ANN (1858), CHRISTINA (1861), DAVID (1863), JOHN (1865) and ELIZABETH (1867). Father William had siblings JAMES (1813) in Cavers, Rox, CHRISTOPHER (1821) in Longtown CUL, MARY (1823) in Longtown CBL, ROBERT (1825) in Rodds, Kirk Andrews Upon Esk, JOHN (1827) in Rodds, Kirk Andrews Upon Esk, GEORGE (1829) in Rodds, Kirk Andrews Upon Esk [Where we meet up with David’s line], FRANCIS (1831) in Rodds, Kirk Andrews Upon Esk and CATHERINE (1835) in Rodds, Kirk Andrews Upon Esk. Their parents were ROBERT A* (1783) in Dykehead and Jane FERGUSON (1792). Robert had eight siblings: MARGARET (1768) in Dykehead, Kirkandrews upon Esk, FRANCIS (1770) in Dykehead, ANDREW (1772) in Dykehead, JAMES (1775) in Dykehead, MARGARET and GEORGE (1776) in Dykehead, CHRISTOPHER (1779) in Dykehead and JOHN (1781) in Dykehead. Their parents were JAMES A* (1740) of Canonbie who married Elspeth HOPE. James’s siblings being HELEN (1744) in Canonbie, AGNES (1746) Batongill, Canonbie, JANET (1747) in Thorniwhats, Canonbie, CHRISTOPHER (1748) in Dykehead, Kirkandrews Upon Esk, MARGARET (1750) in Thorniwhats, Canonbie, JOHN (1753) in Canonbie, and MARY (1757) in Thorniwhats, Canonbie. Their parents were RENALD A* of Canonbie and Margaret PURVISS of Dykehead, Kirkandrews Upon Esk. We have found only one sibling, THOMAS (1711). We come to the beginning of the pedigree with RENALD A* (1676) of Canonbie and Janet ELLIOT of Canonbie

3399 New member Terry presented us with a chart which we would be able to do some work on without much trouble as it only went back to 1811. We did eventually get further but not without a lot of detective work and also something which we have never come across before with a family having two entries in the same Census only six pages apart! Andrew married Margaret JORDISON in York, YKS Eng on 22 June 1856. In the 1861 Census shows Andrew (50) living in Harvest Lane, Brightside, Sheffield YKS along with his wife Margaret (37), daughters EMMA (14), AGNESS (6) and ALICE (1 month) along with sons THOMAS (4) and FREDERICK (2). Andrew is a boiler maker and says he was born in Morpeth NBL Eng. A nice little family until suspicions begin to arise with Emma appearing to be born nine years before they were married! Turn on six pages and we find in Neepsend Lane, Brightside Andrew (42), Margaret (35), Emma (15), Agnes(5) and Thomas BROWN (3) along with Frederick Jardin (sic) A* (18 months). Andrew is “still” a boiler maker but here it is said he was born in Kirkells NBL. By elimination (through censuses) we found that Margery was originally a Jordison who had married a Mr Brown who then presumably died. (Ever tried looking up an unnamed Brown in the Death Indexes?). She then reverted to Jordison before she married Andrew A*. One can’t quite comprehend why in this document in 1961 Thomas was put down as a Brown when his birth was registered as an Armstrong in the first quarter of 1857. We were then onto a not unusual classic with actually trying to trace where Andrew was born, as in 1871 he says Mellow House, Kirkdale NBL and in 1881 Kirk Whelpton. Nothing of immediate significance was found in 1841 or 1851. What now? Take your pick. Let’s go for the one that was most legible with neat writing. Googling this we came up with a possible winner….Kirkwhelpington NBL.At that time Bobbie Jean was about to climb on a plane to Salt Lake City with the info as there were no traces of online records in the UK. Of course, she found it! It wasn’t in the Parish Records of Kirkwhelpington but in the Presbyterian baptismal records of Bavington Church which is in the Parish of Kirkwhelpington. It reads “12 Feb 1816 Birth of Andrew Armstrong son of David and Ann of Kirkharle, Labourer”. Kirkharle is a parish adjacent to Kirkwhelpington. In some ways it can be said that all the enumerators did a good job as they were writing down what they heard bearing in mind they probably had no idea of what places were called in Northumberland, and possibly couldn’t cope with the accent either, when they were taking a census in Sheffield. In fact we also found that Marlow House was part of Kirkharle! As can be seen Andrew’s birth date was all over the place, 1811 or 1813 in 1861, 1813 in 1871 and 1812 in 1881. You may think we have the wrong Andrew but strangely it is such that Andrew was not that a common name at the time and there are no other candidates that even come close. This was confirmed when Andrew’s marriage certificate was extracted and his father’s name is listed as David. By following his father’s name we have gleaned more information and this shows Andrew living with his elder brother at South Cottage, Cowpen, Horton NBL aged 20 in the 1841 Census This with rounding down would put his birth date at (1817-20) but with the lateness of the survey (6 June) this might mean the he would have otherwise fallen into the band below and also his brother might have been able to put him right which he wouldn’t have done 40 years later! DAVID, his father was born 1769-1789 in Chatton NBL. He married Ann AINSLY on 06 Jun 1793 in Chatton. She was born about 1789 in Chatton. Their other children were ISABELLA born before 18 May 1794 in Chatton, ALEXANDER born on 02 Dec 1795 in Chillingham NBL. ANN born on 08 Sep 1797 in Wooler, NBL. MARGARET born before 11 Aug 1803 in Branton NBL. DAVID born on 23 Sep 1810 in Kirkharle, NBL (Marlowhouse). THOMAS born on 29 Mar 1812 in Kirkharle (Marlowhouse). JANE born on 11 Nov 1814 in Kirkharle (Marlowhouse) and FRANCES born on 10 Oct 1818 in Kirkharle.

3409 New member Adrian has struck it lucky in that we have been able to give him four further generations in his search for Suffolk ENG Armstrongs. This is a good example of our record keeping of members’ trees which goes back to the 1970s. The information we found for Adrian goes back to a chart in 1989 by a now deceased member. It also worth reminding members that if you let your membership lapse you might well miss out on something which comes to light much further on when you have left us. The “best” wait so far has been 20 years! Adrian will need to verify his additions, but the information to hand appears to be thorough and convincing.The first definite date is about 1616 when MATHEW A* married an Anne at Wrentham SFK. He was buried there in 1637 and Anne in 1627. It is likely they had a son FRANCIS of Shimplingthorne SFK baptised in 1618. He may well have married an Elizabeth NUNN in 1669 either being a late second marriage or the possibility of a “skipped” generation and another Francis. THOMAS was born in 1672 and married Mary CARTER at Shimlingthorne in 1690 THOMAS was born to them in 1694 at Elmswell SFK and married Dorothy SPEAR at Wetherden in 1722. Two more generations of Thomas then appeared THOMAS (1726) married Anne SKIPWORTH at Wetherden in 1750 and son THOMAS was born at Shelland SFK in 1756 and married Elizabeth WHEATLEY in 1778. Daughter ELIZABETH was born in 1778 at Shelland. Siblings ANN (1780), THOMAS (1782), HENRY (1783), JAMES (1784), JANE (1789) and WILLIAM (1790). JAMES (1799) was born to Elizabeth. He married Elizabeth EDWARDS. Their children were LIZZY (1811), THOMAS (1812), JAMES (1814), HENRY (1814), WILLIAM (1818), GEORGE (1819) and CHARLOTTE (1821) all born in Shelland. George married Eliza STERN whose children were ELIZA (1840), ALICE (1840), CHARLOTTE (1842), ELIZA (1844), GEORGE (1846), ANN (1849), HENRY (1852), JAMES (1855) and ROBERT (1857). James married Eliza NUNN at Woolpit SFK in 1873 and had children ALICE (1876), ARABELLA (1878), THOMAS (1882), ERNEST WILLIAM (1885), EMMA (1889), MAUD (1895), ETHEL (1897) and BESSIE (1901). Thomas married Ethel Minnie TURNER in 1909. These are Adrian’s great grandparents. If you think you have links to any of this large Suffolk family of Armstrongs please contact us as we have other links, not published which are on Adrian’s descent chart.

3411 New member Carolyn came to us with two requests – to sort out her earlier descants and to find out if some of them did go to Australia as intimated by her late mother. Well we have succeeded on both tasks! The family were based in the Parish of Ovingham NBL ENG and the starting point was GEORGE who was born on 26 July 1795. He married Mary WILSON in the Parish Church on 7 March 1819. They had four children who survived infancy: RALPH (08/07/1821), GEORGE WALKER (25/04/1824), THOMAS GIBSON (29/07/1827) and CATHERINE ELIZABETH (21/12/ 1828). George Walker married Dorothy POTTS in 1848 and they had six children JANE ELIZABETH (1850), Carolyn’s great grandmother, MARY ANN (1855), THOMAS (1858), CATHERINE (1861), JOHN WILLIAM HANCOCK (1868), LEOPOLD (1870), VICTOR JAMES (1874) and GEORGE DRYDEN (1852). George’s (1795) siblings were all found in the Ovingham Registers: THOMAS who died 08/12/1792, MARY (10/11/1793), CATHARINE (31/12/1797) and WILLIAM (06/04/1800) (born 16/10/1799) (Husband native of Wickham and mother of this Parish). Their parents were Thomas A* and Catherine Dryden who were married in the same Parish 8 November 1792. From the very fortuitous entry against William’s baptism relating to his father’s birthplace we found the baptism of Thomas in Whickham Co Durham ENG on 21/07/1771 the son of WILLIAM A* and Mary (probably HALL).With all that sorted it was time to check the data against the Clan’s member database which holds information on the pedigree chart which is submitted on joining. Amazingly we found a match submitted in 1989 and in Roots edition 27! Which proved that Victor James’s son REGINALD 29/06/1902 born in Stockton DUR, married Townsville, Queensland, Australia whose son BRUCE REGINALD was the father of ANTHONY JAMES who was the member who signed up in 1989. He is no longer a member can any of our Australian members help us here with his whereabouts probably in Queensland?It is possible the Leopold also emigrated to Australia. There are also possibly branches of the family in Newfoundland or other parts of Canada. Can anyone help there?

4249 Welcome new member Flint. His wife Annie is the dau of David Tremblay and PATRICE MARIE A*. Patrice A* is the dau of RUSSELL B. A* Jr., and Shirley SNIDER. All of them are natives of Michigan (MI). Russell B. A* is the son of RUSSELL BERNARD A*, b 1894 Reno Co., Kansas (KS) d. MI, and Patrice CUNNINGHAM born & died MI. Now we move into serious Armstrong territory in Pennsylvania (PA). Russell Bernard A* b 1894 was the son of JOHN ALLEN A* b 1867 in South Bend, Armstrong Co., PA d 1933 Reno Co., KS and Lillie Jane DETTER b 1872 Adams Co., PA, d 1947 Illinois. They married in 1888 Reno Co., KS and had four other children there: GUY W b 1889, BELUAH MAY b 1895, JOHN ALLEN, Jr., b 1897 and WILLIAM KEITH John Allen A* was the son of JAMES A* b 1822 Allegheny Co., PA and Susanna T. COWAN b 1831 PA. They both died in 1877 of a sudden illness. They married 1852 in Van Buren Co., Iowa. They had at least 10 children all born in South Bend, Armstrong Co., PA: IDA B 1858, ROSA M 1860, LEFFARD C 1862, LIDIA 1864, REBECCA KATE 1866, JOHN ALLEN 1867, ROBERT H 1869 and LILLIAN THOMPSON B 1876. James A* was the son of WILLIAM A* b 1793 PA, d 1868 Allegheny Co., PA and his 1st wife Annabella M DAVIDSON (C 1796-1831) whom he married C 1818. Other children of William A* and Annabella are thought to be: Eliza Catherine b C 1820, Margaret Eleanor b C 1825, Rebecca Logan b C 1827, Mary Agnes b C 1829 and Hugh b C 1831. William A* married 2nd in 1833 Sarah Patterson Brown (1799-1872), and had children: Annabella D., b C 1833, Sarah P., b C 1836, William b 1838, and Priscilla b C 1841. As usual there is no primary documentation to identify the parents or siblings of William A*. In 1800 the only A* found in Plum Twp Allegheny Co., PA was John A* B bef 1755 with what appears to be his spouse b Bet 1756-1774, and 7 children under 16 [b Bet 1784-1800], 5 boys and 2 girls, not there in 1810. In 1810 we did not find any A*s, however, we know that there were four A*s in early 1820-1840 census for Plum Twp, Allegheny Co., PA. In 1820, the eldest appears to be JAMES A* b bef 1775 and next door is William A* b bet. 1776-1794. In 1830, we have WILLIAM A* b Bet. 1776-1794, SAMPSON A* b Bet 1791-1800, and JOHN A* b bet 1791-1800, near, THOMAS A* b Bet 1791-1800. In 1840, we have still have William A* b Bet. 1776-1794, Sampson A* b Bet 1791-1800, and, John A* b Bet 1791-1800, near, Thomas A* b Bet 1791-1800. Also In 1840, living next door to William A* is REBECCA A* b bet. 1791-1800 head of household. It appears that the same Rebecca A* age 59 b C 1791 was residing in William A*s household in 1850. Who she was is not known. It was definitely not common to have a female head of household not a widow during this time. Using 1820 thru 1850 the William A* is most probably our WILLIAM A* b 1793 PA. Based on circumstantial evidence (1820-1840 census) most believe that JAMES A* was the father of William, Sampson, Thomas and John. The only documents we have been able to find is related to a biography of George Bretten A* son of Sampson A*, grandson of James A*: and, biography of William King A*, son of Thomas A*, grandson of James A* in the History of Allegheny Co., PA, 1889, pgs 719 & 720 and pg 413 respectively. It is a lead but not a primary source. Pennsylvania Armstrong - Help us, please !!!!!

4252 Welcome new member Sherry. Sherry's mother was an Armstrong whose family ended up on the West Coast of the US. They started on the other side of the country in Pennsylvania (PA), then Maryland (MD), then West Virginia (WVa). Her grandfather EDWARD DOUGLAS A* and great grandfather EDWARD BURTON A* were both born in Washington State (WA). That is a long way from WVa where WILLIAM BURTON A* was b 1864 in Marshall Co. He married Mary Bieber HOYT (b 1870 in Maine) in 1890 in Kings Co., WA. William Burton A* was the son of Singleton Townshend A* b 1841 MD d 1916 in WA and Arabella BURTON who married in Ohio Co., WVa. Singleton A* was the adventurous A* who moved his family from WVa to WA. SINGLETON T. A* was the son of JOHN MAXWELL A* b C 1814 Garrett Co., MD d 1885 Marshall Co., WVa. who married Anna Maria TOWNSHEND b C 1819 MD, in 1840 in Allegany Co., MD. They had at least 11 children all born in Marshall Co., WVA: SINGLETON 1841, WILLIAM 1844-1885, HANNAH 1846, CATHERINE (KATE) 1848, ELLEN 1850, MARY LOUISE 1850, THOMAS D. J. 1853, CHARLES 1855, ELIZABETH 1856, JOHN J.C., C 1861 and MAXWELL 1864. John Maxwell A* was the son of WILLIAM A* b 1763 PA, d 1848 Garrett Co., MD and Hannah nee SINNEX DEVECMON. b 1770 New Castle Co., Delaware. Hannah married 1st Peter DEVECMON in 1786 [giving her maiden name as Sennex or Sinnex] and had several children by him. He died in 1803. One of their daughters, Ann b C 1794 married Isaac McCarty, and Isaac's sister Elizabeth McCarty according to a centennial History of Garrett Co., MD, married, now guess!, another William A* of Romney, Hampshire Co., Virginia. Now Devecmon is the Americanized spelling of a French surname, and anyone looking for documentation regarding surnames might spell it 50 different ways. We encounter the same problems with names in general all dependent on who was writing them down at the time the document(s) were made and/or who is transcribing the document. We have located Hannah's second marriage to William Armstrong. They were married on or shortly after 26 Feb 1805 in Harrison Co., Virginia, now WVA according to the Marriage Bond. The spelling Devecmon is also used in the names of descents. Anyone researching in the US runs into the difficulties that even when your family lived in the same place for a long time, the State as well as the County location, changed a LOT pre- and post- the revolutionary war. In the UK it is Countries, Diocese, parishes and counties. William A* and Hannah had at least 3 sons, JAMES DEVECMON A* b 1806, THOMAS HADDEN A* b C 1812, and our John Maxwell A* 1814. We are pretty sure that William A* was the son of JAMES A* and Margaret [maiden not known]. He also had a brother named MAXWELL A*. Both William and Maxwell were minors when their father JAMES A* died in Huntington York Co., PA. This James A* is supposed to have been born in Ireland between 1720-1733. Can anyone help us find more about the emigrant James A*? Also, Sherry has information that indicates William and Maxwell were raised by their step-father Thomas Hadden, however, we need proof. Does anyone have a documented marriage between Margaret A* widow and Thomas Hadden? It is clear that William A* had a close connection with him as he name one son Thomas Hadden A*.

4274 Welcome new member 4274 Jeffrey, who is searching for his Armstrong ancestor based on his Armstrong DNA. Most of us are very aware that searching for an ancestor is complicated enough when we have a name to go with the ancestor. Jeffrey has documented his line back to William Hollingsworth b Abt 1811 in Tennessee [TN] and Martha Baker b Abt 1815 North Carolina. They married in Grainger Co., TN in 1831 where they lived until moving to Knox Co., TN before 1850 going back to Grainger Co., before 1870, where died Martha after 1880 and William died After 1892. They had at least 12 children between 1836 and 1857, 4 sons and 8 daughters. Two of the sons left TN about 1865 leaving tracks in Kentucky, Indiana and ultimately landing in Oklahoma. William Hollingsworth's mother was Anna. Using census records, she was b Bet 1785-1794 in Virginia and died in Grainger Co., TN after 12 Nov 1870 leaving a Will, naming 4 Hollingsworth children, William, his brother Joseph, who was deceased before 1870, two married daughters, and two Parker children by her second marriage. Anna married a total of four times, the Hollingsworth marriage Bef 1811 not yet found, William Parker in 1824, Joseph Beeler [Bealer] in 1834, and Valentine Phelps [Fulps] in 1851. We have the marriage bond for the 1824 marriage to William Parker which names Josiah Hollinsworth as Bondsman. We believe this Josiah was possibly the brother of Anna's deceased spouse, b Abt 1789 where we do not know. He married Rebecca Whaling in 1812 in Grainger Co., TN. Some think that Anna may be Mary Anna Whaling, possibly the sister of Rebecca nee Whaling Hollingsworth. Now the closest DNA match we have seems to be an ANCESTOR of Samuel Armstrong b 1792 TN d 1867 Missouri, who married Margaret Sproul Abt 1828 (Residing in Hawkins Co TN 1830-1850 and Polk Co., Missouri in 1860), they had six children, including a son James A* b1830 TN, d 1913 Polk Co., MO, m Sara C. Donnell 1844-1924, who had 7 children, including son Sterling Webster A* b 1866 MO d 1956 MO, m. Ressa A Vanderford, who had 12 children, including son James Paul A* b 1895 MO, d 1975 MO, m. Ruthe Butler. However, the parents of Samuel Armstrong are not documented and he was in Hawkins Co., not Grainger Co., TN. Assistance of any kind with either of these families would be greatly appreciated.

5212 New Australian member Marj has now joined the ever increasing list of “Bewcastlers”! Her interest relates to the family of JAMES A* (1844) who married Elizabeth Jane TELFORD 13 Nov 1875 in St.Cuthbert’s Bewcastle, and whose ancestors go back to WILLIAM A* born in Cummerstree, Annandale SCO in 1739. James and Elizabeth had 13 children and Marj is looking for the offspring of any of the 13 who still carry the Armstrong name. Amazingly as far as can be ascertain this comes down to possibly only one person! The first child WILLIAM TELFORD (Armstrong) (1874) b. Bewcastle CUL, was born out of wedlock. He died in 1893. JOHN (1877), Marj’s direct ancestor, in Rigg Foot Bewcastle died in 1907 leaving wife Clara BELL and two daughters who emigrated to Australia. THOMAS (1878) was born in Rigg and died in Wigton CUL in 1935. There is no record of a marriage or children as far as we can ascertain. JAMES (1879) in Blackpool Bewcastle may have married Mary Jane AINSLIE with a child JAMES AINSLIE A* (1908). It seems he went to Canada then USA. James may then have married Alice HAXTON in Lochgelly, Fife, SCO 1908 and had CHRISTINA OLIPHANT A* (1916). James died in July 1920 Lumphinnans, Fife, with self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. ALICE (1880) in Blackpoolgate Bellbank Bewcastle married George Geves DOWNS in 1908 in Bucklow Cheshire and died before 27 Aug 1930 in Indoorapilly Brisbane Queensland Australia. REBECCA (1882) in Headgate Bewcastle. Married Joseph GILBERTSON Wigton CUL in 1924. There seems no children of the marriage. RICHARD (1883) in Headgate Bewcastle he appears on Bewcastle War Memorial. Died WW1 fighting with Australian Forces from gunshot wounds to head at Gallipoli landing. Not married. Not married. Migrated to Australia in 1909 with brother Jacob. Died 1915 in Netley Military Hospital, Netley, Hampshire UK. MARGARET ANN TELFORD A* (1884) died in 1937 Winwick Mental Hospital Lancashire. JACOB (1885) in Headgate died 1937 in Sydney Australia in Callan Park Mental Hospital of natural causes. JANET (1886) in Headgate died 1966 in Kyogle, NSW, Australia Migrated to Australia 1912 marrying Albert FEATHERSTONE. George A* (1889) in High Onset Bewcastle died Oct 1918 in Etretat Hospital France, during WW1 fighting for Australian Forces in France, from influenza, bronchitis & pneumonia and is buried Etretat Churchyard Extension. WALTER was George’s twin. He died in 1973 in Carlisle CMB Migrated to Australia in 1911. Enlisted Australian Imperial in 1916 in Sydney. Survived the war & was demobbed in England in 1919. Returned to live with mother at Crossings Carlisle. He probably married Ethel DAVIDSON with children WILLIAM (1929), CAROLINE (1930), BETTY (1932), JEAN (1934) and EMILY (1936), all born Wigton CUL. ELIZABETH JANE A* (1891) was the thirteenth child born in Sunnyside Bewcastle and died the same year. Sadly this comes down to the fact that the only known male to survive from the brothers was Walter’s son William. Has anyone got any leads on him or his sisters?

ROOTS ENQUIRIES FROM EDITION 81 November 2015

3391 From the information that new member Joyce gave us we were able to get back a further 100 years, but are hoping that someone with Northumberland connections can help us further. From what we have discovered the line start with a GEORGE Armstrong of Long Horsley NBL who was born C1796 and married Isabella. They had the following children ROBERT (1828), GEORGE (1833), MICHAEL (1834), JAMES (1837) and THOMAS (1842). He was born in South Shields NBL and married Isabella WATSON (1849) in 1866. They had three children JOHN (1867), who was born in Cramligton NBL and married Annie FORSTER in 1888. His siblings were ISABELLA (1868) and JANE (1861). John and Annie produced six children ELLEN (1890), ISABELLA (1891), JOHN WATSON (1895), WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE (1898), from whom Joyce is descended, ANNIE 1903 and HERBERT SPENCER (1906). Can anyone link up with these names?

3402 New member David was stuck in the late part of the 18^th Century in Northumberland, but fortunately we have been able to move him on a bit but need some lateral connections now. Strangely we get relatively few enquiries which relate to this area (apart from Haltwhistle!) compared to Cumberland and Durham so we were somewhat surprised that the name of Horsley also appeared in another request in this issue of Roots. Perhaps thereby lies a genealogical warning, Horsley and Long Horsley are both in Northumberland but are by no means adjacent. Don’t always assume a place is where you think it is… there might be more than one of the same name in the British Isles! From the information provided David’s “brick wall” for JOHN Armstrong (c1798) there were three different places of birth given in three different censuses, namely Bishopwearmoth DUR, Morpeth NBL and Horsley NBL. The other entry in the 1861 had been transcribed as Horwsburg (hardly likely in NBL!). Looking very closely at the 1861 census we were pretty sure that it is Horsley albeit spelt as Horasley. If it was Horsley this was in the ancient Parish of Ovingham. The Bishop’s Transcripts gave up what we were looking for: ch 23 July 1797 Ovingham St Mary the Virgin John Armstrong, father HENRY A* occupation - husband (!), mother Peggy. Abode Horsley. First child. Then the marriage (shotgun!). By licence 25 Feb 1797 Henry A* and Peggy HINDMARC(S)H. No more children were discovered in Horsley but the next one appears in Bishopwearmouth along with other siblings with Parents Henry A* and Margaret Hindmarch Armstrong. (Was this an escape from disgrace in Horsley?) GEORGE b 05/07/1802 ch 15/08/02, ANN b 05/05/1804 ch 24/06/1804, HENRY 24/03/1806 ch 03/08/1806, THOMAS HINDMARCH ch 20/11/1808 and THOMAS b 08/09/1811 ch 20/10/1811 (No doubt THA died in infancy). This then links in nicely with Henry “turning up” in the 1841 Census for Bishopwearmouth linking in with his marriage to Isabelle(a) BULLERWELL in 1829 and their children FRANCES (c 1830), ANN(E) ch 19/06/1831, MARGARET ch 13/01/1833, MARY ISABELLA ch 06/02/1835, JOHN b 21/04/1837 ch 03/06/1837, MARIA ch 28/07/1839, ELIZABETH JANE ELLEN ch 05/09/1841 and REBECCA b 25/05/1844 ch 21/06/1844. We also surmised about Henry’s birth and his father. As he was married by licence there is a possibility that he was from and adjacent parish as there is no evidence of him being born in Ovingham. The only possibility is a Henry of Hawkwell christened in the Parish of Stamfordham on 23/04/1769. His father was GEORGE a brewer. Hawkwell is only three miles distant from Horsley. Also a burial of a Henry A* is recorded in Bishopwearmouth on 15/08/1830 aged 68. This is mere supposition. Perhaps you can prove it otherwise!

3368 The last time we picked up John in the edition 70, May 2010 copy of Roots were we had one solitary Armstrong on his pedigree when he joined us with just a name and nothing else! We proved that it was not a pedigree too far by tracing the male line until it “collided” with the Armstrong one. ELIZABETH (John’s grandmother) was born in Glasgow in 1867 and sisters AGNES and MARY in 1874 and 1881 in Motherwell. We were then able to trace the parents who were ARTHUR (C1846) and Catherine Queen (C1848) but both had just a one word birthplace….Ireland! We did find a marriage, but “unfortunately” this took place in Glasgow, so there was no Irish clue. Now we have moved on a bit further and have picked up Arthur’s siblings. Fortunately we have been able to pinpoint when the family came over from Ireland (between 1846 and 1849), but stubbornly any reference is still just “Ireland” in all the available censuses. Arthur’s siblings are: THOMAS (1849) born in Motherwell, so Arthur was the only child born in Ireland, SARAH (1851), ROBERT (1853), AGNES (1855), JOHN (1862) and JAMES (1864). Parents were ROBERT A* (C1823) and Elizabeth GARDNER (C1824). Sadly if we still had some access to the Irish History Foundation it might give us some clues. However they have now cancelled one’s 100 free searches and also stopped ‘pay as you go’ but do offer annual access for £160! Well I suppose with the added information we might just get lucky through one of you OR perhaps someone will show some benevolence to the Association by donating the annual fee for the Clan’s researchers!

2612 New member Lisa’s line is a combination of two Canonbie lies which joined when GEORGE A* (1859) married Mary Jane STEELE in 1885. She was the granddaughter of Edward Steele, whose son Reginald had eventually married MARY (1810) but not before Reginald was born as is apparent in the 1841 Census. Let’s deal with this line first. Mary was the daughter of THOMAS A*(1873) and Margaret LITTLE who were married in Canonbie on 11 Nov 1806. Their other children were: WILLIAM (1808) MARGARET (1810), DAVID (1815), ELIZABETH (1817), MARGARET (1820), JOHN BELL (1823) and ANN BELL (1825) all living at Forgebraehead. Thomas’s parents were THOMAS Armstrong who married MARY Little. (Yes! I know that’s confusing, but it’s not the half of it with Armstrongs marrying Littles in Canobie – but more of that at another time!). All children were acknowledged as coming from Knowhead. REGINALD (1767), BETTIE (1767), BRIDGET (1770), JANNET (1772) MARY (1775), JOHN (1777) and THOMAS (1783). Now to follow George… He hails from the Holehouse Armstrongs. Geographically that is very close to Forgebraehead in Canonbie. George was the son of FRANCIS (1826) and Mary MURRAY (1831). Francis’s mother was GRIZEL A* who had fortunately married a THOMAS A* (who we believe he came from Half Morton) to keep the name going. (Grizel’s brother JOHN had also married an Armstrong). Not to be outdone both parents FRANCIS (1760) and HELEN (1763) were also both Armstrongs! All in all this will probably leave one a bit confused at first but after reading it a number of times it will become clear!

3404 David had been working for some time on his pedigree and with the amount of clues it gave us we were able to open up a large “enclave” of Armstrongs in Norfolk, ENG. We had one past member who was linked to this group with confirmed our findings, but again only in skeletal form, but current research tools meant that we could delve much deeper and also return results that were proved by primary evidence. We start right back in about 1730 when we find that a THOMAS A*, who married an unknown Elizabeth had children MARY (1750), JOHN (1752), THOMAS (1754) and CHRISTOPHER (1756), all bpt at Wet Dereham, Norfolk. Thomas married three times. First to Susanna A DUFFIELD at Foulden in 1778 and HANNAH was bpt in Bougham in 1779. No other children can be found and Susanna died in 1783. Thomas then married in 1786 Ann Eldred at Foulden and HENRY was born in April 1786, his mother dying a month later. Thomas lastly married Sophia OLDMAN at West Dereham in 1787. Their children were: MARIA (1788), HENRY (1790), LUCY (1790-died 1790), JOHN (1793), EDWARD (1797), THOMAS (1800-died 1801), and THOMAS (1802). Henry married Elizabeth HORNE in 1849. Their children all born in West Dereham were: CHRISTIANA (1849), CHARLES (1851), EMMA (1854), SARAH ANN (1855), HENRY JAMES (1857), REBECCA (1859), ARTHUR (1861), ROBERT (1863) and RACHEL (1869). Arthur married Annie HARRIS in 1883 in Upwell, NKF. They produced 11 children all born in and around Upwell. HARRY (1885), ARTHUR (1887), FREDERICK (1890), CHARLES (1890), LIZZIE (1891), ALFRED (1893), WALTER (1897), HORACE (1899), BESSIE (1899), OLIVE (1902) AND FRANK (1906). Harry was David’s grandfather. We already have Arthur’s (1861) family on the database, but all other names are “new”. Surly there must be someone out there in Norfolk who can connect. By now there must be many more Armstrongs from descendants from all those names!

3403 New member Catherine was fortunate with the Armstrong line she was researching for her husband as she has joined the ever growing line of “Haltwhistlers” so we are able to get her back further than she had managed. The link starts with WALTER A*(1841) who was the eighth child of JOHN (1801) of Hindley Steel, Haltwhistle, and his wife Jane also an ARMSTRONG. John was the eleventh child of JOHN A* (b 1749 in Butterburn, Lanercost, Cumberland) and his wife Jane CARRICK (b C1756 in Haltwhistle). They were married in 1778 at Haltwhistle. Their other children were ANN (1778), JANE (1780), ELIZABETH (1782), ROBERT (1785), SARAH (1786), MARY (1789), THOMAS (1791), ISABELLA (1794), MARGARET (1796), HANNAH (1799) and DINAH (1803). John’s (1749) parents were ROBERT and Jane REEVE.

4221 Welcome new member William S. Armstrong. Bill's parents were MERYL WALTER A* and his 2nd wife Helen M. SEARSON. Meryl W A* was the son of CLARENCE ELMER A* b 1875 Nebraska (NE) and Blanche Martha NORWOOD b 1880 South Dakota, who had at least six children in NE. Clarence Elmer A* was the son of RILEY PIERCE A* b 1852 Carroll Co., Illinois (IL), d. Woodbury Co., Iowa, and Emma JONES b 1852 Wisconsin. They married 1 Jan 1873 in Jo Daviess Co., IL and moved to NE where they had at least 5 children: LULU M. b 1873, CLARENCE ELMER b 1875, JULIA A. b Abt 1879, VIVIAN DAVID b 1881 and ETHEL D. b 1885. Riley Pierce A*'s parents were DAVID BOYD A* b 1818 Missouri (MO), d 1857 Carroll Co., IL and Mary Jane HULL b Abt 1822 IL. They married 1839 in Jo Daviess Co., IL, lived in Jo Daviess & Carroll Cos. IL, having at least 5 children: JOHN HENRY b 1840 d 1888 NE, Odelia b Abt 1847, d 1916, Orvilla b 1850 d Abt 1918, RILEY PIERCE b 1852 and ELIZABETH b 1855. David Boyd A* was the son of JOHN A* b 1793 South Carolina (SC) [thought to be Pendleton Co.], d 1872 Carroll Co., IL, and Elizabeth BOYD b Abt 1798 Kentucky. They married Abt 1817 MO, while living there had at least two children: DAVID BOYD A* and CATHERINE A* b 1821 d 1852 IL. We are looking for documentation to identify John A* [b 1793 SC] Parents. Since we have several John A*s born at or near the same time with indications they were born in SC, WE NEED Help!!

4240/4241 Welcome new family members 4240-4241, Ann and David Paterson. Ann's parents were MATHIS E. and VIOLA C. A*. Mathis E. A* was the son of EUGENE JESSE A* b 1860 Attala Co., Mississippi (MS), and Sophia A. JONES. He had an older brother JAMES WILLIAM A* b 1889 MS. Eugene Jesse A* was the 2nd son of JAMES CARROLL A* b 1828 Attala Co., MS, d 1864 in the Battle of Franklin, and Sarah B THORNTON b 1838 Alabama, d in MS. Their eldest son was JOHN ABNER A* b 1855 Attala Co., MS who married Hannah STONE Abt 1883 in MS. James Carroll A* was the son of JAMES ABNER A* b 1789 d 1855 and Effa PETTY. They married in MS 1819. James Abner A*, who mostly went by Abner, and Effa had a least 5 known children all born in MS: STEPHEN P. (1820-1898), JAMES CARROLL (1828-1864) Ann's ancestor, SAMUEL JACKSON (b Abt 1830), ABNER FRANKLIN (b Abt 1834) and J. WASHINGTON (b Abt 1837). We do not know for sure where James Abner A* was born. We do know he was in Tennessee when he enlisted to serve during the War of 1812 and in MS by 1819. In 1850 census he says he was born in Georgia. Some believe he was the son of James A* & Elizabeth [possibly nee Carroll], but as usual there is more than one James A* & Elizabeth and we have not found source documentation to shed light on the questions. Can any of you help us?

4246 Welcome new family members 4246, Sue & Leon Kelly. Sue's grandmother was ETHEL LILLIAN BRITTON A*, b New York (NY), who married Max F. W. SIEBERT (b Germany) in NY. Ethel was the dau of HARRY BRITTON A* b 1860 Hunslet, Yorkshire (Yorks), England, d NY (City) and Emily BLOOMFIELD b Suffolk, England, d NY (City). Harry B. A* emigrated by himself from England to NY in Apr 1888. He married Emily in Jul 1888 in NY (City). Harry B & Emily A* had six children in NY (City), ANNIE B., b 1889 (mar Charles S. BARBER), HARRY B., b 1891, ALFRED B., b 1894, ROBERT b 1896, ETHEL L.B., b 1898 (Sue's grandmother) and GEORGE H. B., born and died 1900. Harry B., was the son of Elizabeth nee BRITTON A*, b 1841 Hunslet, Yorks, wife of WILLIAM A*. William A* was b Abt 1837. According to the marriage certificate, he married Elizabeth Britton [Brittain], age 18, spinster, dau of William Britton & Elizabeth nee Hartley 18 Dec 1858 in Leeds, Yorks. He was age 21, a bachelor, glass maker residing Hunslet, Yorks, and the son of JAMES A* also a glass maker. William A* d 5 Jun 1859 in Hunslet, Yorks, age 22 yrs, a sheet Glass blower Journeyman. In the 1861 census Elizabeth A* and Harry B. A* are residing with her father in Hunslet, Yorks. Elizabeth married 2nd Alfred WILSON in 1863 and Harry B. A* is residing with them in Yorks 1871 & 1881. We have Harry B.'s birth certificate, but have not yet found a baptism or christening record. We have not been able to document William A*'s actual date or place of birth, but the marriage certificate and the death certificate both indicate he was born Abt 1837. We also have not been able to specifically identify him in the 1841 or 1851 census. His marriage certificate shows his father as James A* also a glass maker, but we have not found a James A* a glass maker in the 1841 or 1851 census either. Yorkshire members we some help here. Does anyone recognize this James A* or William A*?

5409 Welcome back member Henry E Armstrong. Ernie's parents were LEWIS HUNTER A* and Ethel V TANNER of Sumter Co., Alabama [AL]. His grandparents were LEWIS HUNTER A* b 1871 AL & Mary E ASHLEY b 1874 AL. Lewis Hunter A* (1871) was the son of JAMES ROBERT A* b Abt 1840 Sumter Co., AL, d 1891 Sumter Co., AL, who married Susan Ann GRAHAM b Abt 1839 AL, d Abt 1900 AL. The parents of James Robert A* were JOHN H. A* b Abt 1810 [possibly in South Carolina [SC] ] and Mary Adeline [thought to possibly be nee GILMER] b Abt 1811. We have a marriage record for John Armstrong and Mary A. Gilmer who married on 1Feb 1838 in Dallas Co., AL, and was not recorded until 7 Dec 1843. Is this the correct John A*? The actual place of their births is not clear and both appear to have died after 1870 and before 1880 in Sumter Co., AL. Having said all of that, John H A* and Mary Adeline, had at least 7 and maybe 8 children all born in Sumter Co., AL. They were: SAMUEL BOYD A* b Abt 1839, JAMES ROBERT A* [Ernie's ancestor], WILLIAM C. A* b Abt 1842, JOHN HUNTER A* b bet 1843-1844, MARTHA A. A* b Abt 1845, Columbus B. A* b Abt 1847, and JOSEPH P b Abt 1850 [also called Addie], and/or JUNIUS A. [Addie] A* b Abt 1853. Descendants of Samuel B, James Robert, Columbus B., and William C, moved to Texas, and lived in or near Groesbeck. Ernie believes John H. A* was born in SC and he is the son of SAMUEL A* Jr., b Abt 1767 Abbeville Co., South Carolina [SC] d 1814 SC and Mary Ann RUSSELL b Abt 1770. Samuel A* is thought to be the son of SAMUEL A* b Abt 1742 Ireland d 1823 Abbeville Co., SC & Mary BOYD b Abt 1744 Ireland d Abt 1840 Abbeville Co., SC. According to South Carolina Immigrants 1760 to 1770, pgs 228, 229 and 230, Samuel A* Age 25, Mary Age 23, son WILLIAM Age 2 and Margaret A* Age 60, arrived at Charles Town, from Belfast, on the ship Earl of Donegal, Dec 1767 . Samuel A* and Mary [Boyd], stayed in the Abbeville S.C. area and had several more children. Samuel A* died Abt 4 Jun 1823 and left a Will dated 26 Aug 1809. The Will names, sons JOHN, DAVID, MATTHEW, HUGH, JAMES and SAMUEL Jr., [who preceded his father, d Abt 1814], and daughters MARY EMERSON, and MARTHA A*. Can any of you shed light on this family?

2608 New member Anne is linked to Barbados family of Armstrongs of which we have a great amount of information held on a massive pedigree chart. Anne goes as far back as GRIFFITH PHILIP A* (1815) who married Elizabeth Christian JOHNSON in Barbados in 1843. However based on the christening record at familysearch.org, Griffith Philip should be attached to parents BENONY (1792) Armstrong and SARAH PAYNE Armstrong (1794) who were married in 1814. The Barbados Chart shows him as son of Griffith and Mary Waterman. The Chart is in error. This of course means that Griffith’s ancestors are different to the ones shown on the chart but they eventually get back to the same root! First taking Benony. He indeed was the son of GRIFFITH (1752) and Mary WATERMAN. Griffith’s father was BENJAMIN who died in 1770. His father was also BENJAMIN (d 1751) who married Mary JORDAN in 1723. This Benjamin is the common ancestor of Benony and Sarah Payne. The pedigree continues through SAMUEL and starts with EDWARD who married Anne JONES in 1666. Sarah Anne’s pedigree runs through PHILIP JONES A* (1754) who married Jane PETERKIN in 1782, his father was MOSES (d. 1775) who married a Sarah. Moses’ father was the common ancestor Benjamin (d. 1751).

ROOTS ENQUIRIES FROM EDITION 80 May 2015

3390 New member David has his roots in Co Durham ENG. We have been able to trace his roots back to the late 1700s and hopefully someone will help us get back further! David’s grandmother BEATRICE MARY (1888) was fathered by WILLIAM A* (b. 1841 at East Rainton DUR.) His first wife was Sarah Jane Hannah CURREY (1846), whom he married in 1862. Their children were ROBERT CURREY (1863), JAMES (1865), MARY (1867), SARAH JANE (1870), MARGARET (1872), JOSEPH (1874) and ELIZABETH (1878). Their mother Sarah died in 1882. He then married Isabella WATSON, a widow in 1888. Their children were Beatrice Mary, WILLIAM/JOHN WILLIAM (1889) and FREDERICK (1891). William's (1841) parents were JAMES A* (1799) and Margaret. As date wise we are now out of Civil Registration our only hopes are centred on Parish Records. We can find no trace of their marriage. On two censuses James gives his birthplace as Biddick Co Durham. They had two other children: JOHN (bp 20 May 1837, b 30 April), JANE (pp 11 Dec 1839, b. 14 June). It is believed Jane died young as we can find no trace of her other than in the 1841 Census. This brings us on to the search for James's parents which has been very frustrating. Biddick is situated just south of Washington DUR and today the two are seamless. However Biddick was then in the Parish of Houghton le Spring so we are looking for evidence of James A* born C1799. By rights this should be in the HLS registers which have been transcribed but there is no such mention. There is also no mention in the Bishop's Transcripts (copies made of the actual registers for the bishop to ensure no foul play!) but no such baptism is evident. There is, of course, a possibility that this was missed on transcription so viewing the actual register is our only hope…..unless you can!

3392 New member April holds the “Riccarton Mill” line of Newcastleton, Roxburghshire SCO. This stretches back to 1692 and includes the intermarriage of two Armstrong lines. We have after many years been able to link transcriptions in our parish records of Ewes and Ettleton to the pedigree of a member. We start with JOHN (C1632) who married Margaret MURRAY. Son THOMAS was born in Ewes in C1680 and was married in 1705 to Jean ELLIOTT. Son THOMAS was baptised on 15 April 1715 with his birthplace given as Flask/Sorby. He had seven siblings, JOHN (1701), HELEN (1703), MARGARET (1705), JOHN (1707), HELEN (1709), WILLIAM (1711) and AGNES (1718). Thomas married Christian ELLIOTT of Riccarton Mill and daughter ISABELLA was born in 1755. She married JAMES Armstrong (1752) and son JAMES was born in 1793. James married Margaret LITTLE (1799) in 1820, son JAMES being born in 1822. He married Janet TURNBULL (1838) in 1859, and WALTER was born in 1875. Walter, who married Jane ROBSON (1920) were the parents of JANE INGLIS A*, April’s mother, who was the last of the line at Riccarton Mill. Now we’ve got a definitive line here is there anyone else who can link into it?

4222-4228 In the last Roots (Edition 79) we introduced you to new family members 4222-4228, Rebecca, David and their 5 children. Now we come to a more difficult task, regardless of Jesse's middle name or initial, who were Jesse A*'s Parents? In trying to find his parents, or at the least confirm possible relatives, our main source of information during that time period is Census records. Unfortunately, family member names are not listed until the 1850 Census. In the 1830 Census for Blount Co., AL, there are 3 A* heads of household. Jesse Armstrong, head, 1M 20-30, 1F 15-20 [Jesse b 1803 & Elizabeth Holt they m May 1829 in Blount Co., AL and their first child was not born until 1831] Thomas Armstrong, head, 1M <5, 1M 30-40 [b Bet 1790-1800], 1F 15-20 [Could be Thomas * b Abt 1798 & Mary Wadkins b Abt 1813 and son James W b 1829]. James Armstrong, head, 1M 5-10, 1M 10-15, 1M 15-20, 1M 30-40 [b Bet 1790-1800], 1F 5-10, 1F 40-50 [b Bet 1780-1790] [Could be James b Bet 1785-1792 and his Mother or Mother-in-Law? or possibly an age error that should have been 1F 30-40, Sarah b Abt 1786 h w? , and their children Thomas G, William C., John M., and Elizabeth] Of course in 1840 the number of A* households increased to 7 as follows: J. Armstrong, head, 2M <5 [James & who? Isaac was not born until late 1840], 2M 5-10 [Wm Asa & Nathan?], 1M 30-40 [b. 1800-1810] [most likely, our Jesse] Will Armstrong, head, 1M <5, 1M 20-30 [b 1810-1820], 1F 20-30, 1F 30-40 [Could be William C. & Mary Sellers] Thos Armstrong, head, 1M <5, 1M 20-30 [b 1810-1820] , 1F 15-20 [Could be Thomas b Abt 1816 & Lucy Walker] Jno Armstrong, head, 1M 15-20 [b 1820-1825], 1F <5, 1F 15-20, 1F 30-40 [b 1800-1810] [Could be John M. b 1820 & Frances Hardwick] Thos Armstrong, head, 1M <5, 2M 5-10, 1M 15-20, 1M 40-50 [b 1790-1800], 1F <5. 1F 20-30 [Could be Thomas G. b Abt 1798 SC that m. Mary C. Wadkins] S. Armstrong, head, 1M 20-30 [b 1810-1820], 1F 15-20 [b 1820-1825], 1F 60-70 [b 1770-1780] [This could be Sarah A* b Abt 1786 w o James with a son and dau Elizabeth b Abt 1822] J. L. [or J.S.] Armstrong, head, 2M <5, 1M 20-30 [b 1810-1820], 1F <5, 1F 20-30 [So who is this?] We know there are members with Alabama and South Carolina roots out there so we need your assistance. Any information or documentation to help us sort through all of this would be greatly appreciated. We would like to figure out how these families fit together. Can you help?

3350 Jane is resubmitting her “brick wall” of seven years in the hope that someone can increase her lineage. She has proven evidence that her oldest ancestor was BENJAMIN Armstrong (C1789) who gave his place of birth in the 1851 Census as Newby Gill, Cumberland, ENG. “The Parish of Irthington, Cumberland derives its name from the Irthing, which flows at its southern extremity. It is intersected by the site of the great Roman Wall, and also the military road from Newcastle to Carlisle. It is divided into the four townships of Irthington, Laversdale, Newby and Newtown."[T. Bulmer & Co's History, Topography and Directory of East Cumberland, 1884]. The problem is tracing his parents which then might link up a supposed grandfather BENJAMIN A* who was born C1729 and died in Irthington in 1799. He married Catherine LAMB in 1754 at Irthington and they had 12 children: JOSEPH (1753), ANN (1756), JOHN (1758), but died in infancy, CATHERINE and DINAH (1763) could have been twins but likely a double baptism with an elder sibling, ELIZABETH (1765), JOHN (1768), THOMAS (1770), RICHARD (1773), RICHARD (1775), this was no doubt using the same name as his earlier deceased brother, MARY (1781) and JANE (1786). However if Catherine was, say, 20 when she was married she would have produced her last child at 53 which is stretching it a bit, and Benjamin would have been 58! However the BTs list all the children with parents Benjamin and Catherine. Maybe it was a case of late baptisms. This would then leave us with four sons who could have produced the missing link. Indeed Jane is mentioned in Catherine’s (died 1806) will (1806) as an executrix. The last mention of Joseph is at a mass baptism on 8 June 1786 which included his children JOHN and ISABELLA. The other three sons are mentioned in Catherine’s will. “…to my late son Thomas’s two children each one pound and ten shillings”, names unknown. “…..to my son John five pounds, to my son Richard ten pounds”. What we now need to know is the name of Thomas’ two children and the names of any children that John and Richard had as well as additional ones born to Joseph. The records don’t turn up any Benjamins, but maybe you can help!

3394/5576/3574/3122 This entry really typifies what Roots is all about. Those of you who are avid readers of this section will be aware of two groups lovingly named as “Haltwhistlers” and “Bewcastlers” and sometimes due to their proximity they intermix. This is such a case but it brings together a member (now with the reivers in the sky) who submitted a chart in 1974, a 2009 member who was trying to prove the earlier part of her pedigree, the subsequent linking up of another member to the line and new member Tony. We first established a common ancestor between Tony and Denise of ROBERT Armstrong born in 1794 in Haltwhistle. There was a matter of difference as to who was his father but at least they agreed on his grandfather being ROBERT. He was of Brookysburn, Haltwhistle, NBL and was born about 1741. He was known to have been living there between 1770 and 1778. Robert died in Haltwhistle in 1829. He was buried in Haltwhistle on 2 March 1829. The register entry was recorded as “Robert Armstrong, aged 88, of Hindley Steel.” Robert married Anne HAVELOCK in 1761, in Haltwhistle. They had five, possibly six, children: ANN (1762), JOHN (1764), WILLIAM (1768), JANE (1770), ISAAC (1773) ELIZABETH (1775) and GEORGE (1788). There was some discussion as to whether Isaac was the father of Robert 1794 or William. However William’s Will proves him to be the father although it appears that Robert never married as in his Will he made special provisions for his housekeeper Elizabeth Johnson, suggesting a close relationship. Some years ago a member sent paper drawn copies of charts produced by the late Maurice Lincoln which shows all the convoluted links between the Haltwhistle A*s. Looking at the burial details of Robert and the mention of Hindley Steel the charts were checked for Hindley Steel references and there was JOHN (1749-1829) along with his BROTHER Robert 1741-1829! A lucky but incidental addition to the same chart was Robert (1794) marrying Eleanor Lowes whose mother was an Armstrong! However Robert is high and dry on the chart and his father was only identified by Tony’s individual work on the Roberts 1794 and 1741. James and Robert’s father was charted as Robert A* (Lanercost) C1710-1800. This reference then led back to the Names database where Robert was listed as having Bewcastle connections. This was brilliant news as our connection to Robert was supplied on a chart submitted in 1974. When Denise submitted her pedigree in 2009 Bobbie Jean Hooser (our US Convenor) had only just really started on her “Bewcastle Mission” which has now turned into a massive pool of knowledge. With this we can get you back another three generations before Robert C1710. Robert: 5 Feb 1742 Christening at Lanercost son of Robert of Wyliesike Foot. Brother John: 12 Apr 1749 Christening at Lanercost, son of Robert of Butterburn. This was where Bobbie Jean’s research kicked in as she had done research for Nancy for John which with the added information thus establishing his relationship with his brother gets back two further generations. Their father ROBERT (C1707) was born at Low Grains Bewcastle and baptised on 4 June 1710 at Bewcastle. He married in 1741 Jane REEVE. They also had three daughters ISABEL (1744), MARY (1746) and JANE (1755). Robert’s father was JAMES (bp 7 Aug 1670) of Low Grains who died after 1710 and his father was JAMES born between 1625-1645 and died before 22 August 1696. He married Anne LOWTHER 30 November 1666 in Lanercost. As an added bonus the discovery of Robert (1741) on Maurice Lincoln’s chart is that Robert’s daughter Jane (1770) married a THOMAS Armstrong (1767) whose father was FRANCIS (C1725) of Haltwhistle. This thus links up Alan (3122) to this new pedigree. All we need now is for someone to come forward to claim a link to Thomas and Jane! Where are you??

5208 Little did new member Jeannette know that she was following a trend when she joined as we also welcome her into the group of “Bewcastlers”! Her line starts with WILLIAM A* who was born in Whelpdaleholme Bewcastle NBL between 1646 and 1666. He married Jannet CUNNINGHAM. Son ROBERT (1710) was baptised in Bewcastle as was sister ELEANOR (1702). Robert married Mary ROUTLEDGE in 1735 and their children who survived infancy were: THOMAS (1736), JANE (1738), JOHN (1740), WILLIAM (1743), ISOBEL (1746), MARY (1748), BETTY (1751) and ROBERT (1754). Thomas, born Park, Bewcastle, married Isobel STORY in 1765. Their eight children were: ROBERT (1766), MARGARET (1766), JOHN (1767), THOMAS (1771), WILLIAM (1774), ANNE (1779), JOSEPH (1782) and JENNY (1784). Robert, who was born in Slacks, Nixons, Bewcastle married Nancy TARN. Their children were JANE (1797), JOHN (1800), MICHAEL (1808) and ANN (1811). Michael was born in Langdon Beck, DUR. Michael married Mary GRAHAM in 1839. Their children were ROBERT (1840), JOSEPH (1841), MICHAEL (1845), WILLIAM (1849) and MARY A (1852). Michael of Staindrop, DUR married Isabel HENDERSON in Newcastle Upon Tyne DUR where son Robert was born in 1885. His siblings were WILLIAM YOUNG (1873), FREDERICK (1875), ELIZABETH (1876), EDITH MARY (1881), ALFRED JAMES (1889) and FRANCES ELEANOR (1894). Robert was Jeannette’s grandfather who emigrated to Australia in 1912 on “Paketa” and married Daisy HOOD after his first wife died in childbirth (BRIAN) in 1911. There are many sibling names here. Could you be related to this line?

4232 Welcome new member Wayne is the son of Charles E & Evelyn A*. Charles E.'s parents were CHARLES E. & Velma A* who had seven children. Charles E., the senior, of Oklahoma (OK) and later California, was the eldest son of WILLIAM ARTHUR A* b 1866 Illinois (IL) d OK and Cora West. The father of William Arthur A* was George Washington A* b 1832 IL, who married 1865 in Effingham Co., IL, Caroline BAYLES (b 1846 IL). GEORGE WASHINGTON A* & Caroline had six children all born at Effingham or Madison Co., IL; William Arthur, the eldest, ISAAC N (b 1869), MARION J. (b 1876), GEORGE WASHINGTON (b 1880), MARY (b 1883) and NELLIE (b abt 1885). The father of George W. A* was NATHANIEL A* b 1780, d 24 Feb 1875 in IL. Nathaniel A* married three times 1st Catherine DERRYBERRY [Dereberry] 10 Sep 1807, having 10 children, 2nd Elizabeth CORNELISON 1 Jan 1832 shortly after the death of Catherine 10 Jul 1831, having 3 children and 3rd ANN PENDER 18 Apr 1837 shortly after the death of Elizabeth, having another 6 children. George W. A* was the eldest son of Elizabeth. From pension records we know that Nathaniel A* served in the War of 1812 and participated in the battles at or near New Orleans. His place of birth however, is not really known. Census records say Tennessee (TN), Virginia, or South Carolina, and his obituary says TN. We are pretty sure this Nathaniel A* family was in Maury Co., TN in 1820 living next door to John and Jacob Derryberry families, and sometime after 1822 moved his family to Illinois, as they are there in 1830 in Madison Co.IL and 1840 in Bond Co., IL. By 1850 they are shown in Effingham Co., IL where they stayed until his death in 1875. We are still searching for the Nathaniel A* and Elizabeth Corneilson marriage record and documentation for his parents. Recognize any names? We could sure use some help.

4234 &4239 Welcome new family members Sue and Gary. Sue's 5 times great-grandfather was James Barron (1752-1848), son of Joseph Barron (1723-1793) and Ann Walker b 1733 Talbot Co., Maryland (MD). They married Abt 1747 in Talbot Co., MD. Ann Walker was the dau of James WALKER and REBECCA Armstrong. They married 1729 in Talbot Co., MD. Rebecca A* was the dau of PHILEMON A* b Abt 1660 and d 1713 Talbot Co., and Mary thought to be nee PRICE. (1671-1713). We have some church birth and marriage records supporting the line to this point. Those records show that Philemon A* & Mary had the following children in St Peter's parish, Talbot Co., MD: FRANCIS 1690 (m Mary thought to be nee RUSSELL), SARAH 1692, MARY 1695, REBECCA 1697, ELIZABETH 1699, PHILEMON Jr 1701, JOHN 1705, FRANCES 1707, RACHEL ABT 1708 and THOMAS 1709. We need the Philemon A* marriage record to verify Mary's maiden name. Philemon A*'s father is said to be FRANCIS A* b Abt 1635 Ireland d 1668 in Talbot Co., MD, and Frances thought to be nee BENNETT (1640-1675). Philemon A* is said to be listed in his father's will. We really need this documentation. Can anyone help us out?

4238 Welcome new member Ann, whose parents were Richard C Holden and Nancy Snell A*. Nancy S. A* is the dau of CHARLES HENRY A* b 1890 La Salle Co., Illinois [IL] and Hazel R SNELL.Charles Henry A* was the only son of JAMES ELDER A* b 1855 La Salle Co., IL, d 1936 in Cook Co., IL. He married Clara Adell CLARK (1860-1932) in 1863 in La Salle Co., IL. They also had two daughters GRACE C., and JULIETTE R. James Elder A* was the 8th child, and 6th son of GEORGE WASHINGTON A* b 1812 Licking Co., Ohio [OH]. George Washington A* married Anna Nancy GREEN in 1835 in Morgan Co., IL. They had 9 children all born in IL between 1836 and 1858; JOHN G., WILLIAM, JULIUS C., MILLIE ELIZA PERMILLA, JOSEPH L., MARSHALL N., SUSAN I., JAMES ELDER, AND CHARLES G. George Washington A* was the son of JOSEPH A* b 1779 Belcoo, Fermanagh, Ireland, d 1856 in [probably OH]. Joseph's family emigrated from Ireland to the US in 1789 when he was just 10 years old.Joseph A* married Elsie STRAWN (b 1779 Pennsylvania [PA], d 1871 IL) in 1808 in Somerset Co., PA. Joseph & Elsie had nine children including George W. between 1808 & 1828 as follows: 1) John STRAWN A* b 1810 Somerset Co., PA d 1889 IL; 2) George Washington A*, Ann's great-great grandfather; 3) WILLIAM ELDER A* b 1814 OH, d 1850 IL; 4) JOEL WEST A* b 1817 OH, d 1871 IL; 5) JAMES HENDERSON A* b abt 1819 d abt 1842; 6) JEREMIAH REED A* b 1821 OH, d 1850 in California [CA]; 7) PERRY AUSTIN A* b 1823 OH, d 1904 IL; 8) CLIFFORD IRVING A* b abt 1825 OH, d 1828 OH; and 9) ISAIAH J., b 1828 OH d 1904 CA. All but James and Clifford who died young, married at least one time. JOSEPH A* was the son of John A* b 1743 Belcoo, Fermanagh, Ireland d 1831 in Somerset Co., PA who married in 1777 in Ireland, Ann HENDERSON, b 1760 Ireland, d 1836 Somerset Co., PA. We are searching for the parents of John A* (1743-1831) the emigrant.Ann thinks the parents of John A* could possibly be JOHN A* and Ann CLIFFORD, but there are some pretty concerning conflicts, we are searching for proof and/or proof to disprove the relationship. Can any of you help us here??On a side note: James Elder A* authored the book “Life of a Woman Pioneer, as illustrated in the life of Elsie Strawn Armstrong, 1789-1871", published in 1931. If you have an opportunity to read this book, it provides a lot of insight to some of the hardships our ancestors have survived through on this side of the Atlantic. I so wish my grandparents had thought to write and pass down their experiences and stories to me. Elsie Strawn A* was really an amazing pioneer woman. Also it is amazing at how many times the same surnames continue to marry. Elsie was the daughter of Isaiah Strawn & Rachel Reed. And guess what our new member married a Reed.

4242 Welcome new member 4242 Rachel. Her 6 times great grandfather on her maternal line to find her A* ancestor, Mary. Mary A* b 1738 Orange Co., New York (NY) d 1784 was the daughter of FRANCIS A* (1695 Ireland-1783 NY) & Deborah LATTIMORE (1695 Ireland-abt 1760 NY). Here we connect to a long time member 5421 Jim whose ancestor was Mary's brother DAVID A* b 1742 Orange Co., NY, d 1832 NY, who married Anne Nancy MILLER. Mary A* is thought to have married Anthony SWARTHOUT in abt 1757 in NY and now we are looking for verification of this marriage.This also brings us back to our brick wall for FRANCIS A* (1695-1783) the emigrant from Ireland. Has anyone made any headway for Armstrongs in NY or Ireland that can help us with source documentation for Francis' parents?

ROOTS ENQUIRIES FROM EDITION 79 November 2014

3385 New member Robert has a Yorkshire ENG line of which we had no knowledge. In fact we have very few Yorkshire lines on record! While it was quite straightforward getting information back to his first known ancestor in the 1841 Census as well as siblings to his line in other censuses going back further generations from JOHN (1812/13) in Grassington has proved to be interesting. Poll Books and Polling Registers for the middle 1800s show consistently two Armstrongs in the Township of Grassington in the parish of Linton in Craven one of them being John and the other Edward so it looked like the two were probably related. How wrong can you be! Throughout the Census returns John steadfastly sticks by his birth place as being Grassington whereas Edward states that he was born in Kettlewell (a few miles up the road). However I will not desert Edward, the red herring, and will come back to him later. So the hunt was on for John but other than in the censuses he was never to be found, but this is probably due to the fact that the available Registers finish at 1812 and it is likely that he was born in 1813. However putting all the pieces together one can have a very educated guess at his forebears. The Registers of Linton show no Armstrong prior to 23/10/1766 when a JANE A* married John Calvert (both of Grassington). On 5/2/1776 EDWARD Armstrong (miner) married Dorothy ROBINSON (both of Grassington). Son JOHN was born 25/12/1776 but there are no other entries for him after this. John and Dorothy went on to have four more children, THOMAS 16/5/1779), MARGARET (3/2/1782) died 2/10/1803, ELLIN (ELLEN) (10/4/1786) married William HARTLEY 17/11/1806 and twins EDWARD and ANN (5/6/1791) but Edward died 11/02/1812. Thomas married Mary BROUGHTON (1782) 18/10/1802 and had four known children, probably more. Edward (19/6/1803, died 8/12/1807), Sarah (5/1/1806), Mathias (11/10/1807) and Edward (15/10/1809, died 14/12/1811). In all this the first Edward died in 1804! One can begin to see the problems that were had sorting out the Edwards! However it would appear that we are only looking at one line and it was more than likely that John (1812/13) was a son of Thomas. Thomas is also mentioned as a witness in two non-Armstrong weddings in 1800 and 1811.It is perhaps significant that John called his first son Thomas. John, a stonemason, likely died in the December Quarter of 1877. He married an unknown Mary (1813) and they had the following children: ANN (1835), THOMAS (1841), RICHARD (1843), MARTHA (1850), JOHN (1853) and EDWARD (1856), possibly also ALICE (1839). All were born in Grassington. John likely married Margaret SAGAR (1846) in the June Quarter of 1873. They had sons RICHARD (1874), WILLIAM (1875) and ANNE (1877). Any connections there anyone? Now to the “rogue” Edward! EDWARD A* was baptised in Kettlewell, Yorkshire ENG 9/2/1806 his parents being JOHN and Elizabeth WEIR. He is described as a shop keeper and then a grocer in Grassington. The memorial headstone at Linton shows ISABELLA A* wife of Edward A* died 30 July 1878 aged 74 years and Edward die 7 January 1880 aged 73 years. Sadly there is also a memorial to their only daughter ELIZABETH who died 9 April aged 3 years and 8 months.

5205 New member Ian comes from the never ending line of current and past members who find their roots in Scotland with the offspring of William A* and Betty ELLIOTT. To recap they had ten children: WILLIAM (1803), BETTY (1805), JANET (1807), JOHN (1809), JAMES (1810), ADAM (1812), BARBARA (1814), NICHOLAS ELLIOT (1816), ISABEL (1819) and WALTER (1821). Ian is connected through Adam’s line. Adam married in 1853 Helen TAIT (1833). Their children were: JOHN (1853) born Cleubrae, SCO, DAVID (1855), ADAM (1857), JAMES WILLIAM (1859), WALTER HUIE (1860), GEORGE PHILIP (1862), ISABELLA (1864), EDWARD (1865), ELIZABETH MARY JESSIE (1869), IRVINE LUCIUS (1870) and WILLIAM (1872). John married Eliza Jane DISHER (1859) and their son was JAMES PHILIP (1886) who married. Lelia Alice May BEVIS (1901). Wouldn’t it be good to go back further than William and Betty? Someone must have some ideas!

3383 New members Derek and Pam have already been able to help out 3551 with two more generations to his pedigree and would now like to get it back further and hopefully link up with other branches. In general the pedigree is Lincolnshire ENG based but has its roots in Derbyshire ENG. THOMAS A* was born C1645 there and died in Bolsover in the same county in 1725. His first wife, by whom he had his children is unknown and he married Ruth CUTT in Bolsover on 19/02/1703. His children were JOHN (1671), MARY (1676) and THOMAS (1683). Thomas married Alice CLARKE (1682) in 1705 and all their six children were born in Bolsover. They were: SUSANNAH (1706), AMBROSE (1710), he married Martha Hargreave in 1744, SAMUEL (1715), AARON (1718), THOMAS (1720), and JOSEPH (1728). Samuel married Susan ABLEWHITE (1781) in Somersby, Lincs in 1748. Their ten children who were all born in Bag Enderby, Lincs were: MARY (1748), JOHN (1750), ANN (1751), married Thomas NELSON, THOMAS (1753), married Ann ASHTON, died 1780, EDWARD (1754), died 1760, ELIZABETH (1757), died 1760, SAMUEL (1759), died 1760 and AMBROSE (1764), MOSES 1765 and FRANCES (1772). John (1750) married Mary WOODTHORP in 1778, but the register notes the illegitimate birth of FRANCES in 1774. THOMAS was born prior to 1778, died prior to 1780, JOHN (1778) and THOMAS (1780). Ambrose (1764) married Ann WRIGHT in 1787 and their eight children were born in Hagworthingham, Lincs. THOMAS (1789), MARY (1791), ANN (1793), married Robert WINGATE, WILLIAM (1797), died 1797, JOHN (1798), ELIZABETH (1800), SARAH (1805), died 1805, and JANE (1808), married John CHEESMAN. Moses (1765) married Elizabeth SQUIRE (1781) in 1794. Speculatively their children were: WILLIAM (1795), REBECCA (1797), GEORGE (1804), AMBROSE (1809) and MARY (1811). In the next generation John (1778) married Mary FRESHNEY (1777) in 1797. They had three children: FRANCES (1797), MARY (1799), married Robert BENTON and THOMAS (1801). Thomas (1789) married Jane RHODES and their five children were: WILLIAM (1822), THOMAS (1825), CHARLOTTE RHODES (1827), MARY (1833) and CAROLINE (1835). All the children were born in Hagworthingham Lincs. John (1798) married Ann SMITH (1800) in 1822. Their children were ELIZA (1823), MARY (1825), both born in Thornton le Fen, ROSAMUND (1827), JOSEPH (1830), JEMIMA (1832), GEORGE (1834), ROBERT SMITH (1834), JANE (1837), SARAH (1840), ANN (1840) and SUSAN (1844), all born in Scamblesby, Lincs. George (1804) Married Sarah UFTON (1804) and their eight children all born in Branston, Lincs, were JANE (1827), GEORGE (1829), ELIZABETH (1831), WILLIAM (1833), AMBROSE (1837), died 1847, MOSES (1837), JOSEPH (1841) AND THOMAS (1845).Ambrose (1809) married Mary STAVES (1811) in 1833 and had twelve children all born in Bag Enderby: REBECCA (1834) died before 1852, WILLIAM (1836), HARRIET (1837), died before 1850, GEORGE (1840), MOSES (1841), HANNAH (1843), SARAH (1845), AZUBAH (1847), MILDRED (1848), HARRIET (1850), REBECCA (1852) and JOSEPH (1860). Well! There’s plenty there to get connected to! Over to you!

5589-5592 We have made considerable progress on this tree and now can refute a previous supposition and correct another. JAMES Armstrong was born before 1790 in Scotland (Wood Forester). He died before 1865. He married MARGARET. James Armstrong and Margaret had ADAM Armstrong born 1811/1812 in Langholm. He died on 15 Dec 1865 in Ladhope, Roxburghshire, Scotland (Age 53) and it was from his death certificate it was ascertained that his parents were James and Margaret He married Margaret AFFLECK Affleck and had six children: JANET (1839), THOMAS (1843), MARGARET (1846) She married John BARRIE on 08 Sep 1866 in Ladhope, JAMES (1849) (the first James having died in childhood) and ADAM AFFLECK (1855). THOMAS married (1) Mary MCCLELLEN MCLELLAN (1847) on 30 Jun 1871 in Ladhope. She died before 1891. He married (2) Isabella HAMILTON (1850). The two children from the first marriage were ADAM (1874) and Mary (1878). James (1849) married Alison Mather on 14 Dec 1877 in Edinburgh they had the following children: ADAM (1879) in Galashiels, Selkirkshire, SCO. He married Alice REID on 27 Apr 1906 in Newcastle Upon Tyne, WILLIAM MATHER (1880) in Galashiels, He died in San Bernardino Co., California, USA^.He married Helen NEIL (1878) before 1903 in Scotland. AGNES (1885) in Galashiels She married James WOOD Jr. (1888) on 18 Apr 1912 in Somerville, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, USA. MARGARET AFFLECK (1891) in Galashiels. She died in Los Angeles. Adam Affleck (1855) in Melrose, Roxburghshire, married Agnes CRAIG (1874). Their son SAMUEL (1899) in Chirnside, Berwickshire. He never married. William Mather (1880) born in Galashiels, Selkirkshire died in San Bernardino Co., California, USA. He married Helen NEIL (1878) before 1903 in Scotland. Their three children were HELEN (1902). She married Leslie Harold JODREY Melrose, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, USA.JAMES N (1904) born in Scotland died in 1973 in San Bernardino Co., California, USA. WILLIAM MATHEW (1910) in Somerville, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, USA. This pedigree is now pretty extensive on both sides of “the pond”. Can anyone add to it?

3373 New member Becky has longstanding relations who are members. It took us 20 years to find the connection to get them back to the mid-1700s! Now Becky is looking the other way tin order to find long lost relatives! To recap… the family originally came from Co Durham ENG where RICHARD Armstrong (C1787) was born in Fatfield, Co Durham ENG. At this time it was part of the parish of Chester-le-Street so he might have been the son of JOHN and Ann christened on 26/12/1786, but there is no corroborating evidence of this. He married Margaret CHISHOLM 29/10/1807 at Chester-le- Street. Their children, all baptised at Chester-le-Street were: THOMAS 13/10/1808, ANN 28/07/1810, RICHARD 08/10/1815, MARY 02/08/1818, GEORGE 28/04/1822, JOSEPH 04/09/1825, SEPTIMUS 28/04/1831 and GEORGE RUEBEN 22/03/1837. Joseph married an unknown Elizabeth having MARY ANN (1850), JOSEPH (1852), MARGARET (1854), WILLIAM (1856), EMMA (1863) and ELIZA (1867). This Joseph married Margaret (1826). Their children were: JOSEPH (1883), ANN ISABELLA (ANNABEL) (1887), ELIZABETH F (1879), WILLIAM (1881), THOMAS (1884), RICHARD (1886), MARGARET (1890) and HARRY (HENRY) (1897). William is the pivotal person in this pedigree and it is from him and his wife Hannah PORTEOUS, who were married in 1906, that both our members are descended. Their children were: WILLIAM WOOD (1907) died young, JAMES ANDREW P (1910) married Louie and had seven children, JOSEPH (1911) married may, one child, Joe, MARY V (1914), LEO (1916 died 1918), THOMAS H (1919), RICHARD G (1922), HENRY L (1924) and MARGARET (PEGGY) A (1927). Thomas who married a Netta, probably in Scotland, who had a son Richard and they lived in Croydon. Tom died there in 1989. Richard (1922) married Dorothy and they had three children Richard, Carol and Michael. Richard died C1988/9. Becky can trace all her family links with the exception of Richard, Tom’s son and Richard’s children Richard, Carol and Michael who were last heard of in the Newcastle area. Can anyone help?

1769 I am again trying to find information about my families ancestors. I had no luck before but am hopeful that someone might know something. Here is some information. GEORGE WILLIAM A*, 22/2/1837- c.1904 Possibly born Dundee Dumfries. Wore a kilt to opening of Court of Policy etc. had 2 spinster sisters who lived in Edinburgh, (possibly 1902-1909) one was possibly called ANNIE. George William went to Holland when he was about 18yrs with his widowed mother who may have been Countess Helena de Beranger a la Guillaforte. She may be French. His mother had married a Dutch engineer who beat his mother. To stop the beating George pushed his step-father down the stairs. The step father may have died. Catholic priests smuggled him aboard a ship bound for the West Indies to Berbice. George could speak several languages. He enjoyed good literature. Was in the choir and played chess. Miss ANDREW'S father owned an estate in Berbice, B.G. George and Miss Andrews married c. 1867 and had two children, JOHN and HESTER. George, Annie and WILLIE were Eleanor's children. Other clues on George are: Argosy 1916. Member of the Chess club, Georgetown, B.G. Became chief Clerk at the Audit Office in Georgetown. Translated too. Trade Directory 1889 3rd CIS officer Customs 58yrs. 1898 customs.

4222-4228 Welcome new family members 4222-4228, Rebecca, David and their five children. Rebecca's grandmother was KATIE SYLVANIA A* b 28 Feb 1915 in Blount Co., Alabama (AL), who married Carter BYNUM in AL. She was the daughter of WILLIAM LAWSON b 15 Sep1878 Blount Co., AL & Mary Dena Robena BROWN, known as "Dennie" to family and friends. Now I [Carol P.] add this information because everyone knows that sometimes it is hard to figure out exactly what the legal name is, when parts of the name, or nicknames are used, and that is before you deal with the various census takers' and the like. Believe me when I say the same name was never used twice as far as I know. Now "Dennie" was the daughter of Thomas Robert and Mary Brown, b Abt 1876 in AL, in case that helps anyone identify or link to this family since we have more Armstrong-Brown marriages. William Lawson A* and Dennie Brown married Abt 1899 in Blount Co., AL and had eight known children. They were ALFRED N., OLAMAY M., CALLIE A., THOMAS J., WILLIAM T., RUBY and JAMES, with Katie being the youngest. William Lawson A* was the son of DANIEL ELLIS b 1845 Blount Co., AL, d. 1909 same place, who married Susan JOHNSON in 1870 in Blount Co. They stayed in Blount Co., and had 10 known children: (1) SARA ANN b Abt 1871 (who we think m James P RENO); (2) ELIZABETH J. b 1876 (married RENOW who d bef 1900), (3) William Lawson (Rebecca's great-grandfather), (4) MARY M. b 1879, (5) JAMES PARRIET b 1882 (who m. a Laura M. about 1907), (6) MARTHA C "Mattie" b 1884, (7) ADA A., b 1887, (8) OLLIE b Abt 1888; (9) DANIEL BARNETTE b 1890 and (10) WALTER ISOM b 1894 (who m. Grace BLAIKIE). DANIEL ELLIS was the 7th child and 5th son of JESSE A* & Elizabeth HOLT. Jesse was b 18 Jul 1803 in South Carolina (SC) and d Apr 1863 in Blount Co., AL. He married Elizabeth Holt in 1829 in Blount Co., AL. Elizabeth was b 1810 in Tennessee (TN) and d. 1896 in Blount Co., AL. They had 10 children, (1) WILLIAM ASA (1831-1917) married 1st Mary PANNELL (1833-1880), 2nd LUCINDA PRICE (b 1832); (2) NATHAN (1833-1909) married Charlotte FRANKLIN (1842-1920); (3) JANE (b Abt 1836); (4) JAMES STEWART (1837-1904, married Mary HAYES/Hays; (5) ISAAC THOMAS (1840-1917) married Nancy NEELY (1847-1931); (6) MATILDA MARY (b 1843) married Taylor L. HAYS (1848-1912) as his 2nd in Nov 1890; (7) DANIEL ELLIS (1848-1909); (8) JESSE THOMAS ISHAM (b1847); (9) NANCY ANN (1849-1890) who married Taylor L. HAYS (1848-1912) as his 1st, in 1871 in Blount Co. AL; (10) MARGARET ELIZABETH (1853-1927) married William M RUSSELL (1857-1897). Jesse A* is thought by some to be the same as Jesse B., or Jesse Benjamin A*. As usual more than one Jesse. There is a Jesse B. A* who served as a Confederate in the Civil War in the 39th Regiment, Alabama Infantry, Company H. We need help with documentation here to verify if our Jesse A* who died Apr 1863 is in fact the same person and if so, was he killed in action.

5595 Welcome new member Robert. Robert's father was Bobby Don YOUNGBLOOD b in Texas and d. in California [CA]. He married SUSAN Armstrong b in Shreveport, Louisiana [LA]. His mother Susan, was the daughter of FLOYD ALPHONSE A* b LA, d CA and Sue Willie SHAW. Floyd was the son of HIRAM WESTLY A* b 1882 New Orleans, LA and Helena Elizabeth GEBS b Abt 1886 LA, they married in New Orleans, LA. His brothers were RAY, CLYDE & EARL, all b New Orleans, LA. Hiram was the son of WILLIAM WALTER A* b Abt 1836 in Florida, d 1885 in New Orleans, LA and Eliza LAHEY (Leahey / Leany) b 1842 Ohio, possibly Cincinnati. d in New Orleans, LA. We do not know exactly when or where they married, but we do know they had at least 11 children, the 3 eldest b LA, and 8 born New Orleans, LA. They are: WILLIAM b Abt 1860, JOSEPH b Abt 1862, JOHN b Abt 1866, RICHARD JOSEPH b 1869 d 1870, LULU EDGAR b 1870, MARY VIRGINIA b 1872, CHARLES AUGUSTUS b 1875, ALEXANDER WARRICK b 1877, CAROLINE ELIZA b 1879, KATIE K. b 1879, HIRAM b 1882 (Robert's great-grandfather), Florida records are scarce and we need your help on two fronts. First can anyone help us identify the parents of William Walter A*? We are also looking for 1850 and older source documents. On the second front, Robert's father is a descendant of Allen Morgan Youngblood who was b 1849 Alabama [AL], possibly Jefferson Co., d in Texas. We have another Armstrong-Youngblood marriage in Montgomery Co., AL 1882, FRANCES "Fannie" A* to William Youngblood b Abt 1839 AL, d Jefferson Co., AL. William Youngblood's father was John Waters Youngblood b Abt 1809 South Caroline who married Frances John in 1838 Chambers Co., AL. Fannie A* was b 1860 Montgomery Co., AL and also d in Jefferson Co., AL. She was the dau of JAMES FRANCIS A* & Frances MCDADE. Does anyone have any information that can help us determine if these two Youngblood families who married Armstrong's are related?

5574 Welcome new member 5574. Missy travels back to great-great grand-mother to find her Armstrong. That was SARAH "Sallie" A* b 1866 Georgia (GA), d Davidson Co., North Carolina (NC), who married in Greene Co GA 1885, Thomas Cobb DAVISON b1860 GA. Sarah's father was JOHN b 1831 in GA, d 1875 Greene Co., GA, who married in 1865 at Penfield, [Greene Co] GA, Mrs. MARY CAROLINE Armstrong b 1838 GA, d 1875 Greene Co GA). Mary Caroline EDMONDSON (Edmonson) was the widow of his brother, JAMES A* b 1829 GA, d 1863 killed in the Civil War. James A* & Mary had at least 2 daughters, HATTIE & ANNA, living in 1870. Wouldn't you know it, Hattie married in 1875 in Greene Co., GA, Robert Emmet DAVISON brother of Thomas Cobb Davison. In addition to Sarah, John & Mary also had a son JAMES H. b 1868 Greene Co., GA who married in 1891 Greene Co., GA, Ada J. DURHAM b 1874 GA. James and John were sons of JOHN b 1796 d. 1866 Oglethorpe Co., GA, and Sara SWANSON [or Swenson] (1804-1859). They married 1822 in GA. We know from census records that John’s mother's Christian name was Margaret and she was born between 1770-1779 more probably Abt 1768-1769 NC. The census records we have show Margaret Armstrong residing near John and next door to George in 1830, near John and George in 1840, and with John in 1850, but nothing that verifies her maiden name. She died before the 1860 Census in GA. There is also some confusion as to which James Armstrong she married?Missy thinks his parents maybe JOHN b 12 Dec 1756 Virginia, d 21 Dec 1824 and Margaret CATHEY b 6 Jan 1769 North Carolina (NC), d. 3 Mar 1860 Oglethorpe Co., GA. They married Abt 1793 in Mecklenburg Co., NC.As usual, there is more than one James Armstrong b Abt 1756, so once again we help to sort them all out. Does anyone have any source documentation that can help with this ongoing dilemma???

2606 New member Grace is one of the many with Irish descent who has come up to her brick wall! Sadly our records can’t help her, but maybe you can. JAMES A* was born in Cavan IRE C1794. He married Elizabeth BLAIR. All their children were born in Ontario, Canada. MARY JANE BLAIR (1833), JAMES (1841), MARGARET (C1841), MATTHEW B (1843), ADAM (1849), ORILLA (C1849), THOMAS BLAIR (1551) and SARAH ELIZABETH (1853). Thomas Blair, of Melancthon, Grey, ONT married Susan Maria WHITMAN (1861) of Guelph, Wellington ONT in 1877. They had ten children: FREDERICK JOHN (1877), RUEBEN MATHEW (1881), VICTORIA MATILDA (1882), MARY LOUISA (1883), THOMAS ASHFORD (1885), SAMUEL LEO (1889), GERTRUDE RUTH (1891), DAVID EDWARD (1896), DESSIE LAVINA (1898) and ILA IRENE (1901). David Edward, Grace’s grandfather, married Evelyn Grace EVERTON in 1922. We have checked Irish records but cannot pinpoint any particular James A* marrying an Elizabeth Blair in the Co Cavan region. Maybe you can help?

4231 Welcome new member Michelle in Texas who has a common ancestor with one of our long time members Elba in Minnesota [5322] who reached the century mark last fall and is still with us; and Millie in Puerto Rico [5581] who joined us in 2013. Michelle brings another three generations to this family. Michelle's parents were Virgil Rambo and Kathleen A. Ramirez. Kathleen was the daughter of Agustin Adam Ramirez and GLORIA ADELA A* both b in Puerto Rico [PR]. Gloria was the daughter of ROBERTO (Sr) b 1886 Ponce, PR and Cecilia DELGADO b 1893 PR. Roberto and Cecilia also had two sons, ROBERTO and CECILIO. Roberto m Maria A. TOLLINCHE and they had two daughters in PR; Cecilio m Nilda ANSELMI and had three sons, in PR. Roberto (Sr) was the brother of GUSTAVO A* making our new member a cousin of Elba and Millie. Roberto A* (Sr) and Gustavo A* were sons of THOMAS A* (1841-1907 Ponce PR) and his 2nd spouse Anna Ines MAYORAL (1860-July 1893). Thomas A* had four children with first wife, Carmen MAYORAL (1850-1873), ten children with his second wife Ana Ines Mayoral [Carmen's younger sister] and 5 children with his third wife Antonia RIEDER whom he m in 1894 in Ponce PR.. Thomas was a loving father as well as a respected resident in Ponce. His grown children lived in Spain, England, Scotland, The Virgin Islands and the United States. He visited them throughout his life. He died in Ponce on October 21, 1907 when he was 66 years old. Thomas A* was the son of Dr PETER LOTHARIO (1800-1863) and Antonia Toro LOUDON (1825-1901). They had 8 children all born in Ponce PR. Peter was the son of THOMAS A* (1770-1802) and Anna CREAGH. Peter had two brothers THOMAS (b 1799 Virgin Islands, also a physician) and MATTHEW. The Parents of Thomas A* (1770-1802) were THOMAS A* b 1740 England and Elizabeth MARKOE b Abt 1750. They married 1769 St Croix Virginia Islands and had 11 children. Thomas A*'s father was also a THOMAS A* (the elder) who first appears in St Croix, Virgin Islands about 1750. He and his wife, Eleanor, had 7 children: RICHARD, THOMAS, MATTHEW POND, WILLIAM, MARY, RACHEL and SARA. According to Thomas and Eleanor’s will, upon the death of Thomas, the elder, Thomas, the younger, his son, took over the estate in 1768. Richard, his brother was no longer living at the time. Eleanor continued to live at the estate St. George, through 1775.We are still searching for clues as to when and where Thomas A* (the elder) was born, Eleanor's maiden name and their marriage records, birth records for their children who were born in England. Descendants of the original Thomas have scattered all over the world. We are asking again, since we have Armstrongs from this family in several countries, surely one of you recognize at least one of the Armstrongs named above. If so, let us hear from you.

3386-8 and 3624 New members Penelope, Mark and Holly are lucky that we have already found then a link with another member. We had made progress in tracking WALTER (1784) of Park House Farm, Causewayhead, Silloth CUL who is the common ancestor. Walter’s son JEFFERSON (1816) married Elizabeth KNUBLEY (1833) Son WALTER (1852) b. Park House married Mary SPROAT (1863) formerly SHAW, whose daughter NANCY (1901) was Penelope’s grandmother. Going back to Walter he was one of nine children of father WILLIAM and Helen SCOON, the others being JOHN (1768), WILLIAM (1770), JEAN (1773), HELEN (1775), THOMAS (1777), FRANCIS (1779), ANDREW (1781), JAMES (1786) and CHRISTOPHER (1789). Significantly the first six were born at Harelawhagg (or other variants of this name) Canonbie. We have a MICHAL A* & Mary (nee SCOTT) at Harelawhole (same place!) in the 1740s. Surely there must be a connection between them. In addition there are three Armstrongs who lived and farmed at Abbey Holme very near Walter Armstrong at Park House who match the names of Walter’s siblings. Christopher, Hall House Abbey Holme, Jas (James?) Abbey Holme and John, Abbey Holme. Did all four leave Canonbie and come south?

3388 New member Jane has an established line in Leicestershire, ENG going back to the end of the 18C. It starts with the birth of THOMAS A* in Rothley LEI in 1792. Thomas married Ann WHITTINGTON in 1811 and two days later son THOMAS was christened! Thomas’s siblings were WILLIAM (1813), BENJAMIN (1815), HENRY (1817), ELIZABETH (1822), CHARLES (1824), JOHN (1826), ANN (1829) and ALICE (1832). In 1832 Thomas married Mary Ann YEOMANS. Their children were WILLIAM (1836), MARY ANN (1839), THOMAS (1844) who married Mary HOPKINS, JOHN (1847) who married Susan GIBBS, CAREY (1849) who married Walter HULME, EZRA (1855) who married Jane FOSTER and then Mary BROWN and HARRIET who married Walter BARNETT. They were all born in Loughborough LEI. William married Harriet CLEMERSON in Loughborough in 1857. Their children were: FREDERICK W S (1873), WILLIAM H K (1758), FLORENCE (1860), ARTHUR E (1862), ELIZA HARRIET (1864) and two infants who died early. Arthur E married Eliza HIBBENS in Loughborough in1843 and son WILLIAM ROWLAND was Jane’s grandfather. What we now trying to ascertain is further descent from Thomas (1792). His parents were THOMAS and Elizabeth PALMER who were married in 1781 at Rothley LEI. It is believed that there family was as follows: NATHANIEL (1781), NATHANIEL (1782), ANN (1785), ELIZABETH (1787), THOMAS (1787) (both christened on the same day, possibly twins), THOMAS (1879), THOMAS (1792), MATTHEW (1794) and WILLIAM (1796). The parents seem to have followed the spooky tradition of giving children the same name as a previously deceased one in this case Nathaniel and Thomas. The burning question is where was Thomas’s born? As far as we can ascertain there are four candidates based on geographical location and christening records. In Great Dalby LEI there are two “candidates” one born in 1858 and another in 1861. In Loughborough one in 1758 and one in Barrow on Soar 1754. Of course there might be others who are not, to our knowledge, recorded… so then we are stumped! Perhaps you know the answer.

2607 New member Annette’s great grandfather, ROBERT HAROLD, was born in 1895 in Leamington, Essex ONT Canada. His parents IRWIN A* (1857) and Laura Isabelle MILLER (1860) other children were ARTHUR GEORGE (1884), ANNIE MABEL (1875), CORA BELL (1887), ADDIE EMMERATA (1889) WILLIAM ERNEST (1891), IRWIN LEROY(1892), DOUGLAS CARLISLE (1897), INA DELORES (1901) and STEWART CLYDE (1905). Irwin’s father was WILLIAM TALBOT IRWIN A* b. Ormstown, Quebec in 1833 and married in 1855 Ann KENNEDY. Their other children were: DAVID (1856), FRANCIS (1859), ALFRED GEORGE (1851), SARAH ANN (1863), ISABELLA JANE (1865), JAMES TALBOT (1867), WILLIAM WEST (1869), JOHN HENRY (1871), (VIOLET ADELINE 1876) and ETTA CLARA (1881). Annette’s 4 x g grandfather IRWIN was born in 1801 in County Antrim, IRE and married Sarah Jane MULLEN in Ireland in 1823. By 1828 they were living on Lot 42 Concession 3 Ormstown QUE. Irwin’s siblings were: MARGARET (1823), JOHN (1825), ISABELLA (1828), MARY ANN (1830), MARGARET (1833), JAMES (1835), THOMAS (1837), FRANCES (1840), IRWIN (1846) and SARAH JANE (1849). Information on Irwin’s parents comes from the “Commemorative Biographical Record of the County of Essex, Ontario” (J H Beers, 1905). From this it is learnt that Irwin’s parents were JOHN A* born in England and Isabella TALBOT. Irwin had a sister SARAH (1796). What we are now searching for is any conclusive primary evidence of connections with Ireland and England. Published on page 14/15 of this edition is the first part of the transcript of the Commemorative Biographical which gives more details and an insight of the life of those early settlers.

3389 New member John has to go back to the early 1800s to pick up his Armstrong blood line and the pedigree that he has submitted relates back to the late 1500s. As we all know the further we go back the sparser the primary evidence becomes and that is the case here, particularly we are back in our favourite brick wall place of Ireland. John can definitively trace his roots back to THOMAS HOLMES A* (1807) of Co Clare IRE who married Anna Stewart MITCHELL. Primary evidence to the line breaks down at this point. Thomas’s father was believed to be Captain THOMAS (1770) of the Longford Militia who married a “Miss Armstrong”. His father was believed to be GEORGE (1723).There is a hope of primary evidence from Archibald (1658) of Kings Co through THOMAS (1696) of Kings Co ( who married a Lucy HOLMES) to George as apparently there are entries detailing this line in Burke's Landed Gentry Of Ireland, 1899. This would need to be checked as we do not have access. Also on the 1861 Census it appears to say as far as can make out that Thomas was a “Lead Miner”. We need to verify the “gap” between George 1723 and Thomas Holmes 1807. That in itself is interesting as he adopts the maiden name of his great grandmother Lucy Holmes which effectively covers the gap so there might be primary evidence somewhere.

ROOTS ENQUIRIES FROM EDITION 78 May 2014

1769 Viv is a New Zealander hoping to discover her Armstrong family roots. She has been told that they are from Dumfries and frequented Langholm and Canonbie. This branch of the Armstrongs lived in Guyana for several generations. They were probably Catholic and were very involved with the Masonic Lodge. She has a copy of the birth certificate of her grandfather. He was born in the county of Berbice in the district of New Amsterdam in the year 1873. This is now part of Guyana. GEORGE THEODORE Armstrong was born 21/2/1873 in Smyth Town. His father was GEORGE WILLIAM Armstrong and his mother was Elleonore Therese BURNETT (probably born in Berbice). George William’s father was called ANDREW Armstrong. There was talk that George William’s mother was a Countess of French extraction whose Armstrong husband died. She married secondly a Dutchman and went to live in Holland. The Dutchman was cruel and Andrew Armstrong fled to the Americas at the age of 16 or thereabouts. The Catholic Church helped him to leave Holland. Viv has given us a number references about other Armstrongs in the area as there is very little information available about them in the West Indies and Guyana. Please let us know if you want to check these references.

3377/8 Keith produced a 22 page A4 document to substantiate his lineage which was more than sufficient to stake his claim! Of most interest was the area in which his ancestors originated which is adjacent to Basingstoke, Hampshire ENG. We have few records of Southern England Armstrongs so hopefully this collection might well be related to your Armstrong line. In order to make things manageable only those closely related to Keith’s main line are listed. However, if you think you are connected to anyone mentioned please contact us as we can no doubt add to information that you have. The line starts with JAMES A* who married Linny LITTLEWORTH in 1772 at Steventon, Basingstoke. Their children (excepting those who died in infancy) were: ANN (1772), who married Thomas TAPHOUSE in 1791, JAMES (1773), ELIZABETH (1776), WILLIAM (1777), JANE (1788), who married Joseph WELLS in 1802, JOHN (1780), who married Sarah CARPENTER in 1816, CHARLES (1782) and SARAH (1875). James married Elizabeth Fiddler in 1792 and produced eight children: JAMES (1793), CHARLES (1795), who married Sarah BEEMS in 1822, WILLIAM (1797), JOSEPH (1801), CHARLOTTE (1803), MARY ANN (1805), JOHN (1807) and DAVID (1808). Joseph’s second marriage on the death of Elizabeth in 1810 was in 1813 to Elizabeth SMITH. Their children were: HENRY (1814), ELIZABETH (1815), GEORGE (1816), who married Rose FISHER, and ANN 1818. Joseph married Ann WOODVERD in 1824 and their eleven children were JAMES (1826), CHARLOTTE (1828), ELIZABETH (1829), JOSEPH (1831), CHARLES (1832), MARY ANN (1834), JOHN (1836) who married Ann MEARS in 1866 and then Jane BUNKER in 1874, WILLIAM (1840), LOUISA (1842), who married John William WELLS in 1866, ELLEN (1846) and Alfred (1848) who married Julia DURANT in 1872. John married May Ann MOODY in 1865. Their ten children were: WILLIAM CHARLES MOODY (1866) who married Emma STEELE, MARY LOUISA, who married Henry William COOPER, JESSIE (1870), HARRY (1871), who married Annie Eleanor COOPER in 1892, these being Keith’s grandparents. JOHN WELLS (1873), married Elizabeth Anne CHAPLIN in 1896, ALFRED ERNEST (1876) who married Alice M HOLMES in 1916 THOMAS JOSEPH (1789), JAMES (1880), CHARLOTTE MAY, who married Thomas CRAIG, and EDITH who married Daniel George SMITH in 1913. Come on! Surely someone can link with all these Hampshire names?

3640 New member Jimmy struck it lucky as all his Armstrong forebears have their roots in Bewcastle which as you know is the area of great interest to our US Convenor Bobbie Jean. In fact Jimmy can claim a very strong ancestral Armstrong blood line as he boasts two Armstrong lines on his father’s side and three on his mother’s side! Potential is here to fill up the entire 20 pages of the NEWS which perhaps might not rest well with the clientele! If you feel you can link with these lines do contact us as we have a wealth of information on them. First the paternal links. We start with Thomas Brown HUNTER (1859) the illegitimate son of WILLIAM A* (1831) and Elizabeth BROWN. He married ELEANOR A* (1864) the daughter of JAMES A* (1794) and Margaret BRAYSON. William’s line runs through Thomas (1772), of Antonstown, Bewcastle and Sarah Nixon (C1780). His father was WILLIAM (1739) who married Sybilla LITTLE (C1755), and the line begins with THOMAS (C1680-1720). James’s father was ANDREW (C1763) of Dirtup, Bewcastle. His father was JAMES (C1688-1693), probably born in Annan, Dumfriesshire the son of WILLIAM (C1652-1672) of Cummertrees, Annandale. James married Agnes HOUGHAN (C1728). Jimmy’s mother was an Armstrong descended through JOSEPH (1886) and Harriet BELL (1885), HINDSON (1864) and Margaret HADWIN (1863), JOSEPH (1833) and Isabelle HINDSON (1863), WILLIAM (1791) of Lowgrains, Bewcastle and Sybil NIXON (1801), THOMAS (1732), of Westerkirk, Dumfriesshire and Jane ARMSTRONG (1747) of Dirtup, (parents JAMES and Isobel), ADAM (1703) and Margaret ROUTLEDGE (1710), CLEMENT (C1665-1675) (father JOHN) who married Anne ARMSTRONG (1670) of Low Grains. We can continue Anne’s descent through five more generations: EDWARD (1672) and Mary, ANDREW (C1639) and Anne FOSTER, ANDREW (C1589), JOHN (C1568) and HECTOR.

3644 New member Dave obviously wanted to test out our research abilities when the only information that he gave us were his father’s name, his mother’s maiden name, a brother of his father called Isaac and a place in Cumbria ENG called Barrow in Furness. Not to be beaten we rose to the challenge and found his grandfather in the 1911 Census HERBERT (1906) along with siblings TOM (1904), HENRY (1902) and VIOLET (1900). Sadly the census stated that seven other children had died since their marriage in 1895. Later there were WINIFRED (1911), ISAAC (1913), EVELYN (1914) and GWENDOLYN (1915). This gives a total of 15 children and it was likely that there were others born between 1906 and 1911 that cannot be positively identified. The next step proved rather more difficult as there was no sign of father GEORGE I A* born in Mansfield, Notts ENG (1876) in the earlier two censuses (George’s wife was SARAH ANN) but after ascertaining fro the birth indexes that the “I” was Isaac it duly turned him up in the 1881 Census. His father was ISAAC (a name to be pivotal in the research!) (born Mansfield 1855), and his mother Ann THOMPSON along with siblings ANN (1879) and FRANK (1880). Isaac’s parents were ISAAC (1830) and ANN and his siblings were JOHN (1851), ELIZA and ANN (1853), THOMAS (1858) and MARIA (1860). Not surprisingly Isaac’s father was ISAAC (bp14/03/1804 and living in Sutton in Ashfield, Notts) and his mother MARIA. Siblings were ANN (1829), MATTHEW (1837), SARAH (1838) and SAMUEL (1840). Isaac’s parents were married in Sutton in Ashfield in 1790 THOMAS and ELIZABETH both being Armstrongs. There, apart from dangerous guesswork the trail goes tantalisingly cold! Curious, we then focussed on where George Isaac was in 1891 as no trace could be found of him under either name, so the search turned to where his father was. He turned up in Devon…in Dartmoor Prison! Further research proved him to be one of true Armstrong blood serving sentences almost consecutively between 1881 and 1895 for petty larceny, sheep and horse stealing! By 1891 his wife must have had enough as she reported her surname as being Thompson and that she was a widow, so son Isaac took on a new surname for the census. It would also appear that her husband had been busy during his short sojourn at home as there was now a daughter EDITH (1887). By 1891 Ann and Edith restored their names to Armstrong, son George Isaac was now married and mother was still insisting that she was a widow although she wasn’t! Do you know of any Armstrongs who had their roots around Mansfield, Sutton in Ashfield and Skegby all in Nottinghamshire?

5202 Having had no response to Debi’s request for info on WILLIAM A* (1805) who married Jane Elizabeth CUYLER in Uitenhage SA in 1835 I double checked the database and found a reference which hadn’t been previously spotted! This referred to a series of charts all with links to South Africa which had been donated years ago by someone unknown! They took some finding but amongst them was a pedigree which started in 1743 and contained over 100 names. Details of William and Jane’s children were confirmed with the addition of two previous generations which were new. It must be stated that this pedigree cannot be confirmed but there is no reason to doubt it as names and places on it are referred to on Google. The pedigree states that William was born 30 June 1805, Tinton, England. The only reference one can find to “Tinton” is that it is a listed building near Ashford, Kent. Other references on the internet say he was born in London. William’s siblings were SARAH (bp 1806) who married John FAIRBRIDGE, a doctor) in Cape Town SA, HENRY (bp 1803) who married Eve (no children), JOHN (1803, bp 1805) who married Elizabeth CIRACKES and HERMAN HARBUSCH (bp 1810) who married Sarah Ann widow of James HOPWOOD. The pedigree lists William’s father as GEORGE (also known as JOHN) who was baptised 30 April 1767 and died 19 November 1829 at Canon St Road in the parish of St George in the East, London. The internet references only mention his name as John. He married Sarah MASON (1765) in 1799 and the entry from Pallott’s Index indicates that he was a widow which fits well with a supposed previous marriage to a Mary with children MARY and GEORGE. Sarah died at Camberwell (London) in 1830 aged 65. It also lists George’ first marriage to a Mary, “who had a school at Milton on Thames, near Gravesend” Kent, ENG. A possible baptism for George is 14 Feb 1790. At the head of the pedigree is another GEORGE Armstrong (1743), a lighterman who died 14 March 1815. A list of the Auditors, Rulers and Assistants and Comptrollers of the Worshipful Company of Watermen and Lightermen for the year 1790 lists a George A* as a Lighter Assistant. From the registers of St George’s George’s wife was called Elizabeth and from George’s baptism in 1743 that his parents were GEORGE and Ann which gives us an additional generation. George’s (1767-1829) will (written in his own hand) confirms the children by both marriages. This means we have got this “London” line back to circa 1720. Can anyone propel us into the 1600s?

5203/5189 New member Mark is a member of the famous Armstrong family who disembarked the Palmyra at Geelong in 1839. (See NEWS 70). He is a descendent of WILLIAM A* (c 1773) and Ann ELLIOTT. JOHN (1809) married Vair SCOTT (1809) in Meerless SCO in 1829. Son JOHN was born in 1837 in Ettrick and married his cousin Adamina ARMSTRONG in Mortlake, VIC in 1899. Son THOMAS SCOTT LORRAINE A* (1878), is Mark and Lorna’s common ancestor who was born in1878 at Hay, NSW. We have over the years many members relating to this family but the brickwall has yet to be broken as no-one can get back further than William. Who’s good at bit of lateral thinking?

5583 Welcome to new member Mike. His lineage begins with THOMAS A* b. Abt 1710 d. between 29 Apr - 20 Aug 1776 in Augusta Co., Virginia (VA). Thomas had at least five children by his first wife whom he married in Abt 1733 and whose name we do not know. They were SARAH who married Edward RUTLEDGE, Jane who married Robert Mckettrick, WILLIAM (Mike's ancestor), ABEL who married Mary (WANLESS or CARLILE), and ROSANNA who married Henry MURRAY. Thomas married 2nd Mary Ann LAFFERTY widow of James Stuart after 1758 probably in VA. His son William (b. Abt 1738) married Jean (Jane) ERWIN May 1765, and he died between 5 Apr and 25 Oct 1802 in Augusta Co., VA. They had at least six children: daughters JEAN (Jane) who married George TRIMBLE and MARGARET, sons JOHN, WILLIAM, JAMES and ROBERT. His son William (b. Abt 1772, d. 1800 VA) married Catherine FRIEL (b. 1774, d. Abt 1830) in 1793 in Augusta Co., VA. They had at least three children, THOMAS, NANCY and DANIEL FRIEL A* (b. 1797 VA) He ultimately moved to Ringgold Co., Iowa (IA) where he died in 1884. He married Sarah NUTTER (1801-1889) on 13 Jan 1822-1823 in Harrison Co., West Virginia (WVA). The family resided in Clark Co., Illinois (IL) in 1850 and had moved to Ringgold Co., IA by 1860. They had a total of at least 12 children including THOMAS EWING A* b. 1826 WVA, d. 1891 Ringgold Co., IA. Thomas Ewing A* married 1st Jemima (WADKINS or ADKINS) (b 1832, d 1865) Abt 1850 in Clark Co., IL. They had at least 5 children, DANIEL ELIJAH (1852-1916) who married Angeline HARROLD and moved to Marshall Co., Kansas; MARY JANE A* (1855-1942); ROBERT WILSON A* (1858-1858), NANCY (1864-1946) who married Coleman S. RICE; and THOMAS EWING A* (1865-1892) who married Dollie A. BEAR. Thomas Ewing A* married 2nd Margaret Ann Walker COOPER on 10 Mar 1866 in Ringgold Co., IA. They had six children together. MIRIAM EUPHEMIA, ALBERT OREN, CHARLES WESLEY, WILLIAM, LILLY MARGARET and ROSA BELLE between 1867 and 1873 in Ringgold Co., IA. Thomas Ewing A* married 3rd Elizabeth Cornelius Martin ARMSTRONG, the widow of his brother ROBERT MARION A* (1840-1886) on 16 Mar 1891 in Ringgold Co., IA. He died shortly after this marriage and Elizabeth married a 3rd time 9 Oct 1895 Madison REYNOLDS. Thomas Ewing A*s eldest son DANIEL ELIJAH A* and Angeline HARROLD (1857-1886) married on 14 Feb 1878, had children. Their son HALLIE EDWARD A* b. 18 Feb 1884 IA, d. 7 Apr 1954, married Laura Luella KILLINGSWORTH 27 Oct 1907 in Missouri. They had 10 children. They are Mike's grandparents. We really need source documentation for this family. Can anyone help us out with who this Thomas A*s [b. Abt 1710 d. between 29 Apr - 20 Aug 1776 in Augusta Co., Virginia (VA)] parents are?

During our research the following has been determined to be an error.

There are some who believe Thomas A*s parents were LANCELOT A* and Sarah WRENCH (or HAMBLETON) of Louisa Co., VA. However, the birth, death and possible marriage dates appear to be 20-30 years later than Thomas A* b. Abt 1710. Can anyone help us out with documentation for Thomas A* son of Lancelot A* and Sarah? who married ? or if he married?

5584 Welcome new member Bonnie who may be related to member 2295 Carolyn. Bonnie's mother was Shirley A* daughter of DONALD A* Sr who was born in New York [NY} and died in Florida [FL]. Donald A*'s father was CLAUDE WALDRON A* b 1897 Tompkins Co., NY d. FL. Claude Waldron A*'s father was MILES ALDRIDGE A* b 1854 and d 1930 in Newfield, Tompkins Co., NY. Miles A* married Alida ADAMS and had about 12 children, we know the names of at least 10 including Claude Waldron A*. Miles Aldridge A*'s father was JEHIEL A* who married Rebecca STARK 4 Mar 1848 in Newfield, Tompkins Co., NY. He was b 2 Feb 1827 in Lodi [Seneca Co.] NY and died as a result of wounds incurred in the Battle of Cole Harbor, Virginia, 3 Jun 1864. Jehiel A* and Rebecca were living in Steuben Co. NY in 1850 and in Newfield, Tompkins Co., NY in 1860. They had at least four children including Miles; THOMAS WALDRON A* b 1849, MELLISSA A. b 1857 and LAURA JANE b 1862 d 1864. Rebecca married 2nd Jacob HUDDLE, 7 Jan 1866 in Newfield, Tompkins Co., NY. It is important to notice the middle name Waldron in at least two of the above generations. In Newfield, Tompkins Co., NY 1860 Census, JOSEPH A*, his wife Mary [nee COOPER], and dau MELISSA M., are living two doors from Jehiel A* and Rebecca with their four children. Civil War Records for Jehiel A* show he was born 2 Feb 1827 in Lodi, Seneca Co., NY and that his father was JOSEPH A* and his mother Ann WALDRON. Analysis of 1830 Census has JOSEPH C A* (40-50), wife (30-40) with 5 sons under 15 and 2 daughters under 15. Very near, also in Newfield, Tompkins Co., is a JEHIEL A* (30-40), wife (30-40 and 3 daughters under 10. We believe these two A*s might have been brothers, but are still looking for proof. This Jehiel is also too old [b. btw 1790-1800] to be our Jehiel A* father of Miles, but if he was a brother, Joseph might have named his son after him. There is also a THOMAS A* (60-70), wife (60-70) and one female 10-15Analysis of 1840 Census for Newfield, Tompkins Co., further complicates our dilemma as there are two Joseph's, both (40-50), Thomas A* (70-80), Aaron (30-40) and Thomas W. (30-40). One of the Joseph's is living next door to Thomas A*.It is known that JOSEPH B A* (1797-1873) married more than once, the first being an Indian who was only known as "Hawk" who he m. abt 1817 in Vermont, and at least one other Mary Cooper, m. 12 Apr 1832 in New York. Here is the main question. We need help!!! Could Hawk's name be Ann Waldron? or could Ann Waldron actually be Joseph's second wife, and Mary Cooper his third wife? There are two different Joseph Armstrongs in Newfield, Tompkins Co., NY in 1840, so which one belongs to Thomas? And which one is the father of our Jehiel A* b 1827?

5585 Welcome new member Penny. Her father was Robert A* b Abt 1905 Indiana (IN), who married Oveleen BOGGS. Robert's parents were JOHN OWEN A* b Abt 1854 Logan Co., Ohio (OH), d 1916 in IN, and his 4th wife Florence Isabelle KUNCE (1864-1920). They married 21 Feb 1888 in Jay Co., IN. John Owen A* appears to have married 3 times previous to his marriage to Florence Isabelle KUNCE. His 1st marriage was before 1880, spouse unknown, 2nd marriage Mary nee HARRIS BOGGS on 16 May 1882 in Randolph Co., IN, 3rd marriage Samantha B. KEY on 2 Dec 1884 also in Randolph Co., IN.John Owen had at least 8 known children. WILLIAM HERBERT A* (b Oct 1880) by his 1st wife; MARGARET PEGGY A* (b bef Dec 1884) probably by his 2nd wife, daughters ISIE F.(b Apr 1886) and OLIVE DELILAH (b 17 Nov 1887), probably by his 3rd wife, and ERMAL PEARL (b May 1889), MURIEL MARIE (b Feb 1891) JOHN SEYMOUR A* (b Mar 1895) and the youngest ROBERT (b 1905) [Penny's father] by his 4th wife, Florence Isabelle Kunce. John Owen A*s father was ABEL A* b Abt 1819 Woodford Co., Kentucky (KY), d 1905 Ridgeville, Randolph Co., IN, who married 2nd Elizabeth KARNS (CARNS/CARNES/KARNES) (Abt 1824 OH -1915 IN) on 25 Jun 1848 in Miami Co., Ohio (OH). They had LOUISA (b 1850), CHARLES FRANKLIN (b 1852) and JOHN OWEN A*. Nothing else is known about Louisa and Charles Franklin. Abel's 1st wife was Eliza or Louisa J. BARBEE (Abt 1825-July 1847 Logan Co., OH), whom he married in 1843 in Shelby Co., OH. Their son, BENJAMIN KENYON A* (b 1844) m. Emma Rilla SHREVE. Both Benjamin and his father Abel fought in the Civil War, in Co B 132nd Ohio Infantry, survived and both lived long enough to draw pensions. Abel A* is the son of JOHN A* (b Jan 1785 North Caroline (NC), d 1863 Logan Co., OH) and Mary Ann WILSON (1788-1858) who married in 1809 in KY. John A* father is thought to be RICHARD A* (b Abt 1745 - 1815 KY) who married Margaret OSBORNE 1784 in NC. Source documentation is becoming scarcer as time moves back. We seriously need help documenting this family, we need primary sources. Can any of you help us match the children to their Mothers regarding John Owen A* or help verify the parents of Abel, as John, or his father Richard A*?

5586 Welcome new member, James, who is related to Peter 3566 of the Armstrongs of Barbados Line. They are cousins once removed, through a brother [the eldest] and a sister [the youngest], RICHARD ARTHUR (1880) and KATHLEEN (1899). James' parents were REGINALD SAMUEL A* (b in New York, d in Massachusetts) and Rose Bertha FOWLER. Reginald Samuel A* was the 2nd son, third child of RICHARD ARTHUR A*(b 1880 Barbados, d probably in MA) and Edith G. EVELYN. He was the eldest child of SAMUEL ARTHUR A* and Louisa Julia E. FARNUM both of Barbados. Samuel Arthur A* and Louisa had eleven children all born in Barbados. We know that some of their children emigrated to the US, Canada and England, and others stayed in Barbados, with later generations emigrating to other locations. They were: RICHARD ARTHUR A* (b 1880, d US), WILLIAM GRIFFITH A* (1881-1881), PHILIP CHRISTIAN A* (b 1883, d Canada), FREDERIC (CEDRIC) A* (b 1883, d Barbados), STEPHEN ARTHUR A* (b 1886), EDGAR LISLE A* (b 1887), FRANCIS (FRANK) A* (b 1891, d Canada), ERNEST LINDSAY A* (b 1893, d Canada), ROY A* (b1895), BASIL A* (b 1897. d England), and KATHLEEN A* (b 1899) SAMUEL ARTHUR A* (b 1853) was the son of GRIFFITH PHILIP A* (1815-1871) and Elizabeth Christian JOHNSON (1821-1861). They had nine children, Griffith philip A* was the son of BENONY A* (b 1792) and Sarah Payne ARMSTRONG (1785-1844), dau of PHILIP JONES A* (1757-1812) and Jane PeTerkins (b Abt 1746) who m 1814 Barbados. They had six children. Beony A* was the son of GRIFFITH A*(1752-1830) and Mary WATERMAN (1765-1837), who m. 1786. They had eleven children. Griffith A* was the son of BENJAMIN A*, Jr. (b Abt 1730, d1770)) and Sarah GRIFFITH (b Abt 1731). They had five children. Benjamin A* Jr., was the son of BENJAMIN A* (b Abt 1700, d 1751) and Mary JORDAN (b bef 1705). They had seven children. Benjamin A* was the son of SAMUEL A* Sr. (b Aft 1670 in Barbados, d 1723), son of EDWARD A* (b Abt 1640, d Bef 1685 in Barbados) and Ann JONES (b Abt 1640 Bristol, d bef 1686). They married in Aug 1666 Barbados. PHILIP JONES A* (1757-1812) the father of Sarah Payne Armstrong (1785-1844), was the son of MOSES A* and Sarah, who had five children including PHILIP JONES A*. Moses A* (1725-1775) was also a son of Benjamin A* and Mary Jordan. Are you confused already, I sure am. I can only be thankful that in recent years more parish records have become available online. Edward A* is the emigrant to Barbados and is thought to have arrived in Barbados between 1625 and 1656 along with two other siblings, Stephen and Mary. We are still continuing the search for Edward A*s origin. Anyone have any new leads?

5587 Welcome new member, Kimberly. Her father was JOSEPH EDWARD A* who m Joyce BURKET. His parents were JAMES FRANCIS A* (1911-1985) of Altoona, Blair Co., Pennsylvania (PA) and Madeline Camilla CAMPBELL. They had six other children; JAMES FRANCIS A* [Jr], LOUIS ANTHONY A*, THOMAS CHARLES A*, HOMER DALE A*, MARLENE HARRIET A* and MADELINE CAMILLA A*. James Francis, Sr was the son of EDWARD LEWIS A*[Sr] b 1882 Shamokin, Northumberland Co., PA, d 1932 in Altoona, Blair Co., PA and Harriet Amanda EMBICH (1879-1959). They had five other children all born in Altoona, Blair Co., PA; MARY KATHRYN A* b 1904 m 1st Charles NOLAN, and m 2nd an IRVINE; EDWARD LEWIS A* [Jr] b 1905 m Olive O'NEAL; CHESTER MICHAEL A* b 1907 m Irene; CHARLES HOMER A* b 1909, m Alice MACKEY; BERTHA AMANDA A* b 1914 m Chester SEEDENBURG. EDWARD LEWIS A*[Sr] (1882-1932) was the son of MICHAEL JOHN A* b 1852 in Pottsville, Schuylkill Co., PA, d 1835 in Big Mountain, Northumberland Co., PA. and Bridget FORBES (1856-1937). They m Abt 1879 in Shamokin, Northumberland Co., PA. Together they raised four children in Shamokin, Northumberland Co., PA. (1) Bridget's dau Emma Mckinney was b 1876, adopted by Michael John A* taking the Armstrong name. EMMA MCKINNEY A* married George BURNS in 1892 and they 13 children. (2) KATE A* b 1879 probably died before 1900; (3) EDWARD LEWIS A* [Sr] who m Harriet EMBICH and had six children; (4) MICHEL FRANCIS A* b 1884 d 1931, m Alice MATTHEWS in 1908. They had 4 children; FLORANCE, BRIDGET, MICHAEL FRANCIS and CATHERINE MARIE.Bridget Forbes Armstrong's obituary (1937) says she was survived by dau Emma, 21 grandchildren, 45 great grandchildren and 1 great great grand-daughter.Are you confused with the names yet?? Clearly this family is using naming patterns, repeating not only first names, but middle names as well. This makes most all of us crazy when we are trying to research. Names, dates and locations become more critical. At least this family seems to have stayed together once Michael John A* and Bridget married, and once Edward Lewis A* arrived in Blair Co., the family stayed mostly in Blair Co., PA. Needless to say we have a lot of Armstrongs in the state of Pennsylvania for a very long time.We are looking for the parents of Michael John A*. One possibility is he might be the son of JOHN A* and Abigail [maiden name not known]. 1850 and 1860 Census shows John A* b Abt 1827 England & Abgial b Abt 1822 PA residing in Pottsville/Branch, Schuylkill Co., PA. In 1860 they have a son John age 8 yrs. But we also found a bapt/chr record that shows his name as JOHN BENJAMIN A* b 8 Jun 1852, bapt/chr 18 Sep 1853, son of John A* and Abigail. We did not find any records for their other children listed in 1850 and 1860; JOSEPH b Abt 1848, MARY b Abt 1855, MARGARET b Abt 1857 or Wm H b Abt 1859. We did not find any of this family in 1870, so what happened to them? If John Benjamin and Michael John A* are the same individual, we are back to looking for a John A* and there are hundreds of John A*s b Abt 1827 on both sides of the Atlantic.Do any of you recognize any of the individuals in this family? Can anyone help us identify the parents of Michael John A*? We really need your help to get past this road block.

5589-5592 Welcome to Teri’s family who have only found out about their Armstrong connections after DNA testing of William, Teri’s brother! Teri had known of illegitimacy back in the 1860s in Scotland when Elizabeth (Betsey) HOWDEN had two sons William Thompson Howden (1863) (Teri’s great grandfather) and George Hogg Howden (1860). So who was the Armstrong father we had to pin the paternity suit on? Generally speaking this would prove to be a fruitless search but in the mid 19^th Century things were very different. In areas from which such as the Howdens originated (around Galasheils and Melrose) were small settlements relying on work from the woolen industry which meant that families didn’t move far. We knew that the Howdens came from a small settlement called Ladhope which was between Galasheils and Melrose either being in Selkirkshire or Roxburghshire depending on who you believed! It was time to test out the “Jane Armstrong Theory” which had proved successful in her illegitimate ancestor search in Kent. Using the nearest census in question (so 1861 was pretty much spot on) search the area for any male pertaining to that name and then sort by age and “opportunity”. Obviously this could mean a lot of matches but in this case it was a no brainer. The only male Armstrongs for miles around were THOMAS (02/11/1843) and his father ADAM (10/07/1814). Also in the household were wife Margaret and children MARGARET (1849), JAMES (1851) and ADAM AFFLEK (26/9/1855). Thomas became the strongest candidate as he was still a bachelor in 1861. The ancestry of the family can be traced back through two further generations. Margaret AFFLECK married Adam A* 18 May 1838 at Melrose. Their other baptised children were JANET (25/2/1839) and JAMES (13/12/1841) who probably both died in infancy. An Adam A* was christened 10 July 1814 St Boswells. The parents were Margaret HISLOP and JOHN Armstrong although Adam says he was born in Langholm in two censuses so it cannot be said for certain if these were Adam’s parents. Coming to Thomas’s descendants… he has been conclusively traced in the 1881 and 1891 Censuses, but then “disappears”. He married Mary MCLENNAN at Ladhope in 1874 and ADAM was born 22/01/1874, sister MARY J (1787). In both censuses they were living at 128 St Andrew Street Galashiels but wife Mary is not mentioned on the 1891 Census. We want to increase our knowledge at both ends of the pedigree. Can anyone help?

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