Page 65 - Armstrong Bloodline - ebook_Neat

and that he cannot do any labour requiring him to walk, stand, or lift heavy weights. Finally, at some time
shortly after May 1970, his pension was approved retroactively to the day after his discharge from the Army
(June 11, 1865). If he was then paid five years of back pay, the amount would have totaled nearly $240.00 –
such an amount must have seemed a windfall for Alva and his young family.

It is probable that his older brother, Jerome, left Corunna in the fall of 1870 (instead of Windsor, Illinois in
1869 as stated in his biography). Life may have seemed a bit too serene for Alva, and it is possible that he felt
the combination of his disability and too much civilization were limiting his prospects. As Alva does not appear
in the 1870 Census in Corunna, it is likely that his move preceded that of his brother, Jerome. Their father and
mother were both gone by this time, and perhaps Michigan was too full of memories – both good and bad –
for them to remain. It is not known whether he may have visited or stayed with his sister, Olive, in Iowa for a
time, but they soon settled in Vermillion, Clay County, Dakota Territory, probably toward the end of 1870.

Before continuing our story of Alva and Mary, there are a couple of related questions that I would like to
grapple with first:

1. Was Mary’s last name Cotton or Colton? and ,
2. Why did Alva and Mary picked Clay, Co., Dakota Territory as a place to settle?

Going back through family research, one finds references to both surnames, but the last name of Colton seems
to be the most frequently referenced. 129, 150 & 151 However, the two official documents I have that make
reference to her surname both identify her maiden name as Cotton. 221 & 222 None of the Armstrong family
researchers or descendents has, to my knowledge, ever been able to definitively resolve this genealogical
dilemma.

Quite by chance, while doing some Internet research several years ago, a descendent of the Cotton family
contacted me after coming across the name of Mary Colton in a previous version of this narrative posted on
my Web site. The following summarizes what he found and why it led him to believe that Mary Caroline’s
223
surname was Cotton:

1. What initially drew him to my narrative was a reference to Elkhart, IN. A man named Joseph Cotton, an
ancestor of his, is known to have moved to Elkhart Co., IN in the 1843 timeframe.
2. By 1850, Joseph’s brother Thomas Cotton and his wife Elizabeth Hare lived in Tippecanoe Co., IN and
had a daughter named Mary who had been born about 1847. By 1858, Elizabeth had died, and Mary,
her father Thomas, and his second wife lived in Livingston Co., IL (his second wife, Catherine Hare, is
believed to have been Elizabeth’s younger sister). Thomas and his family are known to have moved to
Peoria during the civil war, but things then get a bit fuzzy, and at this point Mary vanishes and is lost
from the Cotton family history.
3. In 1869, Thomas, his brother Joseph Jr. and his sons-in-law moved to Clay Co., SD.
4. Around the same timeframe, Alva and Mary buy land near them in Clay County, SD and later again in
Turner County, SD.
5. In 1880, Thomas Cotton dies. In the 1885 Dakota Territory Census, Catherine is listed as a widow now
living a bit further north in Turner Co., SD. Living with her is an 8 year old girl by the name of Mary
Armstrong who is identified as her granddaughter. The only problem is that Catherine does not appear
to have had either a daughter or granddaughter by the name of Mary, and certainly not one with the
last name of Armstrong. To the Cotton family researcher mentioned above, the only possible
explanation is that this girl is Alva and Mary’s youngest daughter Mary Ellen. We know that only three
months earlier Mary Ellen and her siblings were attending school in Shenandoah, IA. However, it is

64