Armstrong, John Milton, 1818-1901.

Biographical data was taken from the collection. More detailed information about the people mentioned above, and about other family members, can be found in the collection's genealogical materials. See also Minnesota History, 14:101; 17:211.

John Armstrong, Jr. was born on April 20, 1793 in Allegheny County, Pennsylania, the son of John and Elizabeth McElroy Armstrong. In 1803 the family moved to Columbia County, Ohio. A farmer, contractor, carpenter, and builder, Armstrong served as a corporal in the War of 1812 and worked his way through the ranks to major general in the Ohio militia (1819-1859). He married Elizabeth McKaig on April 12, 1816 and settled in New Lisbon (now Lisbon), Ohio. The couple had eight children: James, John Milton, Margaret King, Bezaleel Wells, Albert, George Washington, Eliza Jane, and William Wallace. Armstrong died on December 22, 1865.

James Armstrong, first child of John and Elizabeth, was born on December 23, 1816 in New Lisbon, Ohio. He graduated from Washington and Jefferson College (Washington, Pennsylania) in 1837, studied law in New Lisbon, was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1842, and established a practice in New Lisbon. In November 1842 he moved his practice to Canton, Ohio. Sometime during the mid-1840s he moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he served as a district court judge and, in the late 1850s, published a local newspaper. During the Civil War, he served as first lieutenant in the Third Wisconsin Cavalry. He died at Leavenworth, Kansas on October 3, 1862.

James married Mary Ann Nelson of Columbus, Ohio on May 24, 1842. She was born on December 4, 1823. The couple had five children: Mary Isabella, Duane James, John Nelson, Robert Milton, and Caroline Amelia. Following James' 1862 death, Mary Ann Nelson Armstrong married Reverend Matthew A. Fox (1812-1883). After Fox's death she moved to Missoula, Montana, where she resided with her daughter, Caroline Armstrong Tillinghast, until her death on May 12, 1901.

George Washington Armstrong, the sixth child of John and Elizabeth, was born on February 27, 1827. He apprenticed in the printing trade on the Mt. Vernon (Ohio) Banner and served as the paper's joint editor and proprietor from 1847 to 1850. In 1850 he moved to Keokuk, Iowa, where he owned and published a local newspaper. During the spring of 1863 he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he engaged in the real estate, insurance, and loan business. He was appointed Minnesota territorial commissary general on November 25, 1856, and treasurer on May 6, 1857. He was elected Minnesota's first state treasurer on December 22, 1857, serving from May, 1858 through 1860. He died of a stroke on July 1, 1877 in St. Paul.

Armstrong married Anna Miller on March 24, 1852. She died of dysentery on October 16, 1852 in Keokuk. He married again, on November 10, 1859, to Jane Caroline ("Jenny") Colman. She was born in Berford, Ontario, Canada on February 21, 1838 and moved to Fort Atkinson, Iowa in the 1850s with her, parents Thomas William Coleman and Caroline Newington Coleman. Jane and George had seven children: George Coleman, William Newington, James Douglas, Caroline Isabel, Thomas Miller, John Milton, and Albert.

William Wallace Armstrong, the eighth child of John and Elizabeth, was born on March 18, 1833. In May 1847 he was apprenticed to learn the printing trade at the Seneca Advertiser, Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio. By the early 1850s he was the paper's editor and proprietor, and in May of 1854 became its owner. He also served (1857-1861) as Tiffin's postmaster. In 1862 he was elected Ohio's secretary of state, serving one term. He then moved to Cleveland where he published the Cleveland Plain Dealer until 1884. He served (1887-1891) as Cleveland's postmaster and was a candidate for Cleveland city treasurer in 1895. He died on April 21, 1905.

Armstrong married Sarah Virginia Hedges on November 10, 1857. They had three children: two sons who died in infancy and Isabella Hedges (1864- ).

James Douglas Armstrong, the third child of George and Jane Armstrong, was born on April 8, 1866 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He graduated from St. Paul High School in 1885, attended the University of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota law school, and was admitted to the Minnesota bar in 1889. He was solicitor for the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad (1890-1895); member of the Hadley and Armstrong law firm of St. Paul (1895-1900); assistant general solicitor and general attorney, Great Northern Railway Company (1901-1912); general counsel, Great Northern iron ore properties (1912-1915); and vice-president, Merchant's Trust and Savings Bank (later First Trust Company), 1915-Oct. 1931. He was also president of the Ramsey County Bar Association (1905) and a St. Paul College of Law lecturer and instructor (1909-1930). He married Mary Elizabeth Brinckerhoff (1871-1931) in 1894; they had five children. Armstrong died on November 15, 1939.

John Milton Armstrong, the sixth child of George and Jane, was born on April 10, 1875. He attended the St. Paul public schools and the University of Minnesota, and graduated from the latter's medical school in 1901. He interned at St. Joseph Hospital, St. Paul (1901-1902) and established a practice in Montgomery, Minnesota late in 1902. He soon moved back to St. Paul, however, and established a practice in that city. He was St. Paul's assistant commissioner of health; president of the Ramsey County Medical Society (1914), the Minnesota Society for the Study of Medical History (1935-1937), and the Minnesota Academy of Medicine (1941); vice-president of the Medical Library Association (1939); and a member of the Minnesota State Medical Association, American Medical Association, Minnesota Historical Society Executive Council, and Nu Sigma Nu Medical Fraternity. Armstrong also joined the Medical Reserve Corps in 1909, and was commissioned a first lieutenant in 1911 and captain in 1918.

He married Ida Dulany Dobyns (1880- ) on May 31, 1909 in Shelbina, Missouri. They had four children: Jane, Anne, Elizabeth, and John Milton. Armstrong died in 1945.

Albert Armstrong, the seventh child of George and Jane, was born on March 23, 1877. He attended the University of Minnesota and was a Northern Pacific Railway Company roadmaster (1899-1905); corporate secretary of several Tacoma, Washington businesses, including the Far West Lumber Company, the Far West Clay Company, and the Pacific Car Company (1906-1916); and manager (1917-1928), president, and owner (1929- ) of the Interlocking Tile Corporation, Seattle, Washington. He married Emilie Thomas and had two sons.

From the guide to the John Armstrong family papers, [175-]-1944., (Minnesota Historical Society)