Page 15 - Armstrong Bloodline - ebook_Neat

Chapter 3

As we learned in Chapter 1, it is probable that our bloodline traces back to the Armstrong Clan of the southern
Scottish borderlands. Based on correspondence received from the well-respected Clan Armstrong Trust of
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Scotland , it is further appears that the Armstrongs originally came from Normandy with William the
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Conqueror in the 11 century, as opposed to descending from the Viking Siward Fairbairn of popular folklore,
although evidence exists to support both sides of this debate.

We learned how the Armstrongs lost their land in Scotland and how many members of the clan moved to
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Ireland in the early 17 century and subsequently to the new world of colonial America. So what do we know
about our direct bloodline Armstrongs and how and when did they arrive in America?

We do know that several members of our family have been interested in genealogy and the history of our
family from at least the late 1800s. Some have left folkloristic narratives that are colorful and fanciful, but
which are also imbedded with tidbits that are, at the very least, tantalizing hints that appear to be grounded in
fact. For example, from a family history that appears to have been originally prepared by a member of the
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Phelps family (whose family we married into in 1792) , the following history of our Armstrong bloodline in
included (sections highlighted are from a second version discussed below):

“The Armstrongs came from Normandy France with William the Conqueror to England (That the reason of
Armstrong instead of Strongarm). At the time of the war between England and Scotland, a clan of them had a
castle or stronghold on the border from which they raided England for supplies for the Scotch Army.

After the war some of them moved over to Ireland. Years after three brothers went over to Long Island,
America and later one of the brothers (Martin- name not included in version #2) moved over on to the
Mainland to a settlement of Dutch Puritans, so strict that a child couldn’t have an apple on Sunday unless he
got it before sundown Saturday evening.

There were two boys – half brothers, Eliot named after his Mother’s clan married Elinor (Eleanor) Phelps. Before
the Rev. War the Armstrongs, the Phelpses, and the Wrights (Ancestors of Kent Walworth in Chelsea {not
included in version #2) went over the mountains to Lake Champlain to the protection of the Ticonderoga Fort,
then a French trading post.

When Ethan Allen captured Fort Ticonderoga he was accompanied by 77 Green Mountain Boys – one of whom
was named Armstrong (this sentence was not included in version #2 – instead, the following was inserted: Eliot

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