A Few Problems of the History Detective

As I have been working on organizing and publishing online the history of my husband's family, I have encountered numerous problems that I am sure many amateur family historians encounter, especially those who have a plethora of unorganized material. In our case, there is the overwhelming problem of having a lot of information scattered in boxes and trunks: hundreds of letters--often removed from their envelopes and placed, willy nilly, in plastic bags with unrelated letters; photographs on which no one troubled to identify the persons and places; notes on family history located in separate folders, envelopes or files. Then, even with a family tree, it is sometimes difficult to identify people exactly because different generations of relatives have the same name. Take the name Edward McCarty Armstrong: there is Edward McCarty Armstrong, Sr., son of William Armstrong who emigrated from Ireland when he was a boy of ten years old; then there is Edward McCarty Armstrong, Jr., son of Edward McCarty Armstrong, Sr., and Hannah Pancake, the first wife of Edward McCarty Armstrong, Sr.; then there is Edward McCarty Armstrong, son of David Gibson Armstrong and Hannah Gibson. David G. Armstrong is the brother of Edward McCarty Armstrong, Jr., and the half-brother of Baker White Armstrong, Jr. (son of Edward McCarty Armstrong, Sr., and second wife Louisa Tapscott White). Oh, and Edward McCarty Armstong, Jr., also named one of his sons Edward McCarty Armstrong--at least according to the family tree. Confused? Well, I certainly was, for among the family papers is the obituary of Dr. Edward McCarty Armstrong, a physician who died in Houston, Texas, in 1940. This is Baker White Armstrong, Senior's nephew, the son of David Gibson Armstrong and Hannah Gibson Armstrong, nephew of Edward McCarty Armstrong, Jr.. Imagine these errors multiplied. Aargh!

In addition, there is the difficulty of others having mis-identified people in photographs. At the end of her life, my husband's mother tried to identify as many people as she could in the photographs that she had inherited only a year or two before, at the death of her aunt, Mary Ophelia Nugent Armstrong ("Mimi"). (My mother-in-law, Mary Nugent Robb Greene, knew she had a few months to live after being diagnosed with cancer.) After my mother-in-law died, her brother, Baker Robb ("Rocky") began going through the family papers. Then, after Rocky's death, my sister-in-law rescued all the material and transferred it to us, and I began familiarizing myself with the people in the photographs. And I discovered that my mother-in-law had mis-identified a few people. Even Mimi, my husband's great-aunt, mis-identified people. How do I know this? Because I came across photographs that someone from a generation previous to my mother-in-law and her great-aunt had marked. Because these people personally knew the originals, their markings are more reliable. However, one discovers these errors only after looking at many photographs and many markings on those photographs. And even then one has to proceed with caution. And so, as I become even more familiar with the material that the Armstrongs, Nugents, Cooks, Greenes, and Robbs left behind, I will find myself, I am sure, re-appraising what I have already posted on this blog, returning to correct any errors that I may discover over time.

One uses a lot of deductive reasoning in trying to piece together the puzzles of family history. For instance, I have before me a photo of three young men. One of the young men I know to be Baker White Armstrong, Sr.. The photograph was taken by Maury Brothers of Roanoke and Salem, Virginia. Baker looks the age that he would have been when he was living in Baltimore, Maryland, or perhaps just after he went to Texas, that is, the 1880s. Who is likely to be in the photograph with him? Probably his brothers. I suspect that Baker's mother would have loved just such a picture of her sons because two of them, the oldest two, were often far away from home. I imagine the young men going into town--Roanoke or Salem-- for a photography session for mother when Robert and Baker are home on a visit. So I deduce that the other two young men are Robert Armstrong and Charles Armstrong. But no names are on the photograph. Only after much searching do I come across a photograph of a middle-aged man and his wife, and on the back of that photograph the man is identified as Charles Armstrong and his wife Mabel, taken in San Diego, California. The resemblance to that young boy is strong, as well as to another, more formal, photograph, also marked as having been taken in San Diego, California. I know, only after reading through family letters, that as an adult Charles Armstrong migrated west to the state of Washington and then on to California. So, finally, I have a pretty reliable answer: the three young men are Baker White Armstrong, Sr.; Charles M. Armstrong; Robert Armstrong. And if I'm still not quite sure whether or not the third brother is Robert, I continue the search.

Going through these old papers and photographs, I feel as if I am a history detective, searching for clues to a puzzle that can only be assembled incompletely.