Page 78 - Armstrong Bloodline - ebook_Neat

My father also had dark brown hair, was always a bit husky, and stood just over 6
feet tall. He had an outgoing personality and a somewhat devil-may-care self
confidence. That my father struggled with his natural proclivities and his
responsibilities as a husband and father, I have no doubt. While he made choices I
wished he hadn’t, with the perspective of several decades behind me, I now view
him in the first third of his life as something of a compelling, free-spirited rogue;
frequently in trouble, and not particularly aware of or caring as to how his actions
affected others; perhaps something of a throwback to the old Armstrong’s of the
Scottish borderlands… While my mother’s sisters both condemned him for what he
did to us, they also had fond memories of his laugh and sense of humor.

That said; let’s get on with their story…

My father made his Christmas day appearance at 4:45 p.m., the last of six children born to the union of George
Frances (Frank) Armstrong and Edna Merle Bulen. For reasons unknown, Frank and Edna left their farm in
Monticello township in Wright County earlier that same year and moved a couple of counties further to the
north, settling in the small town of Hillman in Morrison County - just across the county line from Mille Lacs
county and the town of Wahkon, Minnesota where my father was born at his maternal grandparents home. I
know little of my father's early life, except that he moved with his parents to Oregon in approximately
1924/1925 where his father worked for a logging company near Astoria, Oregon. He remembers little of his
time there other than the seemingly endless huge trees, and fruit which seemed to be everywhere. He
remembers another incident during which he and some of his friends were fooling around with firecrackers.
He recalls having lit one which appeared to have gone out. When he picked it up it suddenly went off in his
hand causing extensive damage to his right hand. His injuries were so severe, that the doctor who attended
him feared that he might never be able to use the hand. They apparently lived there for only about one year,
as he recalls that when he returned to Minnesota, he began attending school. When he was about 13, he and
his family moved to a farm near Wahkon.

The following excerpts are taken from a letter written to me by Robert Bulen in February 1994; a cousin, and
childhood friend of my father's (his father was Leo J. Bulen):

Years ago people didn't move around much and (when they did) the whole family went. Since W.W.II, families
have become widespread and without a planned reunion some members are never seen or heard from again. I
know it is important to you to find the Armstrong line because we had those same feeling in searching our
roots. And men traditionally want to keep the name going.

When you mentioned George Armstrong my first thought was Gen. Custer. We never knew your grandfather by
that name, we knew him as Frank. As I remember their mailbox had G. F. Armstrong on it. I also talked to
Phyllis Heim (the daughter of Helen – who was also known as Faye) after talking to you to see what she knew
about him that I didn't. She hardly recalled him at all except that she, too, remembered him as being grouchy
and grumpy and that for some reason he did not seem to like her mother very much (we can guess why,
although it certainly was not her fault). As I told you, our families were not close.

I have no idea where the Armstrong came from when they moved to Wahkon, maybe Monticello and maybe
not. The senior Bulens lived in Wahkon. The McGraw family (Phyllis) lived about 2 miles west and our family
(Leo) lived 1 mile south and the Armstrong’s lived on the next farm south of us. Nobody had more that 8 to 10
cows and a team of horses because that was all that a 40 acre farm could sustain. When the Armstrong’s came
to Wahkon only Alva, Nora and Wayne came along. I guess the older ones were already married. Alva found

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