Page 72 - Armstrong Bloodline - ebook_Neat

Chapter 8 –

George Francis “Frank” &

Edna Merle (Bulen)

Armstrong & Family

On the left are Edna and Frank Armstrong with daughter-in-law Arlin and
grandson Dennis in 1949.

Alva and Mary's third child, Frank, is my blood-line ancestor. We know that Frank was born in Vermillion, SD,
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and lived there until after his mother died in 1878. He and his younger sister, Mary Ellen, then lived for a
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brief time with his uncle Trumbull Goold and his father's sister, Ellen in New Windsor, IL. In November 1880
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when his aunt died, he reunited with his older siblings and his father, this time in Shenandoah, IA. In 1881
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his father remarried, and he and his brothers and sisters attended school in the area until March 1885. 226 &
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His father, Alva, died in 1884, and the following year his father's younger brother, Rolla, became the
official guardian of him and his siblings. We know that his older brother Rolla stayed in the Coin, IA area and
married before moving on to North Dakota before the turn of the century. 235 &240 We also know that only the
two sisters, Lillian and Mary, actually moved to Michigan to live with their uncle and aunt in the Chelsea, MI
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area. However, we know little of Frank's whereabouts for nearly twenty years.
It is possible that he stayed for a time in the Coin/Shenandoah near or with his uncle Jerome, but neither he
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nor Rolla are shown as members of Jerome’s household in the 1885 state census. In fact, we do not find him
again until the early 1900s after he had moved back to South Dakota. 249 & 250 We also know that he had only a
grade school education, so it is likely he did not attend much, if any more school after 1885. Unfortunately,
with the loss of the 1890 U.S. Census and no state censuses taken in South Dakota during the 1890s, more
research is required to determine his whereabouts during this period. In addition, we were unable to locate
him in the 1900 U. S. Census so we do not know when he moved back to South Dakota. One family researcher
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believed that he lived for a time with his uncle Trumbull who had married his father's younger sister,
Olive Melissa, and then moved to Howard, SD in 1884. His father had also owned property in Clay and Turner
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counties and members of his mother’s family still lived in the area, so this is another location where he
could have resided for awhile…

The reason I do not believe he spent much, if any time, with his uncle and legal guardian Rolla in Chelsea, MI, is
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due to a reference to Frank in his cousin Howard Armstrong’s diary in 1897. According to Howard, he and
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his family were “very much surprised” on the morning of Nov. 25 , when Frank appeared in town. Frank
stayed with his uncle and family for nearly 3 months when Howard states that he “started for North Dakota”
on Feb. 23, 1898. This is the only reference I have come across so far for a possible residence in North Dakota,
so this is another area where more research might prove worthwhile. It is an interesting “coincidence” that his
brother Rolla moved to Bismarck, ND the following year…

From a first cousin, Tim Armstrong (my father's older brother's son), I got the following bit of family folklore -
Frank was said to have been a confirmed bachelor who did not marry until his late 20s. In fact, it was related

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