John Baker White: "After You Send Hitler to Hell"

Going through the boxes of family letters my husband's ancestors left behind is like going through a box of puzzle pieces in which ten different puzzles are jumbled together. I will find a puzzle piece that looks as if may fit one puzzle and then discover that it fits another altogether. A close fit is not a perfect fit. 

So far I have been concentrating on the Armstrong family, the family of Tom's great-grandfather, Baker White Armstrong, Sr.  Baker's mother was a White, so I pulled out the White puzzle in the last post, trying to find a fit for the antecedents of that mother, Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong. As I mentioned in the last post, putting the puzzles together is all the more difficult because so many of these relatives, some even in the same generation, share the same names. Which Robert White is this text referring to--Robert White, the British surgeon who came to America or his son Robert White who fought in the Revolutionary War or Robert White who fought for the Confederacy? The list of John Baker Whites is just as confusing.

But every once in a while I will discover two or three puzzle pieces that fit, and that's what I think I have here. I ended the last post with a copy of a photo of a man with the name John Baker White written beneath the photo. While I am not quite sure where this John Baker White fits in the family tree of my husband's great-grandmother, Louisa, I am sure that he is a relative (most likely one of Louisa's nephews). This John Baker White must be the same John Baker White who wrote a letter to my husband's great-uncle, Baker White Armstrong, Jr., in 1943. Baker White Armstrong, Jr., was, of course, a grandson of Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong and Edward McCarty Armstrong, Sr., and the only son of Baker White Armstrong, Sr. In 1943, Baker White Armstrong, Jr., was serving his country in World War II. While I will be writing much more about this Baker in later posts [I previously introduced him in this early post], here I will jump ahead from 1887, the year Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong died, to 1943, in order to bring to you two small pieces of a puzzle: a letter and a photograph.

Here, again, is the photograph:

 

And here is the letter. Click on the image for a readable view.

This photograph is most likely that of a John Baker White from the generation following that of Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong's generation; this is surely one of her nephews.

 I transcribe the letter here as best I can (including a paragraph break for easier reading):

U. S. Veterans Hospital--Huntington, WV. Nov. 16--1943

Lt. Baker White Armstrong

2300 So Arlington Ridge Road

Arlington, Virginia

My Dear Lieutenant:

I have just received a letter from Lt. Stanley C. Dadisman saying you room across the hall from him. I am awfully glad to get track of you as I had almost lost contact with the family since your esteemed father died. Lt. Dadisman mentioned you would be interested in knowing your connection with the family. Well, if I were at home & able to get any papers I could give you a lot of family history, but I have been a patient in this hospital for 3 months suffering from a heart breakdown, but I will endeavor to give you a short line on our genealogy & you can do doubt fill in some of the missing links. My great grandfather Robert White was a Capt. & Brevet Major in the Continental Army & was seriously wounded in the battle of Monmouth, N. J. & invalided home & "limped" to his grave in 1833 (See Kercheval's History of the Valley & Foote's Sketches of Va [Anita's note: Foote's text is in Google Books online] both in the Congressional Library. Robert White was one of the original members of the Society of the Cincinnati in Virginia.  I hold membership in that Order by reason of being his eldest living male descendant in the male line. I also belong to the Sons of the Revolution, to which you are elligible (sic) by reason of being a descendant of Capt. Robert White. Capt. White was Judge of the General Court of Virginia from 179-- to 1833 & was quite a distinguished jurist.

I married at 70 a Miss Mary Ann Williamson she is 51 & a professor of English at Marshall College here in Huntington, she is good looking, brilliant & good to me & a fine character, we are very happy, would like to have you meet her sometime.

I wish for you my dear cousin an honorable & distinguishable career & a safe return to your family after you send Hitler to Hell.

Sincerely yours

John Baker White

In this letter, John Baker White included a handwritten family tree, with much missing and some inaccurate information. For instance, he lists Edward McCarty Armstrong as marrying Susan Armstrong--but Edward McCarty Armstrong, as we well know after going through all these letters and posting them on this blog--was married to Louisa Tapscott White (daughter of John Baker White and Frances Streit). But for the record, here are images of that handwritten yet incomplete family tree. Click on each image for a readable view.

Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong--Antecedents

Among the boxes of family letters are clues that Tom's mother, Mary Nugent Robb Greene, and his great-aunt, Mary Ophelia Nugent Armstrong (Mimi), at various times tried to fill out the genealogical records of several of their family lines. I have discovered letters to Mimi (and to her brother, Baker White Armstrong, Jr.)  from several distant cousins whom Mimi had contacted, and we have files of disorganized hand-written notes. I am sure I will discover more letters and more information as I go through the piles of family letters. However, here, while we're still pondering the death of Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong, I will record what I know about Louisa's family. Some of the information I've discovered online, some comes from those disorganized notes, some from memorials and obituaries, and others from letters.

Note: The same names appear over and over again, sometimes twice over or three times over in one generation, so it's a little difficult to keep people straight. I've done the best I can here and will make changes if I discover I've made some mistake in identifying the correct Robert or John as antecedents to Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong.

Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong (b. 1836) was one of the daughters of John Baker White and Frances A. Streit. However,  John Baker White was first married to Louisa Tapscott, who, according to several records, died fairly young. John Baker White and Louisa Tapscott had three daughters:

• Susan J. White, who married William J. Armstrong of Hampshire County, VA;
• Juliet Opie White, who married Noble Tabb, of Berkely County; and
• Arabella White, who married Judge Lucas P. Thompson, of Augusta County.

 John Baker White's second wife, Frances Streit, bore him nine or twelve children, according to two different records. Of those nine or twelve children, I have encountered  the names of some of the sons, who evidently achieved some distinction in their part of the country: Col. Robert White (b. 1833), John Baker White (b. 1837--became a law partner of James D. Armstrong, most likely the brother of Edward McCarty Armstrong, Sr.), Christian Streit White (b. 1840), Alexander White, (b. 1841) and Henry White (the youngest). These were Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong's brothers. What seems a little strange is that Louisa was named after her father's FIRST wife, Louisa Tapscott, but she's the daughter of her father's SECOND wife.

The picture at the top of this post is that of Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong's brother, Col. Robert White (February 7, 1833-December 12, 1915).

And now, from various sources, information about Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong's antecedents and relations:

The following History of the White family is quoted from History of Hampshire County, West Virginia: from its earliest settlement to the present by Hu Maxwell and H. L. Swisher, p. 739-743 [Google Books Online] [I have corrected some of the typos.]

The White Family have for many years connected with the history of Hampshire County, especially since the year 1815, when John Baker White [Louisa Tapscott White's father] took up his residence at Romney. They are of Scotch and English origin, coming of an old Covenanter family, and united by the ties of blood on the Scotch side of the martyr Patrick Hamilton and Captain Robert White, who assisted in the defence of Derry in 1688-449, and on the English side with Major Henry Baker, who so largely conducted the fammis (sic) defence of Derry. The family have since the days of Knox been Presbyterians. Their ancestral home was near Edinburgh, Scotland, and is said to be still standing. The first of the family to reside in America was Robert White [Louisa Tapscott White's great-grandfather], who was a surgeon with the rank of captain in the British navy. Visiting his relative, John William Hoge (who was the ancestor of Dr. Moses Hoge, of Richmond, Judge John Blair Hoge, of Martinsburg, and the Hoges of Wheeling), who resided in Delaware, [Robert White] married [Hoge's] daughter, Margaret Hoge. For a while he resided near York, Pennsylvania, where he erected a home and called it, after his Scottish home, White Hall. He then removed with his kinfolk and clientage to Virginia, and built [a home near?] North Mountain, a little west of Winchester, which he also called White Hall. There he died in the year 1752, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and was buried in the old Opequon graveyard, near Winchester.  He had three sons who survived him, Robert, Alexander, and John, all of whom did service in the French and Indian War, and bore commissions under the colonial government. Robert inherited a large part of the estate with the residence of his father, and it descended to his grandchild. Robert was the grandfather of Francis White, who was sheriff of Hampshire County. Alexander became a lawyer of eminence. John was a member of the first bench of magistrates of Frederick County, Virginia, and was the father of Judge Robert White.

"The Earliest Record we have of the White Family in this country" (handwritten records from family archives)--I do not know who hand-copied the six pages of history (front and back), but the two pages typed below are also reproduced in images below the text. These six pages were found loose in a folder of miscellaneous material on family.

Dr. Robt. White was born in Scotland in 1688 and came to this country 1720. He graduated in Edinburgh and was surgeon in the British Navy for awhile. He came to America, married Miss Margaret Hoge, daughter of William Hoge, then living in Delaware but the ancestor of the Hoge Family of Va. He died in 1752, leaving three sons, John, Robt., & Aleck. Robt. lived and died at the home place in Frederick County, Virginia. Aleck was educated in Edinburgh, was a member of the First Congress of the U.S. 1789-93 and of the Convention of Virginia. In 1796, he married a sister of Hon. James Wood, governor. John was a man of influence and distinction. His son, Robert, was the most distinguished of the family and became of judge of the general court of Va. He was educated in Penn, enlisted as a private in 1775 in company commanded by Capt. Hugh Stephenson. He fought at Germantown in 1777 as lieutenant under Major Wm. Drake. After the war, he practised law in Winchester, Va. and became Judge White. He is described as an able lawyer, clear and cogent in argument and for ten years held an eminent position at the bar during which period he was frequently elected to represent Frederick county in Legislature and enjoyed a high reputation among some of the most prominent men of the Common Wealth with whom he was associated. He continued in his high career of usefulness until the spring of 1825 when he was paralyzed and died in 1827. He married Arabella Baker, daughter of John Baker, a prominent man in his day who lived near Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, near West Va. Mrs. Judge White had one brother, John Baker, who was a member of the U. S. Congress in 1811-13 and father of Ann Gilmer, wife of Thomas Gilmer, member of U. S. Congress, governor of Va. in 1840 and secretary of navy in U. S. 1843, whose family resided in Charlottesville, Va. Mrs. Ann Baker, wife of John Baker, was on board first boat propelled by steam by James Ramsey of Shepherdstown on Potomac River 1787. Judge White had several sisters who married respectively a Tapscott, Walters, Hite, and Lyle from whom large families have sprung. Judge White had three children.

 Click on the images below for a better view of these handwritten documents.

 

Alexander White, son of Robert White (surgeon in the British Navy who was the first of the line to settle in America), quoted from History of Hampshire County by Hu Maxwell and H.L. Swisher (full text in Google Books)

Alexander White...was a very distinguished patriot and statesman, and an uncle of Judge Robert White [and thus, a great-uncle of Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong]. There is a volume of Virginia Historical Reports which contains four hundred and seventy-nine pages about Alexander White. He was a member of the [House] of Burgesses of Virginia with Patrick Henry, and it is said in the book referred to that Patrick Henry never voted until after he had consulted with Mr. White. Alexander White was an eloquent speaker, and being of old Scotch Presbyterian stock, he was much opposed to the support in colonial days of the church by the State, and it is said that he was the first man in this country to offer a resolution in a public body upon the subject of religious freedom, and this long before George Mason had his celebrated resolutions inserted in the Virginia bill of rights. Mr. White was a member of the Virginia convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States. He was also a member of the first Congress of the United States, and some of his speeches are found reported in the debates of that Congress. It is stated in the histories of that time that he was the most eloquent man in that Congress.... (from pages 739-743)

Judge Robert White [grandfather of Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong; son of Robert White, the surgeon in the British Navy]--quoted from "History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens," by Hon. Gibson Lamb Cranmer, 1902, pages 341-344; Linda Fluharty: See The Wheeling Area Genealogical Society and Ohio County WVGen Web

Judge Robert White
was a resident of Winchester, Virginia, and at the early age of seventeen years became an officer in the Colonial army during the American Revolution. He was seriously injured in the battle of Monmouth-- a gunshot breaking one of his thigh bones. He also received a blow on the head from the musket in the hands of a Hessian soldier, the scar of which he carried through life. He was taken from the battlefield to his home at Winchester, where he was confined to his bed for two years, and during this time he took up the study of law. He was admitted to the bar and soon after was made judge of his district, and then judge of the General Court of Appeals in Virginia, a position he held until his death, at Winchester, in 1830. He married Arabella Baker, a daughter of John Baker, Sr., of Berkeley county, Virginia; her mother, Mrs. Judith (Wood) Baker was a daughter of Peter and Susanna (Howard) Wood, and a granddaughter of Henry Howard, of Howard Hall, England, of the House of Norfolk. A brother of Robert White, Alexander White, was an eminent statesman of the Revolutionary period.....

John Baker White [father of Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong and son of Judge Robert White, described above]--from "History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens," by Hon. Gibson Lamb Cranmer, 1902, pages 341-344; typed by Linda Fluharty (similar information can be found in Maxwell and Swisher's book, a copy which is in Google books)

John B. White... was a clerk of both the circuit and county courts of Hampshire county, then in Virginia (from which county Mineral county, West Virginia, was formed), from the time he reached his majority until his death at Richmond in October, 1862. He was a man of unimpeachable character, and of high standing in the section in which he lived. He married Frances A. Streit, a daughter of Christian Streit, a Lutheran minister and a friend and companion of General Muhlenberg of the Colonial Army. Rev. Mr. Streit was pastor of a church in Winchester from the close of the Revolutionary War until 1830, in which year he died. Mrs. White died in 1867, having given birth to 12 children, among them Christian, who was a captain in the Confederate service, and since the war, clerk of the county court of Hampshire county, West Virginia; Alexander, who was a lieutenant in the Confederate Army and died in 1884; and Henry, the youngest of the sons, who is living at Romney, West Virginia.

More on John Baker White, father of Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong, quoted from WVHAMPSH-L Archives on RootsWeb, posted by "singhals," copied from History of Hampshire County by Maxwell and Swisher:

John Baker White was born near Winchester, Virginia, August 4, 1794. He enlisted as a soldier in the War of 1812, and was made an ensign. He was appointed clerk of the circuit and superior court of Hampshire County in 1814, and on March 20, 1815, he qualified as clerk, and he continued to fill both these offices by successive appointments and elections up to the time of his death....Few men have been more beloved and honored than he was among his own people. Possessed of means in his younger days, his house was the seat of true Old Virginia hospitality, and it open its doors not only to friends, relations, and to those of worth and high position, young and old who crowded its rooms, but also to every passing soul who needed food or shelter. The house first built by him in his early life was a large brick mansion. It was destroyed by fire in the year 1857, and upon its site was then erected the smaller brick house in which he resided until driven from it during the war between the States in 1861....Among the persons who to a large degree received their training under his care in his office and as inmates of his home and who afterwards became useful and honorable men were Newton Tapscott, a brilliant lawyer, who died at an early age; Henry M. Bedinger, member of Congress and Minister to Denmark; Alfred P. White and Philip B. Streit, who were in their time perhaps the foremost lawyers at the Romney bar; Judge James D. Armstrong, of the Hampshire judicial circuit, and Dr. Robert White, Presbyterian minister, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. John Baker White up to 1861 was a Union man. He supported Bell and Everett for president and vice-president in 1860, and voted for the Union candidates for the convention which passed the ordinance of secession, one of who was Col. E. M. Armstrong, afterwards of Salem, Virginia, who was Mr. White's son-in-law (my emphasis). But when President Lincoln issued his call for troops to invade and coerce the seceded States, Mr. White at once ranged himself with this State in defence of the rights of the States and the Constitution of the United States as Virginia and her people had always held them...With three sons out of four (the only ones old enough) in the Confederate Army, himself active and effective in his county in bringing the people of this border county, almost in a solid mass to the support of the cause in which his State had unsheathed her sword, he inevitably aroused the enmity of the Federals, and was compelled to leave his home to escape arrest. He went with his wife and young children to Richmond, and was given a position in the treasury department of the Confederate government. He died there on October 9, 1862. His death was no doubt hastened by the loss of his property and the anxieties oppressing him. He was buried by the Masonic fraternity in Hollywood Cemetery, at Richmond.....

Home of John Baker White, father of Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong

Colonel Robert White (brother of Louisa Tapscott White Armstrong)--quoted from "History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens," by Hon. Gibson Lamb Cranmer, 1902. Pages 341-344. Typed and loaded online by Linda Fluharty (www.lindapages.com).

Col. Robert White, one of the most brilliant lawyers ever produced by the state of West Virginia...was born at Romney, West Virginia, February 7, 1833, and comes of a distinguished line of ancestors....Col. Robert White obtained his early education in the common schools of Virginia. He then served in the county clerk's office with his father about six years, after which he entered upon the study of law in the school conducted by Judge Brockenbrough, at Lexington, Virginia. He was admitted to the bar in 1854, and began practice at Romney. About one year before the beginning of the Civil War he became captain of a Virginia uniformed volunteer military company, and at the opening of the memorable conflict was ordered by the governor of Virginia to report to "Stonewall" Jackson at Harper's Ferry. He remained in the service until May 14, 1865, saw much hard service, and was in many of the most bloody combats that took place on Virginia soil. After the war he returned to Romney and owing to his father's death and the fact that he was the eldest of the family, virtually became its head, and at once entered actively on the practice of his profession. He was associated in practice with John J. Jacob until the latter was elected governor. He devoted his greatest efforts toward developing the beautiful South Branch Valley, which had been so desolated by the war. He prepared and secured the passage through the legistlature of an act establishing the Institution for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, of West Virginia, and through his earnest efforts this institution was located in his native town. He served as one of its directors for many years. [much more information to be found here: Colonel Robert White]

I do not know, as of yet, just which John Baker White (and there are several) appears in the photograph below.

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.