Chapter 5 -- Elliot and Eleanor (Phelps) Armstrong and Family * Montage includes the state of Vermont in the middle flanked by the headstones of Elliot and Eleanor Armstrong (located in the Shoreham Village Cemetary). Picture at top left is the U.S. Post Office in Shoreham and on the bottom right is a picture of the house in which Elliot and Eleanor lived on the outskirts of Shoreham (picture taken in Apr. 1998). Elliott (Eliot-Elliot) Armstrong, Martin's youngest son, is believed to have been born in Willsboro, Essex, NY on September 8, 1772, and is my great-great-great grandfather. Just before his 20th. birthday, he married Eleanor Phelps of nearby Orwell, VT. As stated above, at age 21, he purchased 100 acres of land from his father and appears for the first time on the tax lists of Shoreham in 1793 where he resided and farmed most of his life. Little personal information has survived about grandfather Elliott and grandmother Eleanor other than the rather obvious fact that they must have enjoyed each other's company, as they rapidly set about making babies--their first child, Chauncey, was born in the first year of their marriage. They enthusiastically pursued this national pastime of his era (150 years later replaced by baseball) over the next 24 years, arriving at the impressive total of 10 children including eight sons and two daughters--all of whom were born in Shoreham. As did his father, Elliott also served in an armed conflict against the British in the War of 1812. As mentioned in Chapter 4, no biographical mention is made of the Armstrongs in Rev. Goodhue's book; however, Elliot is listed as serving twice as a volunteer in the War of 1812 against the British (rf-- page 107). The frontier between the colonies and Canada was initially guarded by detachments of the militia. However, the Legislature of 1812 authorized two brigades of volunteers to be stationed at the Canadian frontier. Elliott and a company of 10 other volunteers from Shoreham were among those assuming these responsibilities during the disturbances that preceded the war. The engagement was for a period of six months and a portion of the service was in gunboats. Three of the volunteers from Shoreham served on the Growler, sloop-of-war prior to the capture of that vessel on June 21, 1813 (rf --, pages 104 and 107). In the spring of 1814, a sufficient number of men to form a company volunteered from Shoreham and Bridport, as part of the force required to protect the building of the American naval vessels at Vergennes, VT (approximately 20 miles north of Shoreham). This company was commanded by Captain James Gray of Bridport (Sumner's Regiment), and was mobilized on two occasions. Some of the Shoreham volunteers were also present at an encounter at the mouth of Otter Creek. Reference - - lists the names of 21 residents that volunteered from Shoreham and both Elliott and his oldest son Chauncey are included in their number. Although not listed, Elliott's second son, Chester, also served as a volunteer with Capt. Gray's infantry. Both he and Chauncey are shown as having served from April 12, 1814, to May 20, 1814 (rf --, page 279). Apart from his already chronicled penchant for making babies and war, it appears that he remained physically vigorous and active well into his later years. Although he apparently lived most of his life in Shoreham, he was also the first of Martin's line to turn his sights toward the pioneer West. Perhaps as a result of his wartime excursions, a spark of wanderlust still burned in his breast, as in the late 1820s/early 1830s, he is known to have spent some time in the wilds of Michigan, clearing a farm four miles north of the eventual site of Parma, MI (rf --). He does not appear in the 1830 census in Shoreham, so it is possible that he was in Michigan during this period. No record of land ownership in Elliott's name appears in Jackson County, but his son David settled on this land some years later. The first land officially registered in Parma Township did not occur until 1831, and the first settler, Elihu M. Goold, did not arrive until the fall of 1832 (rf Family Group Sheet #? for Trumbull Cary Goold). Mr. Goold actually transferred his family to the area on June 19, 1833. Another indicator of Elliott's presence in the area is the marriage of his youngest daughter, Eleanor, in Parma in 1835. In the chapter on Martin Armstrong, we quoted from a letter written in 1912, where Henry Ransom Armstrong describes how he received a Masonic apron from his stepmother, who had found it among his Aunt Irene's things several years after her death. He goes on to say that seeing the apron took me back about 75 years to my lying on the floor at grandfather's feet (Elliott) looking at the nice pictures on his apron. Grandfather died a few years later. Before I went to California I visited with grandmother. We talked over that apron. She said it belonged to the Armstrongs. They were all Irish Orangement. The apron was a master's, the emblems painted on to stay. The lambskin was yellow, the trimmings faded but it has been carefully cared for. From this letter it appears that this apron may have been in the Armstrong family for some time; possibly even before they left Ireland for the United States. I contacted the Grand Lodge of Vermont, and they were able to provide records that showed that both Elliott and his son, Spencer, had been members of Independence Lodge No. 10 in Orwell, VT, located a few miles down the road from Shoreham. These type-written records show that both men were initiated on May 25, 1858, and passed into membership less that a month later (see Reference Listing #). Although I feel certain that these are our relatives, these dates must be incorrect, however, as we know that Elliott died several years earlier and that by this time, Spencer had already moved to Minnesota. Such lodges had existed in Vermont for decades by this time, and as these records must have been copied from the hand-written originals, it is likely that that they were incorrectly transcribed, and that their membership may have actually occurred as many as 30 years earlier (Spencer was born in 1806). According to Kaye Powell, membership in the Masons continued to be an important part of Rolla Silas Armstrong's life as well as of his son's Ransom and Howard. Howard's son, Frank, was also a Mason, and it appears that Elliott's oldest son Jerome, may also have been a Mason. Kaye and I have both wondered if this Masonic Link may be the key to tracking the Armstrongs back to Ireland. Kaye has heard that the aforementioned Frank Armstrong, is said to have traced the Armstrongs back to Ireland, and even visited Ireland where he is supposed to have conducted additional research. I have been in contact with Frank's daughter, Judy, and she has sent me some material and believes there may be more somewhere. Needless to say, if her father's research had gone back as far as reported, this could clear up a lot of confusion about how and when the Armstrongs first emigrated to the America. Elliott died in Shoreham in May 1852 at 79 years of age but perhaps not of old age--one source indicates that he was killed instantly when struck by a falling gate. His wife, Eleanor also died in Shoreham in January 1859. The Armstrong/Phelps Offspring 1. Chauncey Armstrong Chauncey is the eldest of Elliott and Eleanor's offspring. Chauncey was born and grew up in Shoreham as did his nine brothers and sisters. Little is known of his education or early life, until his marriage at age 19 to Polly Griswold, probably in Shoreham, in 1812. As mentioned above, he served in the War of 1812 with his father, and brother Chester at Vergennes. However, our most intriguing insight into a chapter of his life and an episode of colonial Americana is captured in the following narrative: The Battle of Plattsburgh (located approximately 70 miles north of Shoreham on a promontory of New York real estate that juts into Lake Champlain) connects itself with the history of all the patriotic communities of this portion of Vermont. Before the news arrived in town that the British were approaching Plattsburgh in force, General Timothy F. Chipman, then a Brigadier General in the militia of Vermont, received a letter from General McComb, commanding the United States force at Plattsburgh, soliciting volunteers. General Chipman replied, that he should be ready at all times to start at the order of Governor Chittenden, his Commander-in-Chief. Friday, about mid-day, September 9th, 1814, two days before the battle, the news came through the central part of the town, that the British were advancing rapidly upon Plattsburgh. Friday afternoon, couriers were sent out into the remote districts of the town to scatter the news and rouse the people to a sense of duty. Some left the plough in the field, where there they had been preparing for fall sowing, started Friday afternoon and traveled all night. At this time, there were three military companies in town, one of cavalry and two of infantry, belonging to the regiment comprising Shoreham, Bridport and Addison. The company of horse, of which a few members belonged in Bridport, was organized in 1802, and was commanded in 1814, by Captain Nathaniel North, Ebenezer Bush being Lieutenant. This troop started for Burlington on Saturday morning, going in citizens' dress and taking their own horses. General Chipman and Elisha Lewis, his aid, rode with them. There were two full companies of infantry in town, the East, commanded by Captain Halladay, the West, by Captain Samuel Hand. The two were merged into one for the expedition, Captain Hand commanding, and Captain Halladay being Lieutenant. All the men that were liable to do military duty, and many who were exempt from it, volunteered and went. But few men were left at home. In the Cutting District, Benjamin Healy, an aged man, was the only one remaining. The people were cheerful, and all engaged in assisting to prepare their friends to leave early next morning. The women were busy getting provisions and clothes in readiness, and as the horses required were many of them unprepared, the blacksmiths worked incessantly night and day to fit them for service. Friday night, there was very little sleep in Shoreham, and many anxious hearts; before dawn, the town was all alive. The farmers went with their teams to carry the infantry and their supplies. The provisions taken were of the most substantial kind, being chiefly pork and bread. A few of the men took equipments at home, but the majority obtained them from the United States deposit at Vergennes. The cavalry and infantry reached Burlington (VT) Saturday evening. Sunday morning, September 11th, there were three vessels in readiness to take men on board to cross to Plattsburgh. Two of them were already filled with others; the Shoreham men, now fully supplied with provisions and ammunition, embarked on the third. At the same time the sound of the British long guns, as their fleet rounded Cumberland head, came booming over the placid lake. So distant as was the scene of action, the troops of Shoreham arrived too late for any part in the collision on shore. They were near enough to the engagement between the fleets to see the flashing of the guns, and when the smoke lifted, the vessels in clear view. After the firing ceased, the side of victory remained still uncertain to them, till a little sail-boat, with the stars and stripes floating, came bearing down towards them under orders from the commodore, and announced the result of the battle and directed them where to land. The place was in Peru (NY), four miles south of Plattsburgh. They passed the night in barns, but formed early in the morning, their captain directing them to eat as they marched, and met the news of the British retreat a mile from Plattsburgh. They were attended into camp by a party of regulars, which had come out to escort them. One company of nine men, from a distant part of the town, left Shoreham Monday, and went as far as Vergennes, another party of six as far as Addison, before they received reliable intelligence from the battle. The booming of cannon, fired to celebrate the victory, was heard in the town, but as no tidings had yet been received from the scene of action, those at home apprehended that the sounds came from the guns of the enemy advancing through the lake, and were in great alarm for themselves and their absent townsmen. On Tuesday or Wednesday, the volunteers re-crossed the lake in rough weather, and returned home in a violent rain storm. General Chipman took a severe cold on this journey, from the effects of which he suffered until his death; his Brigade Major, died from a similar cold, soon after reaching home. The rally from Shoreham was a patriotic one, of a whole community at the call of their country, at the alarm of invasion approaching towards their homes. The town was then more populous than now, but if the spirit remains and all answer to the same obligation, Shoreham will never blush to recall with interest the part she took in this stirring episode of war. The exodus from Shoreham of Elliott's offspring began with Chauncey. While it can be assumed that Chauncey grew up and worked on his father's farm, after his marriage he owned and ran a grist mill in Shoreham for a time (grist mills were used in the grinding of grain). In 1820 he sold his mill to his father, Elliott, and moved to St. Lawrence County, NY where his wife Polly had been born. Perhaps he had been there before as his Aunt Lois (Ames) also lived in this area for a time. He appears in the 1850 and 1860 censuses in Lisbon, St. Lawrence, NY and fathered five daughters and three sons prior to dying there at the age of 80. 2. William Armstrong Elliott's second son, William, died as a baby. 3. Chester Armstrong As mentioned above, Elliott's third son, Chester, also participated in the foray to protect the building of American vessels at Vergennes. He also served in the infantry for a time in Colonel William Williams' Regiment under Captain John Robbins (who was a third lieutenant during the Plattsburgh initiative). After he and his wife Eunice were married in Shoreham in 1820, they followed Chester's Aunt Lois and brother Chauncey to St. Lawrence County, NY where they began their family. Their first three children were born in small towns located a bit inland and east of Lisbon named Hopkinton, Parishville, and Chesterfield. In February 1833, Chester's fourth and last child, Charles Truman was born in Peru, Clinton County, NY (just north of Au Sable Forks where his younger brother, David, first began his medical practice--see below). He probably lived here at the same time as his younger brother David, whose first child, Jerome, was also born there about seven months earlier in the summer of 1832. Apparently northern New York state did not offer whatever Chester was looking for and his next move was the one that pioneered the Armstrong's permanent westward migration. It is not known exactly what route he took or precisely when he left, but by 1840 he, his wife, and their four children had settled in the town of Sandstone, Jackson County, Michigan. By 1860 he and his wife Eunice had moved to the nearby town of Parma, where his younger brother David lived. He died in Lansing, MI between 1873 and 1879 (three sources --, --, and -- show different death dates). His wife, Eunice, died in Corunna, Shiawassee Co., MI in 1888 and is buried beside her husband at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Lansing. 4. Erastus Armstrong Elliott's fourth son, Erastus, also died young. 5. Ransom S. Armstrong As had his older brothers Chauncey and Chester, Ransom searched for opportunities away from Shoreham, and by 1840 had moved further south to West Haven, Rutland Co., Vt where he was farming at the time. Ransom married his first wife, Ester (Minor) Page in 1820, about four months after his older brother Chester was married (also in Shoreham?). An interesting side note -- there may have been a blood relationship between Ransom's first wife, Esther (Miner) Page whose mother was Lucy Griswold (born 24 April 1761, died 30 Aug. 1831 in Cornswall, VT) and his oldest brother's wife Polly Griswald--perhaps they were first cousins? A couple of months after the birth of their eighth child, Eliza, in 1841, Ransom's first wife, Ester, died. Three years later, in West Haven, he married again, this time to Mary (Minor) Church (a younger sister of Ester's?). Some time during this period, he also left farming, as by the fall of 1850 he was making his living as an Inn Keeper, and is shown as being the owner of real estate valued at $1,500.00. Ransom, then 51 years old, had apparently inherited his father's commitment to procreation, having reached a grand total of 11 offspring with the birth of his son Ransom Jr. in August of that year. By this time, his four oldest daughters had left home, and his family was composed of his wife Mary, age 32, his fifth daughter, Helen, then 18, Airela M. Church (possibly Mary's daughter by an earlier marriage?), age 17, Elena, age 5, Cordelia, age 3, and of course, the baby Ransom Jr. Missing is the seventh child Emmett, who died in 1839, and the sixth daughter Arlotta, who died in March 1841. 1839 through 1841 must have been a very rough period for Ransom and his family, as his first wife also died in 1841. It is not known exactly when his eighth child, Eliza, died, but she does not appear in the 1850 census, and she may have died as a baby, around the time of her mother's death. Young Ransom, as the only Armstrong male, must have received plenty of attention from his mother and older sisters. Ransom probably corresponded with his brothers Chester and David who had moved west to Michigan, and like his father Elliott, must have been intrigued by the possibilities offered by settlement in this developing new territory. His youngest brother, Elliot Orlando, is believed to have settled in Michigan around 1850, and although Ransom was in his 50s he decided to follow his brothers to this land of opportunity. By 1860 he was already well established several miles to the west of where his brothers settled, in Antwerp Village Township, Van Buren County, Michigan. Apparently he prospered in Michigan, purchasing a hotel in the vicinity. In the 1860 Census, the value of his real estate had grown to $10,000, and his personal property is valued at $1,450. Only his wife and three youngest children - Elena, age 15, Cordelia B., age 13, and Ransom S. Jr., age 10 remained at home. The Census also indicates that each of the three children had attended school within the past year. Helen M. and Airela, are no longer members of his household and Helen, who married in 1845, may have remained in Vermont. In the Census, 12 people are shown to be in residence at his hotel. They are also described as being employed in a variety of occupations such as clerks, a cook, a merchant, a teamster, laborers, and two barbers. Perhaps one or more of them were employed by Ransom at his hotel. While the name was correct, the family relationship of Ransom Armstrong appears to be one element of Armstrong folklore that my father had a bit garbled. Although my great-grandfather Alva did appear to have a special relationship with his Uncle Ransom, as we shall see later, he did not have a brother named Ransom. It also appears that Ransom Sr., was a pretty established family man and not a likely candidate to be hung as a horse thief--meeting his maker in Lawton, MI by a more conventional illness in 1863. Could this have been Ransom Jr.'s fate? 6. Irene (Irena) Armstrong Elliott's first daughter, Irene, was born in Shoreham in 1802. She never married and lived with her parents until her mother's death in 1859. In the fall of 1860, she went to live with her younger brother Spencer who had moved to Minnesota a few years earlier. Irena is the last Armstrong of her generation and line to leave Shoreham and the state of Vermont. Known by her nieces and nephews as Aunt Moon, she died in 1887 and is probably buried at Troy, MN where her sister-in- law, Clarinda, is buried. 7. Spencer Armstrong Elliott and Eleanor's sixth son, Spencer, was 19 when he married his cousin, Clarinda Stevens in February 1825. They waited a few years to begin their family, but between 1829 and 1847, they had a total of four boys and four girls, all born in Shoreham, VT. Spencer was the last of the Armstrong males of his generation to leave Shoreham, and like his older brother Ransom, waited until he was over 50 years of age until turning his sights westward. While Spencer's son Anson, attended Middlebury College from 1855 to 1857 (rf --), in the winter of 1857 he was known to be in Minnesota (rf --, page 2), so it appears that he and his family made their westward pilgrimage sometime during that year. However, unlike his siblings Sarah, Chester, Ransom, David and Elliott Orlando, Spencer did not stop in Michigan, but kept going until he finally settled at Pilot Mound, Fillmore County, Minnesota. With him went his wife, Clarinda, his unmarried older sister, Irene, and at least four of his children--Henry, Anson, Martha, and Sarah. His oldest son, Orville, married in Vermont in 1854, but at some later date also migrated to Minnesota where in died at Eaton in 1889. Spencer's daughter Laura, married in 1850, and may have stayed in Vermont. Another daughter, Ellie, married in 1857 and remained in Shoreham where her husband, Edwin Thompson, became the principal of Newton Academy (picture taken in 1940) in 1860. Spencer moved to Winona County, MN in the 1870s, and in 1876, his wife, Clarinda, died in the town of Troy, MN where she is buried. A couple years later, he married Cornelia Smith and fathered another son named Linden Scott Armstrong. Spencer died in St. Charles, MN in 1887. 8. David W. Armstrong See Chapter 5. 9. Elliott Orlando Armstrong Elliott Orlando was born and raised in Shoreham, VT. In 1838 he married Susannah Cooper in Constable, Franklin, NY. The first ten years of his married life was spent farming in the Shoreham area, although his third child, Lucy Ann, was born in the same area where his wife came from--perhaps she went home to be with her parents when the baby came? About 1850, Elliott and his family also decided to leave Vermont and settled near his brothers Chester and David in Sandstone, MI. Their last child, Mansell, was born in Sandstone in January 1851. In 1855, Susannah died at 39 years of age. By 1860, he had moved to Windsor Township, Eaton Co., MI, and Luman, Lucy, George and Mansell still resided with him at home. In 1862, he married Susannah Donnelly, originally of Jefferson, OH, and died in 1864. He is believed to have been buried in Windsor. Additional research is required to ascertain the following: In the 1860 Census, Elmira B. Armstrong, the oldest of Elliott Orlando's children is missing. By that time, she would have been 21 years old, but no record of her marriage has been found, nor has a record of her death. Did she die in Shoreham, VT as a youngster? Also missing is Elvira E. Armstrong. In 1860, she would have been 15 years old--did she die as a youngster? On source (rf --), lists the full name of Elliott's oldest son as Luman W. Phelps--why is his last name not shown as Armstrong? Is he adopted? His grandmother was a Phelps, is Luman a product of some other branch of the Phelps family? 10. Eleanor Phelps (Armstrong) Derby Eleanor in the final child of Elliott Armstrong and Eleanor Phelps, and the first of her brothers and sister that can be definitively tied to Michigan, marrying William H. Derby at Parma in 1835. She died in Parma in 1852, but is said to have been buried back in Shoreham, Vermont. Whether or not she had any children is a question that requires additional research.