William Armstrong, p. 793

WILLIAM ARMSTRONG, one of the oldest native-born, prosperous agriculturists of the county, is a grandson of the veteran pioneer, James Armstrong.

James Armstrong came from eastern Pennsylvania, the locality of his birth, to Washington county, Penn., several years prior to the close of the last century. He served as a soldier in the Revolution. Some time before coming here he had married Margaret Martin, and they with some of their children made the trip westward over the mountains, experiencing in their long and hazardous journey not a few hardships. They settled in Donegal township about one and one and one-half miles south of West Alexander, and erected a log cabin and set to work to make a clearing in the then unbroken forest, converting it into what is now a fertile and beautiful farm. Here they toiled from year to year, surrounded by the innumerable dangers incident to pioneer days, until finally called to their long home, the grandmother dying in 1838, the grandfather in 1849. The children born to them were as follows: Hugh (of whom special mention will presently be made), Mary (who died at the age of seventy-five years), John (who died in Darke county, Ohio, where he was an early settler), James and Joseph (both of whom died in Donegal township), David (who was a miller and farmer, at Triadelphia, W. Va., and who died at the age of seventy-three years), Margaret (married to Robert Steward, and now deceased), Martin (a farmer of West Finley township, now deceased), Samuel (who died in Donegal township, leaving several children), and William (who died in childhood).

Hugh Armstrong was born in eastern Pennsylvania, and came with his parents to Washington county, as above stated. He learned blacksmithing, a trade he followed for some time, and then began farming, which he carried on during the rest of his life. In 1816 he was married to Jane McCoy, a native of Finley township (since divided into East and West Finley townships), and to this union were born children as follows: Margaret, William, James (who moved to Missouri and there died), Isabella (Mrs. John M. Oldham, now living in Jefferson City, Mo.), John (who died in West Union, Marshall Co., W. Va.), Thomas, Martin and Jane (all three deceased when aged thirteen, four and three years, respectively), and David (who was a farmer in West Finley township, and died in February, 1892). The mother of this family dying in 1847, Mr. Armstrong married, for his second wife, Elizabeth McCoy, who died in 1850, without issue. After his first marriage Mr. Armstrong made a settlement in the northwest corner of West Finley township, near the West Virginia line, where he carried on farming. He was called from earth in 1854, having lived a life of honest industry which brought him well-merited success. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and, in politics, was first a Whig, afterward a Republican, and served for many years as a justice of the peace.

William Armstrong, whose name appears at the opening of this sketch, was born December 9, 1819, in what is now West Finley township, Washington Co., Penn., where he was reared to agricultural pursuits on his father's farm, his education being received at the subscription schools of the locality. In 1851 he was married to Mary M. Oldham, who was born in 1828, in Ohio county, W. Va., a daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Wylie) Oldham, of that county, and to this union the following named children were born: Jennie (now wife of John C. Hamilton, of Donegal township), a son that died in infancy (unnamed), Lina (Mrs. W. F. Whitham), Milton B. (a farmer in Donegal township), Lizzie B. and William W. (both at home), Frank E. (who graduated from Washington and Jefferson College, and afterward attended the Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny, and the Union Seminary at New York; he is now a Presbyterian minister at Evanston, Wyo.), Celestine (a school teacher, living at home), Samuel O. (a farmer in West Finley township) and Irene M. (a college graduate, now teaching school, her home being with her parents.) Mr. Armstrong in his younger days taught school, and after his marriage commenced agricultural pursuits on the old home farm in West Finley township, remaining there until 1866, in which year he came to Donegal township, settling on his present farm, situated about one and one-half miles south of West Alexander, and on which he has erected a neat and commodious residence. He and his wife are devout members of the Presbyterian Church at West Alexander; in his political preferences he is a lifelong Republican, and has served his township as school director for several years. The family are highly respected in the community, and are all well-to-do, Mr. Armstrong himself having made his life-work an eminent success.

Text taken from page 793 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).

Transcribed May 1997 by Karen Souhrada of Pittsford, NY as part of the Beers Project.
Published May 1997 on the Washington County, PA pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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