Page 32 - Armstrong Bloodline - ebook_Neat

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2. General John Armstrong, Jr., the grandson of Edward of Terwinney who we met in Chapter 3, moved
from Pennsylvania to the Beekman Patent after the Revolutionary War. His wife, Alida, was from the
area and was the daughter of Robert Livingston and Margaret Beekman, both prominent families of
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the area. In 1792 they sold land in Pawling to Thomas Wing (who later built a well-known hostelry in
the area along a road that is said to have been used to drive cattle from Vermont and other points
north to New York prior to the American Revolution). Gen. Armstrong was Ambassador to France from
1804 to 1811 and knew Napoleon Bonaparte well. In fact, it was on Napoleon’s advice that he
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subsequently imported Merino Sheep to his property after the War of 1812. I realize that Napoleon
was very much in the news at that time and there are few of us even to this day who haven’t heard of
him, but I have never heard an explanation as to how my ggrandfather’s oldest brother Jerome came
to be given the middle name of Bonaparte. Is it just a coincidence, or was there an ongoing
relationship of some kind between these Armstrongs of Dutchess County, NY who just happened to
have owned land in the same area as a Martin Armstrong who lived there 24 years earlier?
3. Finally, families with the surname of Elliot were there at the same time Martin was. According to
records of the First Baptist Church (located a few miles north of where Martin lived) a man by the
name of Benjamin Elliot transferred his Church membership here effective Aug. 5, 1759. The following
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year, a woman by the name of Elizabeth Elliot became a member of the same congregation.
Fifteen years later, two other Elliots – Jonathan and Abigail – became members of the same church. 65 -
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Is this still another coincidence, or could the above Elizabeth be the woman who married our
Martin about six years later and became the mother of his three children? To take this even further,
could Martin have returned to this area and found refuge here for a time during the Revolution? Is it
possible than his in-laws took him in, cared for his children, and that his second wife, Abigail, was a
sister or relative of his first wife?

As I mentioned earlier, we do not know what happened to Martin and his family during the American
Revolution. Although he is known to have been in Shoreham shortly after the conclusion of the War, it was a
pretty unfriendly, lightly populated area until the 1783 – 1786 timeframe. 54 & 60 The only other place where he
could have found some safety nearby was at Ft. Ticonderoga, which seems to be suggested by family folklore.
However, he likely didn’t stay there long, as Ft. Ticonderoga was overrun by the English in 1777. Virginia feels
he may have gone to Massachusetts or Connecticut, but was never able to find anything to support her theory.
Wherever he stayed, he clearly found a protected nest – possibly among other family members where his
young, motherless family was secure.

Wilma DeCourcey, a descendent of Martin’s daughter Lois, believes that Martin's first wife's name was
Elizabeth, and that she had family who owned land in Haverstraw, Orange County, NY. She also believes that
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she and Martin may have lived in that area until her death in the early 1780's. Mrs. DeCourcey also is said to
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have located a deed where a Martin Armstrong sold property in New York in March 1786. She further
believes that this Martin Armstrong moved to Shoreham, VT shortly thereafter. Other family researchers 9, CR-3
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believed that the Martin in Orange County, NY was not our Martin, and I agree. I believe the Armstrongs of
Orange County, NY descended from Francis Armstrong who immigrated there from Brooksboro, Ireland in
1727. 32 – page 364 & 35 I also agree that the theorized death date of 1817 for our Martin has likely been mixed up
with that of this Martin of Orange County who drowned in the Hudson River in that year. As his wife’s name
was also Elizabeth, it is at least worth mentioning as no document is known to be in existence that validates
this name for our Martin’s first wife – it is hoped that the same mix-up has not confused family researchers
who have handed this name down to us.

The first official record that we have that ties Martin to Shoreham, VT appears in 1786 where he is identified as
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an inhabitant of Shoreham who had taken the Freeman's Oath, and he appears as a resident there in 1790

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