ARMSTRONG BIOGRAPHIES, Henry County, Missouri ==================================================================== ARMSTRONG, Aurelius L. - b: 1854 Quincy, Hickory Co, MO source: 1919 History of Henry Co MO, Uel W. Lamkin, Historical Publishing Co - page: 606 residence: Clinton, Clinton Twp Aurelius L. Armstrong, a leading druggist of Clinton, Missouri, has been continuously engaged in business here longer than any other merchant. He is a native of Missouri, born in Quincy, Hickory County, August 8, 1854, a son of Andrew L. and Sarah Ann (Hancock) Armstrong. The father was born near Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1820, and about 1838 came to Missouri, first locating in Lincoln County, where he was married to Sarah Ann Hancock. He went from Lincoln County to Hickory County in 1852. Here he remained until 1855, when he came to Henry County and settled on a farm four miles northwest of Clinton. About two years later he came to Clinton, where he was engaged in the mercantile business until the time of his death in 1858. Although a resident of Henry County but a few years he took an active part in local affairs and became prominent in local politics. He was a candidate for the State Legislature in 1856. The Armstrong family are of old Pennsylvania stock and William Armstrong, grandfather of A. L., the subject of this sketch, came from Pennsylvania to Illinois at a very early date in the history of the latter State. Sarah Ann (Hancock) Armstrong, mother of A. L. Armstrong, whose name introduces this review, is one of the honored pioneer women of Henry County. She celebrated her ninetieth birthday on May 5, 1918, having spent sixty-three years of her life in Henry County. She is a woman of unusual physical and mental vigor and is as active as most people who are thirty years her juniors. She is a constant reader of the daily papers as well as current literature in general and carries on regular correspondence with a number of friends and acquaintances. She also does considerable fancy needlework, despite her advanced age. A. L. Armstrong was the third and youngest child born to his parents. His older brother, Hannibal H., is an attorney in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Solon, the second born, died in infancy. A. L. Armstrong received his education in the public schools of Clinton and Kentucky University, Lexington, Kentucky. After returning from college, Mr. Armstrong entered the employ of C. C. Williams, who conducted a drug store at Clinton, and for two years was thus employed. He then entered the employ of Bolton and Davis, and two years later bought the interest of Mr. Davis in the drug store and the firm became Bolton & Armstrong. This business arrangement continued for a period of five years when Mr. Armstrong sold his interest to his partner and in the fall of 1879 engaged in the drug business for himself, and has been continuously engaged in that business in the town of Clinton to the present time. His first drug store was on the south side of the square, and in 1890 he moved to the north side and has remained in that vicinity since, having occupied his present place of business about ten years. May 1, 1878, Mr. Armstrong was united in marriage with Susan May Henshaw, a native of Clay County, Missouri, and a daughter of Joseph P. and Melissa (Neely) Henshaw, both now deceased. They died in Johnson County. To Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong have been born one child, Atropa, now the wife of Charles A. Rutherford, Clinton, Missouri. Mr. Armstrong is a Democrat and has taken an active part in his party organizations since boyhood. He has served two terms in the State Legislature, representing Henry County in the Forty-sixth General Assembly in 1910, and was re-elected, serving as a member of the Forty-seventh General Assembly. He has been mayor of Clinton. For a number of years Mr. Armstrong has been a member of the Henry County Democratic Central Committee and is at present chairman of the City Democratic Central Committee. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Royal Neighbors of America and a member of the Christian Church, having been an elder in the local church for over twenty-five years. Mr. Armstrong is one of the progressive and public spirited business men of Henry County, and during his long career here has built a reputation for honesty and integrity that is rarely equaled by any man in any community. ==================================================================== ARMSTRONG, Hannibal H. - b: 1852 Lincoln Co, MO source: 1883 History of Henry Missouri , National Historical Co. - page: 354 residence: Clinton, Clinton Twp Hannibal H. Armstrong is a native Missourian, having been born in Lincoln County, this state, but may be considered a Henry County boy, having arrived in this county at the tender age of two years. He was born November 3, 1852. He is a graduate of the Kentucky State University, at Lexington, Kentucky. He finished his studies in 1871, and in 1872, entered the law office of McBeth & Price, where he remained for three years, and was admitted to the bar in 1875, and also held the office of city attorney for one year. An absence for nearly two years in Texas, from 1876 to 1878, in which he was engaged in farming, gave him, on his return to Clinton, greater zest for his profession, and he now ranks as one of the leading attorneys among the younger members of the bar. He is a rising legal light, a good talker, good student, and in fact endowed with those qualities which makes the lawyer and the mail. He was married July 19, 1882, to Miss Lucy J. Harris, of Texas. ==================================================================== ARMSTRONG, Harry - b: 1867 KS source: 1919 History of Henry Co MO, Uel W. Lamkin, Historical Publishing Co - page: 513 residence: Davis Twp Harry Armstrong, farmer and stockman, proprietor of a well improved farm of 160 acres in Davis township, is a native of Kansas, but has lived nearly all his life in Henry County. He was born in 1867 in Davis County, near Fort Riley, Kansas, and is the son of James Armstrong, one of the oldest residents of Henry County. James Armstrong was born in Madison County, Ohio, September 20, 1833, the son of Robert and Elizabeth (Earl) Armstrong. Robert Armstrong was a son of James Armstrong, a native of Pennsylvania of English descent. James Armstrong, father of Harry Armstrong, left his native State, Ohio, in 1855 and located on a homestead in Kansas near Fort Riley. He preempted land and was induced to locate in Kansas by the free state advocates. Being an ardent Union sympathizer and patriotic he enlisted in the Union Army in 1862. Mr. Armstrong became a private in Company E, 2nd Kansas Cavalry, and served for three years in Missouri and Arkansas. He fought in the battles of Elkhorn Tavern, Prairie Grove and was engaged in many skirmishes. He was twice wounded while campaigning in Arkansas, being shot through the left thigh and in the left ankle. In 1868 he came to Henry County and purchased an entire section of land in Davis township, which is held intact to this day, and is being cultivated by the sons of Mr. Armstrong. James Armstrong was married April 16, 1867, to Miss Minerva A. Cruzen, who was born in Virginia in 1834. The following children were born to them: Harry, subject of this sketch; Dr. Claude L., a physician at Webster Grove, Missouri; Robert C., living on the home place; J. Otis, a farmer in Davis township. Mr. Armstrong has always been a Republican. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Grand Army of the Republic. Harry Armstrong was reared to young manhood on the home place in Davis township. When he began farming on his own account he improved 160 acres of land which was formerly a part of the Armstrong home place. He has erected a nice cottage residence and has his farm well improved. On February 18, 1897, Mr. Armstrong was united in marriage with Miss Ella P. Vickers, who was born in Bear Creek township, the daughter of W. H. and Cornelia (Peyton) Vickers, old settlers of Henry County. W. H. Vickers was the son of Stephen Vickers, who made a settlement in Bear Creek township as early as 1842. To Mr. and Mrs. Harry Armstrong have been born five children: Helen, aged twenty years; Margaret, aged sixteen; Harry V., thirteen years old; Frederick, nine years of age; and Minerva, aged five, all of whom are at home with their parents. Mr. Armstrong is a Republican. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and is affiliated with the La Due Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. ==================================================================== ARMSTRONG, James - b: 1833 Madison Co, OH source: 1883 History of Henry Missouri , National Historical Co. - page: 728 residence: Davis James Armstrong was born in Madison County, Ohio, September 20, 1833, being the sixth of fifteen children, whose parents were Robert and Elizabeth (Earl) Armstrong, natives of Ohio. One sister, Mary J., is the wife of Dr. D. R. Caldwell; one is in Kansas City, and one brother, Robert, is at Shelbyville. The young days of James were spent on a farm, and he then engaged in mercantile pursuits at London, Ohio. In 1855 he moved to Bloomington, Illinois, and in 1856 to Kansas. For some years he was on the freight lines to Santa Fe. During the war he served in the Second Kansas Cavalry, taking part in some of the principal border fights and receiving two wounds. In 1868 he came to Henry County, Missouri, and began to improve a tract of land which his father had entered. His farm contains 640 acres and is one of the best in the county. Mr. Armstrong deals extensively in stock and is considered one of the most reliable men of this locality. He was married April 16, 1867, in Champaign County, Illinois, to Miss Minerva Crozen, who was born at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, May 14, 1834. They have four children living: Harry, Claude, Robert and James O. One, Gracie, died at the age of fourteen months. ==================================================================== ARMSTRONG, William Perry - b: 1837 Warrick Co, IN source: 1919 History of Henry Co MO, Uel W. Lamkin, Historical Publishing Co - page: 453 residence: Clinton, Clinton Twp Rev. William Perry Armstrong. Hollyhock Place. Unselfish devotion to duty and the cause of humanity has characterized the lives of the late William Perry Armstrong and his devoted wife, Mrs. Laura Avery Armstrong. Their beautiful suburban place in the northern part of the city of Clinton is noted the country over as "Hollyhock Place," because of the profusion of hollyhocks and flowers of all kinds which are blooming during the spring, summer and autumn. It is one of the show places of Henry County and western Missouri, and Mrs. Armstrong devotes the greater part of her spare time to caring for her flowers just to see them grow and have plenty for her friends. Rev. William Perry Armstrong was a real man among men whose work as a minister of the Gospel, in a religious and constructive sense, will endure for all time to come. He was revered and respected by all who came in contact with him, and he was widely known throughout this section of the Middle West as an unselfish and devoted laborer in the vineyard of the Lord. He was born in Warrick County, Indiana, October 29, 1837, the son of William and Mary (Perry) Armstrong, residents of Warrick County. The father of William, the elder, was born in Cork County, Ireland. William P. Armstrong was twice married, his first wife having been Mary Caroline Hartenburg, of Washington County, Indiana, who died in Indiana. One child, Harriet Helen, was born to that union, who died January 29, 1867. Mary Caroline (Armstrong) died February 16, 1868, at Salem Parsonage, Indiana. Rev. William P. Armstrong's second marriage took place at Evansville, Indiana, November 1, 1876, with Mrs. Laura Avery (Knowles) Von Hiestand, who bore him children as follow: Ellen May, born at Manhattan, Kansas, and is the wife of George A. Taylor of Green Street, Clinton, Missouri; William Earl, born November 8, 1883, at Pierce City, Missouri, and died Tuesday, September 22, 1908. Rev. William Perry Armstrong became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church when a young man and devoted the greater portion of his life to spreading the Gospel and in religious works of a practical and enduring order. He was not only successful in his profession but achieved a success in a business sense so that during his later years he was relieved from any dependence upon the church and could devote his time and talents to the building up of small, struggling churches without need or desire of recompense. He followed the ministry, mainly, for the love of the work and not as a necessity. He served in the Evansville, Indiana, Conference until called upon to devote his time to various weak churches in different localities of the West which were in need of a strong, able man to lift church debts, erect new edifices, and place the congregations in a state of financial well being. Several years of his life were devoted to this arduous work and he felt well repaid for his successes as a builder and church financier. He built up a splendid church at Pierce City, Missouri. He came to Clinton, Missouri, in 1881 and built the present Methodist Episcopal Church and at the same time purchased a permanent abiding place consisting of a farm just on the northern edge of the city, embracing 165 acres of valuable land. From Clinton he was called to Springfield, Missouri, where during the second year of his work his health failed and he returned to his home to recuperate. For nine years after regaining his health he confined his religious and ministerial activities to purely local work and served the churches of Neosho and Pierce City, Missouri, building the Nevada Methodist Church. He built up many poor churches during his later years of active ministerial work purely for the love of doing good for the cause of Christianity. Rev. William Perry. Armstrong departed this life on November 22, 1916, deeply and sincerely mourned by thousands of people who had known and loved him as an upright man of God. Mrs. Laura Avery (Knowles) Armstrong, widow of Rev. William Perry Armstrong, was born on Catalpa Plantation on the shores of the Tennessee River, Mississippi, and when but a few hours old was taken to Glen Marion Plantation, Arkansas, a beautiful tract which had been cut out of the heart of the forest and transformed into a magnificent country estate by her older brothers. She lived on this plantation until sixteen years of age. Laura Avery Knowles is a daughter of Doctor David and Emily (Avery) Knowles, the latter of whom was a member of the old Avery family of Mystic, Connecticut, which numbers among its members many famous men and women in America. Doctor Knowles was a finely educated physician and was born in Connecticut. After his marriage he first moved to the Johnson and Bradish plantations, nine miles from New Orleans, where his first six children were born. Later he moved to Mud City, near Memphis, and then to Glen Marion Plantation. After the war he located in Mt. Vernon, Indiana, to be near his children and there built up a miniature Glen Marion in the suburbs of that city. He lived there until old age rendered him helpless and he then removed to the home of his son at Vienna, Illinois, where he died at the age of eighty-seven years. Mrs. Knowles died at the age of eighty-four years. The children of Doctor and Mrs. Knowles are as follows: Ellen, Louisa, Latham, Dudley and Henry, twins; Nancy and Amanda, twins; Emma, Adele, and Laura Avery. Laura Avery (Knowles) Armstrong was educated by governess' in her father's home in the South and attended a finishing school for young ladies at Henderson, Kentucky. Her first marriage occurred in 1864 and was a romantic character. A house party to which the young gentry of the surrounding country were invited, was being held and she and a young man whom she hardly knew were selected to pose as the bride and groom in a mock wedding ceremony. The young man was De Witt Von Hiestand, the youngest son of a rich planter who was the owner of Adams street in Memphis, Tennessee. After the social event and the performance of the mock wedding ceremony, it was ascertained that the individual who had performed the wedding ceremony was legally authorized to do so on account of being sheriff of the county. This was in 1865 and the newly wedded couple made their home in Memphis until Mr. Von Hiestand's death in 1869. Three children were born of this marriage: Charles, at home with his mother; Elihu, and Hugh, deceased. While a member of the Evansville Conference, the Rev. Armstrong saw Mrs. Von Hiestand's photograph on the wall of a home in Evansville where he was a guest, while attending the conference meeting and then and there decided and declared that if he ever married again he could be happy with the original of the picture for his wife. Strange to relate, ten years later, when Mrs. Von Hiestand was called to Evansville from her Southern home to attend the burial services of her sister, the twain met, loved at sight, and were married. The marriage was a happy and prosperous one and each was in perfect accord during the many years of their married life. Mrs. Armstrong has always been active in literary and charitable works and devotes a great part of her time and her income to assisting unfortunate and dependent women who are in need of a sister's or a mother's care. She and Mrs. Delavgerne started the first reading room in Clinton, which was the beginning of the present splendid public library. She was the instigator of the first Women's Christian Temperance Union in Henry County and has always been interested in good works of a civic character. Mrs. Armstrong has two grandchildren, Margaret Ellen and Jane Taylor. She has one great grandchild, Merry Christmas, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Christmas of Cleveland, Mississippi. She is a remarkably intelligent and well-read lady who is well preserved for her age. Her beautiful home is filled with curios, and a splendid library through which one could browse for hours and be entertained. Mrs. Armstrong takes a keen interest in everyday affairs and is devoted to her home city. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. 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