Manuscripts Collection
John Armstrong, Jr. was born on April 20, 1793 in Allegheny County, Pennsylania, the son of John and Elizabeth McElroy Armstrong. In 1803 the family moved to Columbia County, Ohio. A farmer, contractor, carpenter, and builder, Armstrong served as a corporal in the War of 1812 and worked his way through the ranks to major general in the Ohio militia (1819-1859). He married Elizabeth McKaig on April 12, 1816 and settled in New Lisbon (now Lisbon), Ohio. The couple had eight children: James, John Milton, Margaret King, Bezaleel Wells, Albert, George Washington, Eliza Jane, and William Wallace. Armstrong died on December 22, 1865.
James Armstrong, first child of John and Elizabeth, was born on December 23, 1816 in New Lisbon, Ohio. He graduated from Washington and Jefferson College (Washington, Pennsylania) in 1837, studied law in New Lisbon, was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1842, and established a practice in New Lisbon. In November 1842 he moved his practice to Canton, Ohio. Sometime during the mid-1840s he moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he served as a district court judge and, in the late 1850s, published a local newspaper. During the Civil War, he served as first lieutenant in the Third Wisconsin Cavalry. He died at Leavenworth, Kansas on October 3, 1862.
James married Mary Ann Nelson of Columbus, Ohio on May 24, 1842. She was born on December 4, 1823. The couple had five children: Mary Isabella, Duane James, John Nelson, Robert Milton, and Caroline Amelia. Following James' 1862 death, Mary Ann Nelson Armstrong married Reverend Matthew A. Fox (1812-1883). After Fox's death she moved to Missoula, Montana, where she resided with her daughter, Caroline Armstrong Tillinghast, until her death on May 12, 1901.
George Washington Armstrong, the sixth child of John and Elizabeth,
was born on February 27, 1827. He apprenticed in the printing trade on the Mt.
Vernon (Ohio)
Armstrong married Anna Miller on March 24, 1852. She died of dysentery on October 16, 1852 in Keokuk. He married again, on November 10, 1859, to Jane Caroline ("Jenny") Colman. She was born in Berford, Ontario, Canada on February 21, 1838 and moved to Fort Atkinson, Iowa in the 1850s with her, parents Thomas William Coleman and Caroline Newington Coleman. Jane and George had seven children: George Coleman, William Newington, James Douglas, Caroline Isabel, Thomas Miller, John Milton, and Albert.
William Wallace Armstrong, the eighth child of John and Elizabeth,
was born on March 18, 1833. In May 1847 he was apprenticed to learn the
printing trade at the Seneca
Armstrong married Sarah Virginia Hedges on November 10, 1857. They had three children: two sons who died in infancy and Isabella Hedges (1864- ).
James Douglas Armstrong, the third child of George and Jane Armstrong, was born on April 8, 1866 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He graduated from St. Paul High School in 1885, attended the University of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota law school, and was admitted to the Minnesota bar in 1889. He was solicitor for the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad (1890-1895); member of the Hadley and Armstrong law firm of St. Paul (1895-1900); assistant general solicitor and general attorney, Great Northern Railway Company (1901-1912); general counsel, Great Northern iron ore properties (1912-1915); and vice-president, Merchant's Trust and Savings Bank (later First Trust Company), 1915-Oct. 1931. He was also president of the Ramsey County Bar Association (1905) and a St. Paul College of Law lecturer and instructor (1909-1930). He married Mary Elizabeth Brinckerhoff (1871-1931) in 1894; they had five children. Armstrong died on November 15, 1939.
John Milton Armstrong, the sixth child of George and Jane, was born on April 10, 1875. He attended the St. Paul public schools and the University of Minnesota, and graduated from the latter's medical school in 1901. He interned at St. Joseph Hospital, St. Paul (1901-1902) and established a practice in Montgomery, Minnesota late in 1902. He soon moved back to St. Paul, however, and established a practice in that city. He was St. Paul's assistant commissioner of health; president of the Ramsey County Medical Society (1914), the Minnesota Society for the Study of Medical History (1935-1937), and the Minnesota Academy of Medicine (1941); vice-president of the Medical Library Association (1939); and a member of the Minnesota State Medical Association, American Medical Association, Minnesota Historical Society Executive Council, and Nu Sigma Nu Medical Fraternity. Armstrong also joined the Medical Reserve Corps in 1909, and was commissioned a first lieutenant in 1911 and captain in 1918.
He married Ida Dulany Dobyns (1880- ) on May 31, 1909 in Shelbina, Missouri. They had four children: Jane, Anne, Elizabeth, and John Milton. Armstrong died in 1945.
Albert Armstrong, the seventh child of George and Jane, was born on March 23, 1877. He attended the University of Minnesota and was a Northern Pacific Railway Company roadmaster (1899-1905); corporate secretary of several Tacoma, Washington businesses, including the Far West Lumber Company, the Far West Clay Company, and the Pacific Car Company (1906-1916); and manager (1917-1928), president, and owner (1929- ) of the Interlocking Tile Corporation, Seattle, Washington. He married Emilie Thomas and had two sons.
Biographical data was taken from the collection. More detailed
information about the people mentioned above, and about other family members,
can be found in the collection's genealogical materials. See also
Correspondence (1819-1944), genealogical materials (1750s-1930s), photographs (undated and 1886, 1906), clippings (1866-1943), certificates (1837-1917), and scrapbooks (1842-1941) documenting five generations of an Ohio family, many of whose descendants lived in Minnesota.
Most of the papers document the families of James Armstrong (1816-1862), a Wisconsin lawyer, and George Washington Armstrong (1827-1877), a real estate developer and state official in Minnesota. The papers contain information on Minnesota and Ohio politics, especially in the 19th century; on real estate transactions, especially in Minnesota; on the genealogy and history of the Armstrong family in several states; and on the daily lives of many family members over the course of more than 100 years.
These documents are organized into the following sections:
Five oversize drawings of fortifications and engineering structures at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, done by Cadet Bezaleel W. Armstrong in the 1840s, were transferred to the academy's library in August 1984.
Accession numbers: 4143; 5569; 5606; 5619; 5670; 5711; 5765
Processed by: Cheryl Norenberg Thies, April 1984
Catalog ID number: 09-00037934
Charts and genealogical data detailing the Armstrong, Duncan,
Brinckerhoff, McKaig, Nelson, Newington, Noakes, Spaulding, and Gorman
families. Includes an Armstrong family chart (1780s-1900s), an undated
biographical sketch of William W. Armstrong, a pamphlet on the
Duncan-Brinckerhoff families (1830s-1930s), two McKaig family charts
(1700s-1890s) compiled by Thomas Kerr (July 27, 1894) and updated to 1906 by
John Milton Armstrong, and an undated booklet by Harriet McIntyre Foster
entitled
This section contains chronologically arranged papers that document generations of Armstrong family members from John Armstrong, Jr. through his great-great-grandchildren. They deal mainly with the families of his two sons, James Armstrong (1816-1862) and George Washington Armstrong (1827-1877). Included are letters, wedding announcements, certificates and appointments, financial and estate documents, and programs and invitations.
Note: In the following annotations, James will refer to James Armstrong (1816-1862), George to George Washington Armstrong (1827-1877), John M. to John Milton Armstrong, M.D. (1875-1945), and James D. to James Douglas Armstrong (1866-1939).
Includes the Armstrong tartan and coat of arms; notice that John M. was placed on the Chinese Imperial Reform Army (Yankton, S.D.) roster as captain and assistant surgeon (undated); marriage invitation of Albert and Emilie Thomas Armstrong (undated); a letter from Jane Armstrong to her father, John M., concerning her U.S. Navy commission (undated); commissions of John Armstrong, Jr. as captain (1819), aide-de-camp (1824), adjutant (1829), major (1830), brigadier major and inspector (1832), and brigadier inspector (1839), in the Ohio militia; letters concerning the marriage of Jane Coleman Armstrong's grandparents, James and Caroline Noakes Newington (1820); a letter from Elizabeth Newington to her stepmother, Caroline, detailing a summer vacation (1820); English game tax receipts of James Newington (1822-1823); documents detailing Elizabeth Newington's estate (1829) and John Armstrong, Jr.'s election as Columbian County (Ohio) treasurer (1834); marriage certificate of James Coleman Armstrong's parents (1835); and James' graduation speech at Washington and Jefferson College (1837).
Contains love letters between James Armstrong and Mary Ann Nelson (Columbus, Ohio) both before and after their 1842 marriage. The letters include details of their secret engagement (May 1841); Bezaleel W. Armstrong's departure for West Point and James' law studies (May 1841); the possibility of James joining his father's business (June 1841); Margaret K. Armstrong's wedding (Oct.-Nov. 1841); their marriage plans; Mary Ann's numerous visits with James' brother Milt (John Milton) Armstrong, Ohio state auditor living in Columbus; James' attendance at a temperance meeting (Jan. 1842); Mary Ann's views on "animal magnetism" (Feb. 1842); and James' law partnership in New Lisbon (April 1842) and Canton (Nov. 1842), Ohio. Also included are letters from Bezaleel to his father describing West Point (Feb. 1842); from Milt Armstrong, to Mary Ann with news of her Columbus friends (Aug. 1842), and to James (Canton) concerning Ohio politics (Nov. 1842); from Thomas Noakes (London) to his sister, Caroline Noakes Newington (Paris, Ontario, Canada), with family news (Nov. 1842); and from George (Columbus) to James, and from Milt (Columbus) to his father, both concerning the death of their mother Isabella (Dec. 1842).
Continues the letters (1843) between James and Mary Ann, while
James resides in Canton and Mary Ann is still in New Lisbon. Describes James'
acceptance of Christ (Jan.), the birth of their daughter (May), and the
possibility of James joining the Ohio militia (June). Also included are letters
from Bezaleel (West Point) to his father discussing his grief over his mother's
death (Jan. 1843), and to Mary Ann, expressing anger over his father's
remarriage (Jan. 1844); from Thomas Noakes (London) to his sister Caroline,
detailing their mother's death (March 1844); and from James Noakes (Burwash,
England) to Caroline and James Newington enclosing a statement of their
parents' estates (Dec. 1844). Other papers include receipts for Caroline's
share of the estates of her mother and her aunt, Ann Farrance (Feb. 1845); a
recommendation of William W. Armstrong to John G. Breslin, publisher of the
Seneca
Includes a sales receipt for Caroline N. Newington's Canada farm (May 1852); a congressional bill authorizing her to enter certain lands in Iowa (April 1856) along with a letter from U.S. Representative Henry Rice concerning the bill (July 1856); letters from Thomas W. Coleman (Fort Atkinson, Iowa) to George concerning George's handling of Coleman's St. Paul business (1857-1859) and giving his permission for George to marry his daughter, Jane Caroline Coleman (Aug. 1859); William W. and Sarah Hedges Armstrong's marriage certificate (Nov. 1857); George's Minnesota state treasurer election certificate (Dec. 1857); a letter from John Armstrong, Jr. (New Lisbon) to his sons, Albert and George (St. Paul) detailing his fourth marriage (May 1862) and his honorable "Squirrel Hunter's Discharge" certificate (Sept. 1862); wedding announcement of Emily Coleman (Jane's sister) and George C. Spaulding (Aug. 1869); and letters from Milt Armstrong (Florida) to George containing family news (May 1875), and from James Noakes Taylor (London) to Caroline N. Coleman, thanking her for her hospitality during his St. Paul visit and containing Noakes family news (Jan., March 1887).
Contains letters from Henry Newington (New York) to his nieces, Jane Coleman Armstrong and Emily Coleman Spaulding, describing a trip to Paris, Canada (Sept. 1893); from Milt Armstrong (Florida) to John M., containing genealogical data (May 1895); a series of letters (Jan. 1896-Sept. 1898) from English cousin Susannah Noakes to Jane C. Armstrong giving family news and sending her condolences on William Newington Armstrong's death (Sept. 1898); a pencil drawing of Mary Ann Nelson Armstrong Fox (June 1898); a letter from James D. (Minneapolis) to John M. describing William's severe illness (Aug. 1898); and several condolence letters to their mother, Jane C. Armstrong, following his death (Sept., Dec. 1898). Other items include a printed notice of Susannah Noakes' death (Sept. 1899); the wedding announcement of John M. and Ida Dulany Dobyns (May 1909); John M.'s commission as first lieutenant, Medical Reserve Corps (June 1911); and several letters between cousins Carrie Armstrong Tillinghast (Missoula, Mont.), James D. and John M. (St. Paul), and Isabella (Belle) H. Armstrong (Cleveland), concerning Carrie's financial problems (Aug. 1911-Dec. 1918).
Includes a series of letters (1921-1927) from Belle Armstrong (Cleveland) to John M. and James D. (St. Paul) detailing the deaths of her mother, Sara Hedges Armstrong (March 1921) and of Carrie Armstrong Tillinghast (Aug. 1922), and commenting on her father, William W. Armstrong's first trip to Tiffin at age 14 (May 1927). Letters (1924-1925) from Minnie Newington Goodwin (New York) to her cousins, Jane C. Armstrong (St. Paul) and Emily C. Spaulding (San Francisco) describe her fortieth wedding anniversary celebration (March 1924) and a voyage to England (Aug. 1925), and offer condolences on the death of Jane's son George (Oct. 1926). Other papers include Jane C. Armstrong's will (typed copy; Oct. 1926); the wedding invitation of James D.'s daughter Margaret and Francis Baylis Dean (May 1927); John M.'s correspondence with several University of Minnesota regents and the University's president regarding a fine arts program at the university (April-May 1912); and the University High School commencement announcement of John M.'s daughter, Jane Armstrong (June 1928).
Contains letters from T. K. Armstrong (Chicago) to John M.
forwarding Armstrong genealogical data (Dec. 1930), and from Kate Spaulding
Cathcart announcing the death of her mother, Emily Coleman Spaulding (June
1934); the marriage announcement of John M.'s daughter Anne and William A.
Wallis (Oct. 1935); notice of John M.'s election to the Informal Club of St.
Paul (Nov. 1937); a series of letters (March-Nov. 1939) between John M. and
several Swedish professors regarding Swedish runes and the authenticity of the
Kensington (Minnesota) runestone; a letter from Margaret B. Newington
(Connecticut) to John M. detailing his relationship to her husband, Harry M.
Newington, a grandson of James and Caroline N. Newington (Aug. 1939);
obituaries and a biographical sketch of James D. (Nov. 1939); a letter from
Albert Armstrong (Seattle) to his brother, John M., giving his views on the
United States government and the war (June 1942); and an article about Albert
Armstrong in the
Photographs of Margaret King Armstrong Garretson (undated), Carrie Armstrong Tillinghast and her mother, Mary Ann Nelson Armstrong Fox (undated), and a portrait of Minnie Newington Goodwin (1906).
Due to their rapidly deteriorating condition, the clippings were
photocopied in March 1984 and the originals discarded. Arranged
chronologically, they include obituaries of George S. Spaulding (1875), Willis
A. Gorman (1876), George W. Armstrong (1877), Emily Newington Gorman (1879),
Thomas W. Coleman (1885), Caroline Noakes Newington (1887), William W.
Armstrong (1905), John Nelson Armstrong (1911), Mary Brinckerhoff Armstrong
(1931), Emily Coleman Spaulding (1934), and Jane Coleman Armstrong (1940).
There are announcements and descriptions of the weddings of James D. and Mary
Brinckerhoff Armstrong (1894), Carrie Armstrong and C. W. Tillinghast (1901),
Elinor Dittenhofer and John B. Armstrong (1930), and James D. and Cora H.
Johnson Armstrong (1933). Other articles detail John Armstrong, Jr.'s memorial
sermon (1866); a trip by Carrie Armstrong from Chicago to Missoula, Montana
(1882); William W. Armstrong's retirement from the Cleveland
A handwritten genealogy and family history compiled by John Milton Armstrong in 1939, with 1942 additions. The volume covers the period from 1754 through 1942, and contains numerous notes and charts on the Armstrongs' ancestry and on many individual family members; vital statistics for the family from 1793 through 1888 (p. 87-89); information on the military career of John Armstrong, Jr. (p. 83); numerous copies of genealogical letters; and comments on the related Coleman, Newington, Noakes, McKaig, and Spaulding families.
It also contains biographical sketches of John Armstrong, Jr., George Washington Armstrong, John Milton Armstrong (1875-1945), William Wallace Armstrong, James Douglas Armstrong, Susannah Noakes, Jane Coleman Armstrong, and John Milton Armstrong's children Anne, Elizabeth, and John M.
Due to the rapidly deteriorating condition of both the scrapbook pages and the clippings mounted on them, Volumes 2 and 3 were dismantled in March 1984, and the deteriorating materials photocopied. Other materials were removed and refiled, along with the clippings photocopies, in their original location among the scrapbook items.
Arranged in no apparent date or subject order, the volume's
contents mainly document the life of William Wallace Armstrong (1883-1905).
Included are clippings and correspondence detailing Armstrong's appointment as
Cleveland postmaster (1877); obituaries of John G. Breslin (Tiffin), the man
who taught Armstrong the newspaper business (undated); promotional flyers,
tickets, and clippings concerning Armstrong's speech at the 1888 Democratic
national convention in St. Louis; his recollections of Artemus Ward as a Seneca
Possibly assembled by John Milton Armstrong (1875-1945), the
volume's contents display no apparent order. Included are several undated
articles detailing the life of John Armstrong, Jr.; obituaries of Thomas Miller
Armstrong (1874), Isabella McKaig Armstrong (1842), Eliza Jane Armstrong
(1849), Anna Miller Armstrong (1852), John Milton Armstrong (1901), Matthew A.
Fox (1883), George Washington Armstrong (1877), Caroline Armstrong Robinson
(1941), William Newington Armstrong (1898), and William W. Armstrong (1905);
several clippings concerning William W. Armstrong, particularly his retirement
from the Cleveland
This volume was begun by Mary Ann Nelson Armstrong Fox, passed on to her daughter, Caroline Armstrong Tillinghast, and (following Caroline's 1922 death) given to John Milton Armstrong. It contains handcopied poems, original watercolor and tinted ink drawings, clippings, handcut silhouettes, handwritten genealogical notes, photographs, and braided samples of family hair.
The clippings, mainly wedding announcements and obituaries, include the weddings of John Nelson and Lizzie McKittrick Armstrong (1884), Caroline Armstrong and C. W. Tillinghast (1901), Duane James and Mary S. Rudd Armstrong (1880), and Mary Ann Nelson Armstrong and Matthew A. Fox (undated). They include obituaries of Matthew A. Fox (1883), and Mary Ann Nelson Armstrong Fox (1901), John Nelson Armstrong (1847), Margaret K. Armstrong (1849), Eliza Jane Armstrong (1847), Margaret K. Armstrong Garretson (1852), James Armstrong (1862), Mary Isabella Armstrong (1864), George W. Armstrong (1877), Duane James Armstrong (1890), Albert Armstrong (1888), John Milton Armstrong (1901), and William W. Armstrong (1888), John Milton Armstrong (1901), and William W. Armstrong (1905).
Also included in the volume are silhouettes of Duane James Armstrong (ca.1885-1890) and Martha Nelson, grandmother of Mary Ann Nelson Armstrong Fox (undated); photographs of the James Armstrong home in Janesville, Wisconsin (ca. 1860), and of Mary Isabella Armstrong (undated); and hair samples from the members of the John Armstrong, Jr. and James Armstrong families, Anna Miller Armstrong, and various members of the Nelson (Mary Ann Nelson Armstrong Fox) family.
Floor plan and exterior view of an unidentified house, possibly the James Armstrong house in Janesville, Wisconsin. James was the eldest son of John Armstrong, Jr.
Issued to James Armstrong.
Will of James Newington (Paris, Ontario, Canada), grandfather of Jane Coleman Armstrong, the second wife of George Washington Armstrong. Includes a Jan. 3, 1846 codicil.
Issued to Anna Miller, first wife of George Washington Armstrong.
Printed copy of James Armstrong's July Fourth oration at Janesville, Wisconsin.
Cost estimates on a house planned for George W. Armstrong.
Floor plans done by architect John Summer for George W. Armstrong's house at 151 (now 252) Summit Avenue, St. Paul.
Submitted to George W. Armstrong by architect A. L. McKnight for a house at 151 (now 252) Summit Avenue, St. Paul. The plans were not accepted.
Four-generation chart (1757-1895) compiled by John M. Armstrong.