Born on July 7, 1836, in Romney, Hampshire County, West Virginia, Louisa Tapscott White married, in 1856, at the age of twenty, Edward McCarty Armstrong, Sr., a widower twenty years her senior. On September 3, 1837, when Louisa was one year old, her future husband had married his first wife, Hannah Pancake, who bore him eight children, seven of whom survived her death in 1854. My husband, Thomas Alexander Greene, and his sister, Linda Katharine Greene Bolano, are descendants of Louisa Tapscott White and Edward McCarty Armstrong, Sr., whose marriage produced seven more Armstrong children. Edward was to outlive his second, much younger wife, at least two sons from his first marriage, and a daughter from his second marriage.
With the first post on this blog, I included a copy of the inner cover of Louisa's Bible, a Bible that Louisa gave to her son, Baker White Armstrong, who moved to Texas in the 1880s, where he settled, eventually purchasing a large home in Houston, on Main Street, and a second home in Boulder, Colorado (701 9th Street, an address my husband can still easily recall. Baker's son, Baker White Armstrong, Jr., moved to the family home in Boulder after World War II and lived there the rest of his life.)
That Bible reveals a lot about Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong. Inside its covers she had glued a copy of the obituary of her daughter Katie and a penciled record of her oldest sons' travels, including those propitious trips to Texas. Family and religion seem to have been two sides of one coin for Louisa; she wished to be no farther, physically, from her children than she was, spiritually, from her God. To her great sorrow, three of her children journeyed beyond her reach, one dying at a young age and the other two going to that God-forsaken state of Texas. After Baker found employment in Bryan, Texas, Louisa hoped that she would not lose another son to Texas. In a letter to Baker, dated April 22, 1885, she wrote:
Robert wrote to his Father about the situation you wrote him about in Bryan. While it would do my heart good to have you together, still I feel as if I can not say, "go." You, nor no one else, knows what a trial it is to me, to have you so far from me & especially in my feeble state of health & I cannot see my other boy go there too. I feel as if I could not consent again to your going; but I know I ought not to take such a selfish view. I do want you to be where it is best for you spiritually as well as temporally. If the warm weather does not suit you do not pretend to stay there. Robert writes as if he thought he ought to [be] doing something to help the family. While I am thankful to have two such boys whose hearts prompt them to help us, still I feel that I want them to lay up something for themselves.
At the end of 1885, Mother Louisa wrote Baker on December 3rd that she "never wanted [Baker] to settle in Texas.... There is too little godliness there." Despite her wishes, however, Robert did go to Texas, though before he settled there permanently, he would return home to Virginia to help with the family and was there in the summer of 1887, as his mother's illness took its toll. I have not yet discovered from the letters--if I ever will--what caused Louisa's death, but she had health issues for a long time. Occasionally in her letters, she would lament that she was not able to help her daughters with physical work around the house. The family occasionally had a couple of women to help, but that help was not permanent. Cooks were always coming and going. Louisa also seemed to suffer from the hot weather.
In Louisa's last letters to her sons, her handwriting became looser, more sprawling, the letters written a little more largely, but she determinedly provided all the details of home and family. She ended her letter of June 8, 1887, with concerns about Baker's health and with a solemn tone that reveals how much Louisa feared that more permanent earthly separation of loved ones: "Take care of yourself this summer. Beware of yellow fever. I see it has broken out at Key West, Fla. May God bless and guide you both & grant we may all see each other again."
By July 22, 1887, Robert had returned to Virginia, for he wrote a hastily-written letter to his brother Baker, telling him of their mother's condition:
I sent you a card yesterday, stating that Mother was not so well. She was in such a feeble condition yesterday that we all were very uneasy about her--so uneasy that Father was about sending you a Telegram [announcing?] the fact that she was [proving?] weaker so that if anything [more?] serious should happen you would be partially prepared for it. Dr. Bruffey came out twice yesterday & changed her treatment a little. One new thing he gave her was the whites of eggs--raw, which seems to have been a good thing for her. She slept well last night & is feeling stronger & better this morning than for several days. Dr. Bruffey has been out this morning & says that her tongue looks better & that the last action from her bowels (which are the principal source of her weakness) is the best & most favorable one she has had during her sickness.
So you see, we have good reason to feel encouraged this morning. She has been getting a little better & then going back to her old condition so often that we have all become despondent. But, I cannot but hope that the decided improvement which marks her condition this morning is an indication that Providence is going to answer our prayers for her recovery. She often expresses the wish that you could be here; but, she knows that Norrell is away & that consequently you can't come. If Norrell should be at home by the time this reaches you or should come very soon after, it might be a good idea for you to come on & spend several weeks if you can--that is if you do not hear in the meantime of a permanent & decided change having taken place for the better. Understand me--from her improved condition this morning, I hope there is no danger of her passing away; but her condition is critical and I would not feel easy did I not state the fact to you. You can judge better, about the advisability of coming home, from the next few cards you receive.
It would certainly be refreshing to her to see you & might act as a kind of tonic to her. Will keep you posted as to her condition &, should this change for the better not be permanent & the information still be unfavorable, I think that when Norrell gets back, you had better come home for a couple of weeks anyhow. Mother seems to think she might hear from you every two or 3 days; so, besides your usual weekly letter, suppose you write about two Postals a week, while her sickness continues. Don't fail to let Mr. Cole know of her critical condition, so that he won't write for me yet. I don't think it would be right for me to leave her now. I don't write this to alarm you unnecessarily but simply to give you a true idea of her condition. Dr. B. seems to think that if her strength will only hold out, she will get up again; but, he seems to be uneasy lest her strength should fail her. Be careful what you write in your letters, as they all have to be read to her.
Yr Aff Bro,
RA
After Baker sent a telegram asking whether or not he should leave Bryan, Texas, for Salem, Virginia, Edward counseled him in a letter dated July 30, 1887, that Louisa's condition had improved. That improvement was not to last, however, and Louisa died on August 20, 1887. Whether or not Baker reached his mother's side before her passing, I do not know. Perhaps another letter, yet to be located in the family boxes of letters, will reveal whether Baker's return to Virginia came in time. Bereft of his second wife, Edward McCarty Armstrong, Sr., wrote Baker on Sept. 5, 1887, after Louisa's funeral and Baker's and Robert's return to Bryan. The tone of the letter is anxious, yet also thankful: "
My Dear Baker,
Your letter of the 1st came to hand today, informing us of the safe arrival at your City, of my precious boys, which announcement caused great rejoicing on the part of us all. You must not wonder at our being uneasy, such a distance & liable at any moment to be disabled, or dashed into Eternity. O my sons, we could not help being uneasy, and we, I trust, are all thankfull and gratefull, for the protecting mercy of our God, in permitting no calamity to befall you by the way. [Edward then provides details of the family's plan to rent a house in Salem.].... Fannie & the girls have just shown me a collection of Roses & etc. which go down in the morning, to be placed on your mother's grave. 4 of those roses are from the bush you gave her, they are all beautiful and mostly fragrant. Our house is awfully desolate, but we are trying to bear with fortitude and resignation the great trial that is upon us."
Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong, daughter of John Baker White and Frances A. Streit; wife to Edward McCarty Armstrong; mother to Baker White Armstrong, Sr.
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