Edward McCarty Armstrong's Children

Two years after his first wife died, leaving him with seven young children, Edward McCarty Armstrong, Sr., married again, to Louisa Tapscott White. This second marriage produced seven children, among whom was Baker White Armstrong, Sr., my husband's great-grandfather. Somewhere among the family photos there must be a photograph of Louisa Tapscott White, but if there is, either I haven't located it yet or the photo is one of the many with unidentified people [Note: I later found among the boxes of family photographs a photo which is likely that of Louisa.]. We do have, however, letters "Mother" wrote her sons Baker and Robert as the two young men traveled and then moved permanently to Texas. Here, however, I will introduce the children, many of whom will appear in later posts with more information about their lives, as revealed through their letters. My mother-in-law identified the two boys at the left as Baker White Armstrong (Sr.) and his brother Robert, and I don't have any reason to believe the two are other than as identified. The photo was a precious one, for it is framed in a wooden frame with a gold metal border. Baker and Robert were very close; they moved to Texas together, one settling in Bryan and the other in Houston, two cities within 100 miles of each other. The letters that Robert wrote Baker reflect the affection of one for the other.

The three girls in the photo in the upper right-hand corner are identified as "Nettie, Janie, and Katie A." There were four Armstrong girls: Fannie, Jane ("Janie"), Nettie, and Kate ("Katie"); Janie was the only one to marry. Katie died young, at the age of 19.

Charles Magill Armstrong was the youngest. I have posted a photo already of Charles with his two older brothers, Baker and Robert, here. In addition, here is one of an older Charlie, looking quite debonair, with his friend Charles Coons. Charles M. Armstrong is the one  standing on the right. The two older brothers, Baker and Robert, exchanged anxious letters about Charlie, who seemed to suffer financial setbacks. I will include some of those letters in a later post.

Next is a photo of Janie. The handwriting on the back of the photo is either Mimi's or her sister Katharine's: "Aunt Janie, Papa's sister." 

And, finally, there are two more photographs of Fannie and Nettie, older women and unmarried, and photos of Baker and Robert as young men.

        Fannie and Nettie




















Baker White Armstrong (Sr.), after he had traveled to Texas in the 1880s

Robert Armstrong, after he had traveled to Texas in the 1880s













More photos of the brothers will be included in later posts.

Helen ("Hydie") Frances Armstrong and Her Family

So far, I have introduced two children of Baker White Armstrong, Sr., who left his home in Salem, Virginia, for Texas: those children are Mary Ophelia Nugent Armstrong (named after her mother) and Baker White Armstrong, Jr..  Of the four children of Baker White Armstrong, Sr., and Mary Ophelia Nugent Armstrong, only one had offspring: my husband's grandmother, Katharine Nugent Armstrong. I will introduce this grandmother in the next post. This entry is dedicated to the third child of Baker and Mary: Helen Frances Armstrong, also known as "Hydie."

The family left hundreds of letters, and of those I have read, I have learned that Hydie was epileptic. The family evidently spent a lot of time, effort, and money seeking a cure, or at least comfort, for their daughter. At times Hydie had a personal teacher and a personal nurse, for family letters mention these people. Other letters describe a household filled with sadness during one of Hydie's episodes or sudden onset of illness. As I go through the letters, I will discover more about Hydie and will include some of that information on this blog. Another thing I do know is that Hydie loved creating geometric ink drawings and that she collected postcards. She left behind boxes and boxes of these collected postcards.

The second photo is of Mary Ophelia Nugent Armstrong and her daughter Helen ("Hydie"). The writing on the back of the photograph (dated Oct. 1909) suggests the family sadness over Hydie's health: "Sorry Mother is not more of a comfort to her. She looks neither comfortable nor happy." Click on the photos for larger images.

The next photograph is of Mary Ophelia Nugent Armstrong and her three daughters. The mother is at the far left; next to her is Katharine (my husband's grandmother), Mary ("Mimi"), and Helen ("Hydie").

The photo below is of all the Armstrong children. Although there is no date on the photo, I estimate that it was taken around 1910 or 1911. From left to right: Katharine  ("Tash") Nugent Armstrong, Baker White Armstrong, Jr. (the baby), Helen ("Hydie") Frances Armstrong, and Mary ("Mimi") Ophelia Nugent Armstrong (Jr). The photograph was likely taken at the family home in Houston, Texas.

I'll end this post with another photograph of Helen and with her obituary. She was the first of the Armstrong children to die.; she was sixty-three years old at her passing.

Helen Frances Armstrong: October 2, 1898 to February 15, 1962

Baker White Armstrong, Jr: He "Risked His Life"

In a previous post, I introduced Baker White Armstrong, Jr., son of Baker White Armstrong, Sr. and Mary Ophelia Nugent Armstrong. Baker was the fourth child of this couple and the only son. Baker, Sr., had left Virginia in the late 1880s and moved to Houston, Texas, where he prospered. The family had a home in Houston and a summer home in Boulder, Colorado. Later I will include a few photographs of the family enjoying their summers in Colorado, but this post will concentrate on one event in which Baker White Armstrong, Jr. showed courage in rescuing the body of a young boy who had fallen while climbing in the mountains of Colorado.  The young man was William Brode, 15, from Memphis, Tennesee. Click on the images in order to read the accompanying text.The clipping just below is a news photo of Lindbergh Peak, near where Baker Armstrong, Jr., located the young man's body.

Stored in a plastic baggie along with another newspaper clipping and unrelated photos was a letter that Baker wrote his family shortly after the event. I'm rewriting the text here. The letter is written on the front and back of one sheet of paper from The Albany Hotel, R J. Bush, Proprieter, Cor. Thirteenth and Walnut Streets, Boulder, Colorado:

Camp Audubon
Ward, Colorado


Dear Folks:
In answer to your letter I am O.K. and have climbed Long's Peak twice since the accident and am going up again in the morning. Would appreciate it a lot if you will get me two copies of every Houston paper having anything about the accident AND PUT THEM IN THE MIDDLE DRAW OF MY DRESSER SO THEY WON'T GET LOST. Please do this right away before they are all sold out.


One of the Rangers over at the accident said that if I ever wanted a Ranger's job to let him know and that I might be able to get it without studying forestry.


Camp closes 26th this month and I will leave for Yellowstone with the MacDonald boys about the 27 or 28th.


Please do not do a lot of bragging on what I did to people. Thanks.


Lots of love to all,
BW
Dates of papers should be about Aug 9th 10th 11th as I found the poor boy on the 8th. P. S. Please order me two copies of New York Times for Aug 9th--It was in there, too.

Baker White Armstrong: great-uncle of my husband and his sister

Baker White Armstrong, Jr: "World Famous Illusions"

Somewhere there is an obituary for Baker White Armstrong, Jr., my husband's great-uncle, but I can't find it in the boxes of disorganized stuff. I'm sure I will run across it somewhere and will provide a copy of it on this blog, but until then, we will have to be satisfied with Baker White Armstrong, Jr., as a young boy, as illustrated in the photograph with his father, Baker, Sr., to the left,  and as a young adult. Later, I will add a photo or two of Baker, Sr., as an old man, which is how I knew him when I first met him in the 1980s. He and his wife Betty, whom he had married when he was about fifty years old, were then living in the home his father had purchased in the early 1900s, in Boulder, Colorado.

So for a while, Baker is still a young man, climbing the mountains of Colorado, presenting magic shows as a magician in Houston, and, later joining the U.S. Navy in World War II.  Baker loved Colorado, as did the rest of the young Armstrongs, Katharine ("Tash"), Mary ("Mimi"), and Helen ("Hydie"). Old photo albums are full of photographs taken of them hiking in the mountains. A story was told in the family that after Baker, Jr., returned from his tour of the Philippines in World War II, he said that he had had enough humid heat: he was leaving Houston to live permanently in Boulder, Colorado. There he lived until he died in the late 1980s.