Page 18 - Armstrong Bloodline - ebook_Neat

Colonial America together and settled near each other. So, a final genealogical nugget provided by these family
summaries is that our ancestor Martin may have married a woman who’s maiden name was Elliot.

At this point, we have examined family folklore that appears to coincide with what we have learned about the
origins of the Armstrong Clan and their travels to Ireland and America. However, we still don’t know when they
left Ireland (if, indeed, that is where they came from), or when our bloodline ancestors first arrived in America.
This, however, is where the water begins to get murky. Let’s see what else family history and research
evidence has uncovered.

One of the members of our family tree that we have already been introduced to is Jerome B. Armstrong, an
older brother of my great-grandfather, Alva D. Armstrong. Jerome ultimately settled near Shenandoah in Page
County, IA and perhaps had another residence in Tampa, FL, as we noted in the letter above that was sent to
him in 1912 from Henry Armstrong. He was an extremely well known and successful businessman and farmer
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in Page County, and in 1890, a two page biography highlighting his life and accomplishments, was published .
The following is of interest to this discussion: “His family came from Connecticut where the great-grandfather
had settled upon his emigration from Ireland in 1750”. This is clearly a reference to his great-grandfather
Martin, and an initial introduction to both Connecticut as the location where Martin first settled and 1750 as
the year he arrived in America from Ireland.

Fantastic - so far, so good! Now, however, things begin to go downhill. As we mentioned earlier, in 1909,
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another biography was published about Jerome B. Armstrong and here the family immigration timeline
changes and more information is added that is similar to what we have seen before: “The ancestors of the
Armstrong family were of Irish birth. While the Treadways were of Scotch lineage. (we’ll learn more about the
Treadways later) Both families were founded in America in the seventeenth century, settling first in
Connecticut. The grandfather of our subject and three of his uncles, two on the paternal side and one on the
maternal, served throughout the Revolutionary war. Two of the number held commissions, seeing official duty
in connection with the struggle for independence. One of the uncles was shot in the neck at the capture of Fort
Ticonderoga and the bullet, passing through his body, ranged downward and was taken out of his back. He
recovered from his wound, however, and lived to a good old age.”

In the 19 years since his first biography was published, something caused Jerome to change his mind about
when our bloodline ancestor first arrived in America. As we know he was also interested in genealogy, we can
only wonder what that might have been. He is not, however, the only Armstrong that supports this theory as
we will see in a bit. Further, we know that there are a considerable number of errors in this biography. First,
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th
the Treadways emigrated from England , not Scotland in the 17 century, and settled in Massachusetts, not
Connecticut.
As in version #1 of the family histories we discussed above, we again see mention of our Armstrongs
participating in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775. However, after looking through several versions
of the rolls of the Green Mountain Boys, no Armstrongs or Treadways appear as participants in that event
(although we do know that our ancestor Martin was in the area at the time and that Virginia Armstrong was
convinced that related Armstrong’s lived there). Further, according to the book by Christopher Ward (1952),
The War of the Revolution, New York: Macmillan - “No one was killed in the assault. The only injury was to one
American, who was slightly injured by a sentry with a bayonet.” We do know there was a Treadway and a
Hopestill Armstrong who served as enlisted men with the Green Mountain Boys in later battles; but we have
no evidence at this point that ties them to our family.

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