Page 23 - Armstrong Bloodline - ebook_Neat
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The Arm & Hammer reference is creative, but pure Irish blarney. The Arm &
Hammer logo dates back to the 1860s when a man named James A. Church ran
a spice business known as Vulcan Spice Mills. According to the company, the
Arm and Hammer logo represents Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and
metalworking. If the original of this narrative was written at some earlier date,
at least these off-the-wall assertions must have been added at some time in
th
the latter half of the 19 century or later.
What is new and really of note is the addition of names said to be those of our Scottish and Irish ancestors –
Christopher, William, William, and Edward. While we are given no references to support this information, they
do provide us for the first time some names to ponder. Glenda goes on to say – “I tapped into a genealogy
database, apparently from Ireland that seems to directly substantiate the following family names, events, and
timeline. The only difference is that, instead of Siward, the actual forefather was the famous Johnnie of
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Gilnockie.” In her analysis she presents the information in the above history and from it proposes a
connection of our bloodline to the descendants of Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie, Scotland and his
descendants, the Armstrongs of Brooksboro, Ireland.
I have studied Glenda’s proposed connection and have researched several additional sources. What I have
found, unfortunately, is considerably less clear. As noted above, a great deal of information exists that
supports the information relative to Johnnie of Gilnockie, his only son Christopher (John’s Christie), and, in turn
his seven sons. 35 – chart #2, children of Christopher There is also considerable, well-documented information concerning
Col. William Armstrong (also known as Christie’s Will) and his family. 35 – chart #3 However, at this juncture we
once again run into inconsistencies with dates and descendant lines that further obscure the road and appear
to lead us nowhere. For example, in Glenda’s family narrative it says that William (Christie’s Will) had three
sons - John of Gilnockie, Christopher of Langholm, and William of Gilnockie. This does not appear to be true;
although these names do match up with the names of three of John’s Christie’s seven sons a generation
earlier. Christie’s Will did have a son named William, although there is little information about him that can be
found. Based on the above family history, Christie’s Will is said to have had a son named Edward (From the
Border - FTB), and my research agrees with that of Glenda up to this point. 35 – chart #4
As I searched through American and European narratives and genealogy charts across the Internet, I began to
see some patterns emerge. First, I was unable to find any charts that showed the Edward born in 1604 had five
sons as shown in Glenda’s chart. All the ones I found showed only three sons – John, Francis, and James 35 – chart
#4
– but no sons named Jean or Martin. However, even if they did exist, there are still more inconsistencies that
make this connection unlikely. For example, it became clear that the dates of birth for Edward (FTB), who
supposedly married Margaret “Mary” Maguire, were not consistent, and ranged from 1604 to 1713. In
addition, in some research records, he is shown as having a second spouse whose maiden name was Thomas,
while at other times she is shown as the wife of Edward’s grandson who was also named Edward (do a Google
search for “Edward Armstrong Terwinney” to see how confused and intermingled the generations of these two
Edwards have become). To try and clarify this issue, I went through all of the Armstrong Clan Association data
sheets I referenced above and double-checked several of their references to The Chronicles of the
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Armstrongs . While the Chronicles are known to have some errors, they are also accepted as the broadest,
most all-inclusive history of the Armstrongs ever published. As I did so I came to a very interesting conclusion –
the pedigree information I received from the ACA on Edward (FTB) had been misinterpreted and transcribed
incorrectly! It was not Edward (FTB) who married the beautiful, long-haired princess of Fermanaugh’s Maguire
family, but his grandson (son of James) Edward of Terwinney, elder brother of Major-General John Armstrong
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