Page 142 - Cousins - Celebrities, Saints & Sinners

Neil

Armstrong

9th Cousin -

2 times removed

Common Ancestor

Father: Cornelius C. Bogaert
Schoonrewoerd, Leerdam, South
Holland, Netherlands
1630 - 1665
Neil Armstrong with Apollo 11 crewmates
th
Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin (14 cousin)
Mother: Dirkje Pieterse Coeymans
Vianen, Vianen, South Holland, Born: Died:
Netherlands August 5, 1930 August 25, 2012
1630 - 1665 Wapakoneta, Ohio Cincinnati, Ohio

Neil Alden Armstrong was the son of Stephen Koenig
Armstrong and Viola Louise Engel. He was of Scottish,
German and Scots-Irish ancestry and had a younger sister
and brother. Armstrong’s life, accomplishments and
awards would fill pages and are far too many to document
here. My connection to his bloodline shown here is
through our Dutch ancestors, but it is likely that we share
a second, more direct connection with his North

Ireland Armstrong ancestors who lived in the Fermanaugh area. It is believed that my direct line
ancestors lived in the same area during the approximately 100 + years they spent in Ireland. His
ancestor, John Armstrong, was born in Ireland in 1730 and immigrated to Colonial America
sometime around the same timeframe that our Armstrong line arrived here.

His love for flying developed at a young age, and he earned a student flight certificate on his
th
16 birthday and soloed later that same month. In 1947, at age 17 he began studying
aeronautical engineering under a scholarship program which required two years of study,
followed by two years of flight training and one year as a Naval Aviator, then completion of the
final two years of his bachelor’s degree. He attended flight training in Pensacola, FL, saw action
in Korea, and during action near Wonsan, managed to fly his damaged aircraft, which had lost
part of its wing, back to friendly territory before being forced to eject. After returning to finish
his degree at Purdue, he met his first wife, Janet Shearon, with whom he had three children.

After graduating from Purdue, he became an experimental research test pilot, first at the Lewis
Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland and then at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station at

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