Arthur & Rosetta Armstrong & Family	John & Clara "Babe" (Herriman) Armstrong	John & N. Kaye (Armstrong) Powell

By Nancy Kaye Armstrong Powell, 17 March 2000

My great grandfather Dr. Rolla Silas Armstrong was the youngest son of Dr. David W. and Sarah (Treadway) Armstrong of Parma, MI. Rolla married Eliza Goodell and they established their home in the Chelsea, Cavanaugh Lake area with a home in Ann Arbor in the later years. Their children were Ransom, Effa, Howard and Arthur. Arthur married Rosetta Cooper and they were blessed with three children Olive Elizabeth, John Rolla, and Carl Gerome. John married Clara Herriman and they are my parents.

A Conversation with Dad ………

The following was told to me on November 4, 1993 by Dad and begins with his Uncle Ransom coming to California at the turn of the century at which time he served two hitches with the U.S. Forestry Service. Ransom became acquainted with a fellow by the name of Mathews from Roy, Missouri. This fellow spoke of his home area often. When Ransom left California for his home in Michigan he had a long layover in Springville, Missouri. While he was waiting there he asked the ticket agent how far it was to Roy and if a train went there. Upon hearing that it did he rode the train to Ava where he met an elderly couple by the name of Cole that was shopping there. Ransom spoke with them about a ride to Roy. He needed a place to stay and as they needed a worker he stayed and did some work for them. Ransom wrote to his father Rolla and informed him of the cheap land there. Rolla and his youngest son Arthur went to look it over. Rolla bought 500 acres, 250 for Ransom and 250 for Arthur. There was a family by the name of Cooper living near by. Ransom and Arthur both seem to have had an interest in their daughter Rosetta. Arthur beat Ransom to her door "a courtin" as he and Rosetta were married. Arthur farmed there and this farm is where Olive the first child a daughter was born.

In 1912/13 Arthur leased his farm out and took his family to Modesto, California where he worked as a carpenter. John Cooper (Rosetta's father) with his family had gone to Lodi, CA about this same time. Later Arthur took his family and boarded a boat for Olympia, Washington where he worked as a carpenter in a lumber mill. It was there that John was born in the fall of 1913.

In 1916 Arthur and family returned to their original farm in Roy, Missouri where their youngest child Carl was born. They were living there in January, 1918 when Arthur's mother Eliza passed away in Chelsea, Michigan. Shortly after his mother's death he moved his family to Oktaha, Oklahoma and it was there that the flu took Rosetta's life. After her death Arthur took his children too Filer, Idaho where Rosetta's sister Maude lived and spent the summer months there. In the fall he took his children to Chelsea, Cavanaugh Lake, Michigan to visit his father Rolla and that is where John started first grade.

Before John finished first grade Arthur had left Michigan and went to Pershing, Oklahoma where Rosetta's parents were living. The youngest son, Carl died there in February, 1920. He had suffered from after effects of the flu. His death came just ten days prior to his fourth birthday. Carl was buried at Pawhuska where his mother was buried and just seven months later John Cooper (Rosetta's father) died from a stroke was buried there.

Within the year Arthur and his two children went back to Roy, Missouri. Mary Cooper (Rosetta's mother) went to Roy and encouraged Arthur to let her take John and Olive with her to Pershing. They were in her care from that time on.

In 1923 Mary (referred to as granny Cooper) took John and Olive and left Pershing to go to Phoenix, Arizona for a lengthy stay with daughter Maude and her husband Joshua Barnes. Other family members that went on that trip were Jode Cooper, Lela and husband Bob Hill, and their son JR. During their stay there Dr. Rolla Silas Armstrong (John and Olive's grandfather) died in July, 1923 in Chelsea, MI. Arthur was still living in Roy, Missouri at the time of his father's death and was operating a general store that included a post office, harness shop, and a cream station. During this time frame he married again to Ivy (Iva) Ellison. They vacationed in Chelsea, MI for several months and when they returned to Roy they sold the original farm and bought forty acres nearby.

Granny Cooper, John, and Olive left Phoenix in 1924 and went to Oktaha where they spent the spring and summer living with Cloe Hamby who was of Creek Indian heritage. While there they worked picking cotton then moved on and settled in Okmulgee. This is where John met Clara Herriman and they were married in 1934.Their first child, Jerry was born the next year.

In April of 1937 John took his wife and son to Cavanaugh Lake, MI where they spent six months working for Uncle Ransom in the Armstrong General Store. The month of October found them on their way back to Okmulgee and shortly after in Longview, Texas. During this time in Texas they were notified that Uncle Ransom had been killed in an auto accident. Arthur had left Roy, Missouri and purchased acreage north-east of Okmulgee. John and his family left Texas moving back to Okmulgee. Another son, James (Jimmy), was born in January 1941. John worked in a grocery store owned by Berry Greenhaw. Arthur's health was rapidly failing at this time and he sold his farm moving to a smaller home where he later died.

In May 1942 John, his wife Clara, two sons Jerry and Jimmy, along with Clara's mother Nancy Ella Herriman left Oklahoma. John worked in construction building houses while going to college in the evenings to upgrade his level of welding and later working in the ship yards. That October a third child a daughter Nancy Kaye was born.

Early 1943 John moved his family to Dinuba, California first working in the vineyards, and then for Alta Meat Company. In February 1944 Arthur passed away and five years later Granny Cooper passed on both in Okmulgee. John and his family remained in the Dinuba and Reedley area through the years. In 1958 at the young age of seventeen a rare illness took the life of Jimmy. Clara passed away in 1988. Other family members that came to the Dinuba area were John's sister Olive and several members of the Cooper family.

To be continued…………….

Note: Ransom Armstrong told my father that our Armstrongs came from Ireland to a port in New Jersey then over the Green Mountains of Vermont and later descendants settled in Michigan.