Page 5 - Armstrong Bloodline - ebook_Neat

Chapter 1

Facts, Fiction and Folklore

The origin and history of the Armstrongs of our bloodline, along with their dreams, accomplishments and
failures, are treasures buried in the tomes and folklore of the past and the forgotten memories of ancestors
long dead. Uncovering what remains takes effort and persistence and presents certain challenges not normally
faced in more conventional treasure hunts. For example, with genealogical research you may begin, as I did,
with family member memories that provided a few tantalizing informational nuggets.

Sometimes, the hunt is almost as interesting as the nuggets you find. While my situation was unusual; growing
up without knowing any of the Armstrong aunts, uncles, or cousins, my interest in genealogy began because of
my need to know more about them. The search began with a conversation with my father, Wayne Armstrong,
in November 1976. As we will see, some of what he related was factual, but much had become slightly garbled
over the years. Regardless, his memories were still interesting and they became the basis upon which most of
my subsequent genealogical research was based. He began by telling me that my grandfather's name was
George Armstrong, although he was known as Frank (his middle name being Francis). He also related that my
grandfather had two brothers named Rolla and Ransom, and he believed that they both lived at one time in
Steele, North Dakota. He vaguely recalled that Ransom was a druggist in that city and that he was named after
my grandfather's uncle who, as my father remembered hearing, was hung as a horse thief back in the Old
Northwest Territory. He also recalled that Rolla's wife was named Amanda (or Mandy) and went
on to relate a personal recollection about this lady that can only be classified as unusual. For
some reason (that he never knew), Amanda apparently had one of her breasts removed which
she had pickled and kept in a jar at her home! Apparently, he had visited Rolla and Amanda when
he was a boy and this particular memory had stuck with him ever since! (see reference 240,
paragraph 4 – this is, apparently, one of those memories that got a bit garbled)

He further remembered that my grandfather had lived for a number of years in a town by the name of Coin,
(Page County) Iowa. In fact, he told me, my grandfather had title to six burial plots in that town (he later gave
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me the deed to one of them which was signed by grandfather Frank on March 5, 1907) , I subsequently
verified that the deed, which is to a plot in the Elmwood Cemetery in Coin, IA, is valid, but was unable to verify
if anyone was actually buried in the plot. In another conversation several years later, my father also seemed to
recall that Frank had lived in Missouri during his early life (Page County is one of the southernmost counties in
Iowa, and is located on the Iowa/Missouri border).

My father went on to recount that his father had two sisters--one who was named Lillian, and another older
sister who he believed was named Mamie. He remembered that Lillian had married a man by the name of
Harlan Depew, that they also had a son named Harlan, and that they resided in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He
further recalled that they owed a summer home in Clearwater, Florida. Mr. Depew was supposedly a railroad
engineer. Several years later, my father repeated most of the above story, but this time he seemed to recall

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