Louisa--What Her Bible Reveals

When I began this blog, I knew nothing about Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong, my husband's great-great grandmother whose Bible sits in one of our bookcases.  After locating and reading many letters she had written her sons Baker and Robert Armstrong, I know a great deal more. She was a woman with strong prejudices: she thought more of Southerners than Northerners, she thought (much) less of Texas than of Virginia, she thought her sons should marry Presbyterian girls, she hated liquor and the intemperate consequences of one's imbibing, a prejudice strengthened by the deterioration of one of her step-sons while in the grip of alcoholism. [From a letter to her son Baker, Dec. 10, 1885: "Xmas is coming. Watch & pray my dear boy that you are not led into temptation. Do not taste one drop of anything which intoxicates. It is used so much now. Oh my boy, never, never even taste."] She also was a woman of great affection who feared that her much older husband had too many worries in his old age and that his daily duties contributed to those worries, such as the difficult work of running a farm that seemed to take the family deeper and deeper into debt.  Her letters to her sons reveal her love for them as well as her concern for their well-being, both "spiritually and temporally," to use one of her own phrases. Separated from her adult sons by great distance, she encouraged those young men to write her all the details about their lives, and in doing so, she nurtured in them care for others as well as an openness that one does not often encounter in letters written by young men. (I have yet to come across copies of Baker's letters to his mother--though we do have letters he later wrote to his wife, daughters, and son--but Robert's letters to his brother Baker are full of entertaining details and careful observations.)

Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong was also a woman of faith. She seems to have read the Bible through three times in the last three years of her life, for on one of the first pages of her Bible she wrote: "Began reading April 2, 1885; Began reading April 1st, 1886; Began reading April 1st, 1887." Of course, she might also have begun reading each time, without completing the exercise. But as one goes through the Bible, one will notice pencil marks around verses that seemed to have spoken especially to her:

• Genesis 18:14--"Is any thing too hard for the Lord?...." (The Lord speaking to Abraham)
• II Samuel 22:31--"As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him."
• Proverbs 23:26-32--"My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men. Who hath wo? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder."
• Isaiah 55:6-7--"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
• Zephaniah 2:15--"Wo unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! [a bit of a pattern here--]
• Zephaniah 3:19--"The Lord is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places..."
• Matthew 11:28-29--"Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me: for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

Not only did Louisa turn to the Bible for comfort, she used her Bible as a physical repository of her sorrows and her hopes. The photo at the top of this post is of items that I found loose within the pages of Louisa's Bible.  Also within those pages was a poem evidently kept to comfort her at the death of her daughter Katie. The last pages of the Bible contain handwritten records of deaths in the family, and of her son Charles' profession of faith in the Presbyterian church. Tucked into the remains of a tattered, handmade cover, is a postal from Baker, written from Baltimore, in 1881, probably on the occasion of Baker's and Robert's first venture together away from their home in Virginia.

And only a few minutes ago, as I was looking closely at the Bible again, did I realize that Louisa passed on to Baker her Bible the day she herself passed on to what she hoped to be her heavenly reward. Inscribed on an inside page, probably in Baker's hand: "For Baker W. Armstrong from His Mother, Aug 20, 1887."

Click on any of the images on this page to enlarge those images.

In a letter to Robert from his sister Janie, dated November 10, 1887: "You have no idea how helpless lonely & sad we all feel now without our dear Mother & sometimes we feel as if we just could not live without her."

Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong: "Dashed into Eternity"

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.

Giving Thanks: "What Kind & Loving Hearts"

In previous posts, I have described how brothers Robert and Baker Armstrong felt obligated to help their parents and siblings who remained in Virginia. Over the family's letter-writing history, from the 1880s to the death of Baker in 1937, family members wrote notes of thanks to their benefactors. Among those early thank-yous is that of Fannie Armstrong's of October 16, 1886. That year, Robert and Baker evidently paid for sisters Fannie and Janie to take a trip to Lynchburg as well as to supply corrective lenses for Fannie's poor eyesight. ("Lynchburg's Centennial celebration was held October 12 - 15, 1886, in conjunction with the Agricultural Fair.") Fannie's letter follows:

My Dear Brothers,
Mother is writing to one of you and will give you the particulars of Janie's and my trip to Lynchburg but I want to write a few lines myself to thank you again for putting it in my power to take this trip.

We both enjoyed the trip & what we saw of the fair, but above all I was so very thankful to have something done for my eyes. I think I have hardly waked up yet to the fact that I have really had them examined and have [unreadable] to hope for their improvement.

Dr. Baker says he thinks these glasses will relieve me much but can't say that I will be entirely relieved because I have so much neuralgia. Says I must wear them constantly at least for some time. Won't I be interesting looking?

He was very pleasant & kind and only charged me $5.00 for glasses & all that seemed marvelously cheap to me and I thought perhaps for your sake he did not charge me quite as much as he would others but I do not know. He met us at the depot & had us driven to Mrs. Maree's in a nice carriage, paying expenses--would not hear to our doing it. I can hardly write at all with this ink but Mother has been using the other & I did not know either that it was much better--Would write over but for my eyes. Mother told you that Janie went with me & we came back with a little over six dollars. Don't you think that was doing well? I am going to put away $5.00 for fear that I may need more for my eyes--may find the glasses do not quite suit & may have to write to Dr. Baker about them again.  Mrs. Maree was very kind, too--so that we got along very well--

I must not write more but hope before long to be able to write you oftener & better letters--The Dr. says the glasses will try my eyes at first--& I had better not use them for teaching for a while. One of the girls will teach Charles. I must not write more--hope you can read. With much love for you both and many thanks again,
Yours lovingly
Fan

With this letter, we can probably conclude that in the photo above of Fannie and Nettie Armstrong, the two Armstrong sisters who never married, the one on the left, wearing glasses, is Fannie.

On September 18th, a month previous to Fannie's letter above, Mother (Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong) wrote a letter to Robert including extended thanks for Robert's and Baker's support of their father.:

Suppose before you receive this you will have received your Father's letter. It grieves me  that he has to call on you boys for so much money, but what can he do when he is so pressed? ....It is his hands that most of his bill have been made for, not his family except for groceries-- $25 would pay off Enoch, John, Miranda, & Adeline every month & I proposed he would get you to advance him that much so he would not have to make bills--but now this trouble comes on & you cannot do that.  If he could only sell his fruit well, he might make a little. He is more & more anxious to sell. Old Nell's neck had to be lanced on the other side, a week or so ago & he cannot use her for a long time. He has had Gibson's horse here for several weeks, but I do not know what he can do about keeping him. Poor old man. I do feel for him that he should be so worried in his old days. But we both have so much cause for thankfulness that we have such sons who are so willing to aid & comfort. May God indeed bless and keep you both.

Months later, in a letter dated April 26, 1887, Father Edward McCarty Armstrong, Sr., again thanks his sons in a letter to Baker:

Dear Baker, Your letter enclosing P.O. [unreadable] for $55 came to hand on Sunday the 24th. [F]or your prompt response to my request, you will both accept my thanks, $45 of this I have placed to your credit, $8 for photo & $2 for Charles own use to be expended by him as he pleases.

I and the family thank you for the present of dear Katie's Photo, we have not yet received it, but suppose it will come in due time. I will heed your instructions as to the [unreadable] before taking it from [the] Express Office, will reject the Picture if not satisfactory when it comes.

You dear boys, what kind & loving hearts you have, and how much you do contribute to our happiness & support. I do not know what I would have done for the last two years, but for the assistance you have [rendered?] us all. We bless the Lord for all you are, to us all.

These examples of thanks are the few of many expressed to Robert and Baker Armstrong over the years. As I have been going through the family letters, so many of which remain to be read and organized, I have encountered many such letters of thanks. One of the most moving is one written from Salem, Virginia, in 1941, by Baker's nephew, Gordon Armstrong,four years after his uncle Baker's death. (Gordon was one of the sons of Baker's half-brother William Dillon Armstrong and Margaret Glasgow Armstrong.) The letter is addressed to Baker's widow, Mary Ophelia Nugent Armstrong.

Dear Aunt Mary,
I am enclosing you check for $60.00 which is the amount of my debt to Uncle Baker. I borrowed this amount from him about nine or ten years ago.

I should not have done this, as I had no reasonable prospect of repaying him at that time; and I have regretted so much that I was unable to make payment during his lifetime.

But I am now able to make this repayment, and it gives me a great deal of pleasure to pay you. It gives me real satisfaction to do this, as I have felt badly about this matter for a long time, and wish I could have done it earlier.

I trust you have been well, and that the blessings of Providence may be yours in abundant measure.

With much love to you and your loved ones,
Affectionately,
Gordon Armstrong

Click on image for a larger view.

"Oh! I Must Make Some Money!"

Throughout the 1880s, in the letters written by the Armstrong men, there is an undercurrent of anxiety as the young men in the family try to find positions that will not only support themselves but that will provide extra money necessary for the comfort of their extended families. Robert and Baker Armstrong, sons of Edward McCarty Armstrong Senior's second family, go from their half-brothers' grocery and drugstore  in Salem, Virginia, to various posts in Baltimore and Texas--looking for the best financial deal. In one letter in 1886, Baker evidently writes his father for advice about a partnership a man in Texas is offering him. At the time, Baker is working as a druggist in the drugstore owned by George W. Norrell, Bryan, Texas. In a letter dated January 12, 1886, Edward M. Armstrong writes his oldest son [I have regularized the punctuation.]:

In reply, are you at liberty to accept the 2nd proposition of Mr. Stuarts? When Mr. Norrell agreed to meet your demands for $1000 a year, did you not place yourself under obligation to continue with him? I merely ask the question, for I do not know all that passed between you. I want you to be very careful that in advancing your own interests that you do no injustice to others.

Father Edward advises his son to look closely into the character of the man offering Baker a partnership in his business. (The type of business is not identified though the word choice suggests some kind of mercantile business--maybe another drugstore.)

Are you to have any control in the business & who buys the goods? Will your name be in the business and will you become responsible for debts? Is Mr. Stuart a Christian? Is he strictly moral? Does he drink, or gamble? Is he a high flyer or extravagant?

In a later letter, dated January 26, 1886, Mother Louisa adds her advice:

My idea is that you had "set in" for the year with Mr. N. at $1000. I feel somehow that he is a safer man than the other; that he is rather close & the other a "fast liver." Of course I do not pretend to know; but judge so from your letters. Riches take to themselves wings and fly away sometimes.

The young Armstrong men's looking out not only for their own interests but for the comfort of their relatives was to be a characteristic of their behavior throughout their adult lives. Both Robert and Baker sent money home to help their mother purchase a medicine she deemed necessary for her health and to purchase clothing for their siblings. In 1886, Baker and Robert evidently helped pay for their sister Nettie's travels to visit various family members in Virginia, a trip that Mother Louisa writes about and that Nettie herself describes in a letter to her brothers, dated Jan. 6, 1886: "You can't know how much pleasure you are giving me, in this nice trip, and I certainly am grateful to you for it." I get the feeling, from reading several of the letters, that the trip was a way of getting Nettie away from the farm, with its sad reminders of sister Katie, who had died in January of 1885.

The boys were always looking out for those members of the family who needed their help, and letters first from their older half-brother William Dillon Armstrong and another from their nephew David Gibson Armstrong, Jr., illustrate how other relatives relied on Baker and Robert. By this time, William had sold his store house and was casting about for another business. He had spent quite some time in 1885 in quest of a place to open another business, but in January, 1886, he seems to be a little desperate:

Not being able to fall upon a suitable location for business during the Summer & Autumn & tired of running around & separation from my family, I concluded to replace them under the old roof for the Winter, hoping something would develop for me by the time Winter breaks......[Later in the letter, William's desperation comes through more clearly.] I am glad to hear you & Robt are both succeeding so well, in your adopted home & trust an ever faithful and kind Providence may be over you, to bless & protect--A dark & mysterious Providence has certainly been the portion of our family during the past five years & at times I am so humiliated, I feel desperate,--But I will not write about disagreeable things--

William continues the letter by asking his brothers to inquire about the whereabouts of certain Texas boys who had attended Roanoke College and who had neglected to pay their bills at his store in Salem: "...as I am at a dead outlay just now--everything going out and nothing coming in--every dollar collected helps very much--"  William's list of Texas college boys who did not pay their bills goes back to 1878.

William ends his letter by telling his younger half-brothers that he does not want to burden them with these matters, but that he thought that since they were in Bryan, they might be able to succeed in collecting some of the money and that although he was entitled to interest, he would settle for just the principal of whatever they could get.

Baker receives another desperate letter later in the year from his nephew David Armstrong, son of David Gibson ("Bro. Gib") and Hannah Armstrong. Brother Gib's drinking has wreaked havoc in the family. William's own troubles may have been connected to Gib's problems because the two might have been in business together in Salem. In February, Baker's sister Jane alludes to William's and Gibson's difficulties: "Brother Will expected to go last week or this to Kentucky & N. C. looking for a home and some-thing to do, but we have not heard of his going out. Last week we were at Sister Hannah's [wife of David Gibson Armstrong, Sr.]. She and Hannah both look badly, Little Hannah especially and I suppose it is owing to her Father's behavior. I suppose he has been doing all right for the last week or two--have heard nothing to the contrary."

By May, William has bought a store house in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and has begun buying goods to stock the store. Mother Louisia writes Baker that William "will get a boy & train in the business. It was hard for me to part with him, I tell you."

However, Brother Gibson's family is not doing so well, for Baker receives a letter from his nephew David, dated August 12, 1886, unfolding a sad tale of missed opportunities. Evidently, Baker's friend Gus Finley wrote a letter in David's behalf, to help secure David a position at a high school. Finley had written a letter to the principal and to David but got the letters mixed up. By the time the mix-up was rectified, the position had already been filled. Then David takes up another offer from a gentleman offering him a position at his college. However, David then discovers that the college has been in some difficulties and that "it would be next to a miracle" if he "received any pay at all," for "the college is just being re-opened after 3 yrs. suspension, & the prospects are that it will again prove a failure." David, however, feels obligated to follow through with his acceptance of the position: "Having given my word to labor there, I feel in duty bound to fulfill the engagement." However, in anticipation of being without a job soon, David adds:

So Bake, if you can get that $75.00 position for me, oh, do so, by all means.... My aim is now to make money! If I ever go to the Seminary, it will be obliged to be on the fruit of my own labor. Oh! I must make some money! After consultation with a trustworthy lawyer in town, I find that, if my mother & Bros. & sisters have a roof over them by the first of Jan., they might be exceedingly thankful. My father is still drinking--getting lower into the slough of infamy & disgrace, & what I do now, must be done quickly. Anything that pays is the only question I ask in connection with a position. So far as my personal comfort & ease is concerned, I care for them not at all. Crucify the flesh is now my shibboleth--so do not hesitate to write me about a position because it may be disagreeable or contrary to the mode of life which I have been brought up. So keep your eyes open for me, Bake, & do the best you can.

And that's what Baker and Robert did--the best they could for their extended family. As letters into the twentieth century indicate, they felt this obligation all of their lives, as they became very successful in Texas. But for now, in 1886, their meager earnings are multiplied, it seems, like the miracle of the loaves and fishes.

Note on the photograph above: The young man is not identified, but the photographer is one that took photos of many of the Armstrong family. It is in the style of other photos taken during the 1880s. And there is enough family resemblance for me to conclude, very tentatively, however, that this might be a photo of one of the Armstrongs, perhaps David Gibson Armstrong's son David, Jr. The look has that same sad, contemplative look of Brother Gibson's son Edward, whom I identify in this post: "Too Many Edwards, Too Many Unidentified Faces." But no one is now alive who really knows.

Enough of War: The Death of A Young Confederate Soldier

In one of her letters to her son Baker, Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong described her uneasiness at Baker's joining a rifle company in Texas in 1885. "I have had enough of war," she wrote. The war to which she had the most intimate knowledge would have been, of course, the Civil War. Louisa had married Edward McCarty Armstrong shortly before the Civil War, in 1856; in that marriage she also became the stepmother of Edward's children by Hannah Pancake, who had died two years previously. The oldest boys of that first marriage were young adults when the Civil War began in 1861. By that time, Louisa would have mothered those step-sons for five years.

At this point, I do not know how many of Edward McCarty Armstrong's sons fought in the Civil War, but I do know which of them died in that war. I found, tucked in the chaos of the family papers, a hand-written copy of Isaac's obituary. The description is written in fine, old, script; I have placed images of the handwritten notice at the bottom of this post.

A Young Christian Soldier.

Among the sad fruits of this horrible war, another excellent Christian youth has just been gathered in the grave.

Isaac P. Armstrong was born in Hampshire County the 6th day of April 1842. He was the son of Col. Edward M. Armstrong, recently a member of the Virginia Convention and now a refugee, with his large family, from his home at New Creek Station, in Hampshire.

This young man enlisted in the service of his country, and the defence of his desolated county, at an early period of the war; was in the battle of Manassas--and in Ewell's division, engaged in the series of hard marches and bravely contested fields, which have shed on that division since placed under Jackson, such imperishable glory. On Friday evening the 27th of June, he received a fatal wound in his knee in the battle of Gaines Mill. He was taken first to a hospital in Richmond, and then in a few days to the residence of Rev. B. M. Smith at Union Theol. Seminary, where he had spent his years of college life. Here he lingered, a great sufferer for seven weeks. All that the most eminent surgical skill could suggest, and Christian kindness could administer, was done for his healing and comfort, but the nature of his wound baffled every effort, and in the morning of the 22nd, he calmly rested from his labours and sufferings.

During his college and Military life his walk was that of one, who had sought and found the Saviour, and been led by the Spirit, as a son to the God of all grace. He bore his great sufferings with Christian firmness and patience, and resigned himself with childlike confidence and peace, to the will of his Father in Heaven. His Christian faith had been the basis of his courage as a soldier, and he met death relying on Him, from his love in Christ , he felt assured, that "neither death, nor life, nor principalities, nor powers nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature" should be able to separate him. Though far from his Mother's side by which he would have wished his body laid, he rests till the Resurrection morning, among honoured dead--and in the midst of a Christian community, who testified their regard for the young Soldier, while on his bed of pain, by ennumerable acts of kindness, and will cherish his memory, as that of one whom, God blessed them, in sending to die and be buried among them.

Click on each image to enlarge.

"Think Texas is the Place for Me"

At the end of 1884, Baker White Armstrong was in Texas, having left the employment of George Seals, Druggist, in Baltimore, Maryland for employment in Bryan, Texas, in the drugstore owned by George W. Norrell. There are hints in the letters from family that there were contacts in Bryan before Baker moved there. A letter from his sister Nettie suggests those connections: "I suppose you make a pet of Mrs. Cavitt's little girl. I saw her when she was in Salem and she was certainly an attractive child then. I am very glad you have met Miss Finley, Janie & Fannie seemed to like her very much. Is Clara Cavitt at home now? If you see her give her my love." I found online one early connection between the Armstrongs in Virginia and the Cavitts in Texas: Clara Cavitt had attended Hollins Institute, which all the Armstrong girls except Katie attended. (One of the Cavitt brothers attended Roanoke College, as had the Armstrong boys.) Robert Armstrong was to marry Clara's sister Cora Cavitt, but in 1884-1885, that marriage was in the future, Robert was still in Virginia, and Baker was making himself at home in Bryan, Texas, where he roomed with Gus Finley.

The photograph at top, left, is of Baker Armstrong (seated) and Gus Finley (standing), taken in 1886. Evidently, not long after moving to Bryan, Baker enlisted in a local rifle company. Baker's father Edward mentions the rifle company in a letter dated July 8, 1885: "Your delightful letter to us all, giving us description of your Military trip to Lampasas, was duly received and now that you are safely returned to Bryan, we are all glad you had the recreation and that you enjoyed it so much."

What rifle company was this? The letters do not reveal any specifics, but a quick search on the Internet offers clues. Various rifle companies or military batteries formed in cities or regions of Texas, and were rather loosely associated with one another and known more famously later as the Texas Rangers (See Texas Archival Resources Online.) In May 1885,  there was a State encampment in Lampasas where these military units met and competed (Google search: Year Book for Texas by C. W. Raines, 1903, p. 119). This was surely the "military trip"--or one similar--to which Edward M. Armstrong refers. These military units were called out to administer frontier law and order, breaking railroad strikes and quelling riots, and, previously, fighting Apaches.  There were several such military units associated with Bryan, Texas, including, during the years 1880-1886, the Bryan Rifles.

Mother Louisa was less sanguine about Baker's association with the rifle company. On July 1, 1885, a week earlier than her husband's writing, she had written Baker about her anxiety:

Received your postal from Lampassas and am anxiously awaiting a letter telling me of your trip and your safe arrival in Bryan. I felt quite anxious about you last week--thought much of you and prayed for you. Snakes--tarantulas, sickness & evils of different kinds presented themselves to my mind--but I do hope that you escaped all & by this time are safely at your place again. By the by, if there is the least danger of your being ordered off or have to engage in any fight of any kind, get out of that company. I have had enough of war in my day. I saw by the papers that companies from San Antonio had been ordered off to fight 'the Apaches.' Now be sure to keep out of such things.

Baker was still associated with the rifle company at the end of 1885, for in another letter, dated December 3, 1885, Louisa reveals her misgivings to her son again:

I hope you enjoyed your hunt Thanksgiving day. That rifle company bothers me. I am afraid something might happen that you would be ordered out. You must not get into any trouble of that kind. Resign first, if it does look cowardly. Your life is too precious. You are no Texan & not bound to protect Texas. I never want you to settle in Texas. Lay up your money and when you have enough, come back to Va & invest. There it too little godliness there.

But the "Left-for-Texas" bug had already bitten both Baker and Robert. Though Baker was to return to Virginia to visit and to get a wife, he was never to live there again. Robert was to go back and forth from Virginia to Texas for a few years before finally settling in Bryan and marrying a Texas girl. In a letter dated August 1, 1885, Robert tells his brother that he has abandoned law and had "already written to Uncle James to that effect." (However, he takes up law again and ends up practicing law in Texas.) "I must get a position somewhere," he tells his brother. "I think all my friends except Mother think Texas the place for me.

"Her Spirit Took Its Flight"

Photo of Katie White Armstrong
The new year of 1885 began as usual at Edgewood, the Edward McCarty Armstrong farm near Salem, Virginia. The year had ended with the usual flurry of activities. In his last letter of 1884, Edward had written his son Baker, who was now in Texas, that he, Fanny, Nettie, Kate, and Charles had enjoyed a Christmas dinner in town with "Bro. Gibson," David Gibson Armstrong, Edward's oldest son of his first marriage. Mother Louisa describes a Christmas day spent as usual: "presents distributed among ourselves. Sallie, Janie & I remained at home while all the others went to dine at Gibson's." And both parents thank Baker for the money which he had sent them, along with his instructions to purchase oysters and crackers for their Christmas meal.

By January 10th, Mother was complaining to Baker that they had not received a letter from him since Christmas day--the post cards he had sent didn't count, as Mother wished for all the details of Baker's new life in Texas. In a letter posted January 21, 1885, Louisa writes her son again, a letter filled with family news. Edward, the girls, and Charles had been attending extended church services: "Mr. Gordon has had services nearly every day twice a day since last Sunday week in his church....Mr. Gaines has been preaching such earnest sermons." Edward was also filling his ice house ("We began to fear our season for ice had passed"), and various grandchildren were sick or recovering from illness. And, of course, Louisa included her motherly advice: "Do not fall in love just yet and mind when you do, it must be with a good Christian Presbyterian girl."

And there, toward the end of the letter,  is an offhand remark about the health of folks at Edgewood: "All well as usual at home, but Katie who has been very bilious."

Imagine, then, Baker Armstrong's horror when he receives this telegram shortly after his mother's letter, on January 27, 1885 [Click on the image for a magnified view]:

And then the heart-breaking letter from Edward, dated January 27th, arrives [I have regularized most of the punctuation]:

My Dear Baker
O my dear Son, as the Telegraph has informed you, your dear Sister Katie has gone. Her spirit took its flight last night at 9 O'clock & 20 min.

We are crushed by this terrible blow, but thanks be to our ever blessed Saviour, we are enabled to trust Him even in this crushing affliction, she was God's Child given to him by her parents and then ratified by her in giving herself to Him years ago, and he has taken his own to his blessed arms to be in his presence forever more. He has called her to blessed work for Him in Heaven, whilst it is hard for us to give up entirely the blessed darling of our Household but the Master calls and we must obey. She was a dear child to us, so loving, so kind, so obedient, so helpful, about the House and every where, so conscientious, such sterling principles, so much character, so dear in every sense, but, God has taken her to himself and our duty is to cultivate assignation to His Divine & Holy Will.

You will no doubt want to know all about the event which called her away. Mr. Gordon was holding a protracted meeting in Salem & she & Janie went down to attend it on Tuesday the 13th day of the month & was to return on Thursday to let Fannie & Nettie go down, but the sleet prevented, & they did not go down, or got home, until Friday. Katie complained much of her headache & backache when she started to Town but was so anxious to attend the meetings, that she went. She attended all the meetings but two, and came home much complaining on Friday. William [William Dillon Armstrong, Katie's and Baker's older half-brother] saw her & gave her some med. & thought she would be well in a day or two, but she did not get better & William sent her more med, and came out to see her on Tuesday the 20th. He treated her but did not think her case serious. That night he got a Telegram calling him to see Mrs. Robert Glasgow, who was critically ill. He went, supposing Katie would be all right when he returned, but for fear he might be mistaken, he saw Dr. Bruffy, before leaving, and Dr. Bruffy came up in his stead (when we sent for William next day). William returned Thursday night & he & Bruffy were with her every day, but nothing they could do seemed to arrest the disease. Delirium came on, and blood poisoning commenced and continued to the end and no remedy seemed to prove efficacious and she quietly & peacefully passed away last night at the time before mentioned. Her dissolution was very rapid. At dark I had no idea she would pass away during the night, but her strength gave way, and she breathed her last, O so peacefully & calmly, her life seemed to ebb away, just like the going out of a candle. Her delirium continued to the end. She knew us up to yesterday mid day, but imagined all the time she was away from Home. She called for her Mother the day before yesterday morning & looked at her with such a look & said, O Mother why don't you take me home. Last night when she declined to take the stimulant from William, I said, Katie, take it for Father, and she immediately opened her mouth and took it.

O my Son the dear girl has gone, and we can hardly believe our eyes when we see her laid out in the Parlor. She looks just as if she was sleeping, but cold in death, so sudden, so overwhelming we can hardly realize it.

She called so often for you, her mind seemed to be that you were home & she called often for you, also for Robert.

Maggie came up & remained with us & is still here and will stay with your Mother until after the funeral tomorrow. Margie came up just now. William will return and spend the night here. The funeral will take place from the House tomorrow at 11 O'clock and from the Church at 1 O'clock.

Pall bearers are Joe & Jimmie Hannah, Robert Logan, and John Chalmers. Mr. Gordon will have a short service at the House, and then the main service at the Church. Your Ma wishes the Children to put on mourning, and her wishes will be complied with and you will wear a mourning badge on your hat or person as may be usual where you are. And now dear Son I cannot write more. O how we all will miss the dear dear Child, but God's will be done. The Lord gave & the Lord hath taken [a]way, blessed be the name of the Lord.

Your Ma is greatly crushed by this blow, but the Lord is with her, & He will I hope give her strength & help from the Sanctuary and support her even in this great trial and affliction.

My Son, take up God's work here, engage in it with your heart and mind. Life is but short for any of us, and we know not the day nor the hour when He will take us too, to give account to Him of our stewardship on Earth.

May we both, and all of us, be as ready to heed the summons as dear little Katie was. So goodbye my dear Son, and may the Lord comfort you.
Yours Affectionately
EM Armstrong Sr.

[At the end of the letter is a note from Baker's mother, written in pencil]
My Dear Boy
My heart feels for you knowing what a blow this is to you as to all of us. May God make it the means of drawing you nearer to Him. Oh live and labor for him & God grant we may be an undivided family with Jesus. Pray for us.
your loving
Mother

Baker was far from family in Texas when Katie died, but in an earlier letter, Louisa mentions Gus Finley, with whom Baker seems to be rooming in Bryan, Texas. Gus might have been a friend from Virginia who accompanied him to Texas. [Later note: Another letter from Baker's mother this year indicates that Louisa had not met Gus Finley, so perhaps Finley was an acquaintance Baker made after he had moved to Bryan, Texas, near the end of 1884.]

A few weeks after Katie's death, Louisa has gathered enough strength to write Baker of her loss, in a letter dated February 18, 1885:

My Dear Baker,
I must write a few lines to you this morning. Your Postal just received. Your letter to Robert came in due time and we all thank you for the $15. Your Father had no money to buy the girls nice dresses & Robert advanced him the money and he got Gibson to order them from Balt [Baltimore]. The $15 we just paid back to Robert. He has so little money left--is making nothing now but is preparing we hope to make some in the future. He is still here; but talks of leaving next week, says he cannot study as well here. [Robert was studying law at the time] We will miss him so much. He has been, oh! such a comfort to us. What would we have done without him in our loneliness.

Oh my boy--you do not know how we miss our loved one--every where and in everything. Our pleasures all have a drawback when we remember she is not here to share them. In the dining room & at the table in my room, all the preserves & catsup & everything in housekeeping; even to making a cup of tea--everything reminds us of the precious child and she is gone, never more to come in among us. It is hard indeed to give her up. It was so sudden and such a shock. When I go on the porch and see the chickens my heart aches. She took such interest in them, doctoring the sick ones & attending to all. We would laugh at her concern for them sometime (even crying once in her concern) & she would say, "Well I ought to put my whole heart in what I do." & she did. She was so conscientious in every thing.

My dear child, I feel sometimes if she could only come & put her head on my lap (as she used to do & I would say, "Now my baby wants to be petted"), I would hold her to my heart. But this is sinful to want her back to this world where she would have to battle with sin & sorrow & now she is free from all that. But our human hearts do yearn to see her & have her & we cannot but grieve.

Three weeks today since her body was taken from her earthly home to rest in the cold earth. When I feel like murmuring, I think I ought not to murmur; but thank my God over & over for the hope we have. Oh what would I do without that. "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift" through whom she was redeemed. Dear child, she had given herself to him some years ago, not hurriedly but after much thought & her life proved that she was indeed his. I have always felt that if one of my dear ones should die out of Christ, it would almost run me wild.

Dear little Charles was concerned upon the subject of religion before her death and that seemed to fix his mind. He called me in the little room before he went to communion last Sunday week & said, "Mother, it seems as if Katie's death was for some good. It has made me think." I told him just to think how she was rejoicing in Heaven that day over him. May God keep my precious child & consecrate him to his service. Tell me, Baker, are you in the Sabbath School. My dear boy, "live only for eternity."

Robert has gone to town today--will be back to-morrow. Your Father was not well last week--complained of pain in his side when he took a long breath. Although he did not feel sick. We became uneasy & sent for William who came up & spent Friday night. He said it was more neuralgia or cold in the muscle & dry cupped him. He is relieved now & seems well as usual. All the rest as usual. I sent a paper containing Katie's obituary written by Mr. Gordon.

Louisa adds a final paragraph in pencil of a few details about the family before closing this heart-rending letter. These powerfully written words of sorrow seem as fresh now as I read them as they must have been when Baker Armstrong first read them almost 125 years ago.  Louisa kept a talisman of her daughter's death in her Bible, the obituary she mentioned in her letter to Baker. There on the inside cover of her Bible were daily reminders of her sorrows: her youngest daughter's death and, in the record she kept on the opposite page, her oldest son's travels away from the family home.

Letter describing the death of Katie White Armstrong--
Edward McCarty Armstrong, Sr., to his son Baker White Armstrong
January 27, 1885