Martin Armstrong

Born [date unknown] in Dublin, Ireland

Descendants

Died 1806 in Franklin Twp, Somerset Co NJ

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Katherine Patterson [send private message]

23andme DNA test shows yDNA haplogroup R-L51.

This person was created through the import of Shortened files.ged on 30 December 2010.

Note

Martin Armstrong d 1806 Franklin, Somerset, NJ. Two of his three known sons served in the Army; my ancestor was probably too young. A daughter told how the family made donuts and watched the Battle of Princeton from their farmhouse, 3 January 1777.

1. Martin's sons, George and James, are mentioned at American Revolutionary War Rejected Pensions, http://www.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=4329

2. William C. Armstrong (not related), Pioneer Families of Northwestern New Jersey. See http://www.sloco.net/history/NJBio/Somerset.html.

3. David Hackett Fischer, Washington's Crossing, 2004, especially his extensive bibliography for details on the area where Armstrong lived.

Pioneer Families of Northwestern New Jersey, by William C Armstrong, includes this passage: "I have before me another letter, dated May 30, 1911, and written at Oakland CA by Adrian A. Williamson, a few years later than his other letter.... I now relate an anecdote which has been preserved in an old family letter. The place is between Princeton and Rocky HIll, and the time is immediately after the battle of Princeton. By a night march, Washington had outwitted the British at Trenton, had slipped around them, had struck and routed another British force at Princeton and was now withdrawing his victorious troops to Morristown by way of Pluckamin. The country folks were at the roadside to see the troops. Mr. Armstrong took his daughter, Amey, out to see the sight and they saw Washington ride by. Amey was seven years of age and she always remembered that sight. That is the setting of the story; now comes the story itself. Sometime late when Mr. Armstrong went to feed his horses, they were all gone, startling discovery. He chased Washington's army nearly to Pluckamin. reaching headquarters and demanding to see Washington, he debarred by the guard at the door. Dodging under the guard's arms, he rushed in. Washington granted him an audience. The result was that Washington gave him a carte blanche to take his horses wherever he found them. On the way home he saw a negro leading two horses to water at a ford on the Millstone River. He recognized them as his own. He claimed them, but the negro refused to give them up declaring that his master had bought them from a soldier. Pushing the negro off, Armstrong mounted and rode home."

History and directory of Yates County: containing a sketch of its original settlement by the Public Universal Friends ... Cleveland, 1873, page 1_740: "John Amstrong of Milo, was a son of James Armstrong, who emigrated at an early period from Somerset Co New Jersey, where their family were first established in this country by the emigration of Martin Armstrong from Dublin, Ireland. They were Irish of Scotch descent. James Armstrong was a brother of Alexander Armstrong, the father of the family of Armstrongs that settled in East Benton, on the ?Ridge Road, now in Torrey. James Armstrong purchased the land, now the homestead of his son John Armstrong, on lot 12, in 1793. Coming the next year with his family, he purchased other land and settled in the town of Seneca, on the Gore in the neighborhood of William Ansley. John Armstrong, oldest son of James was the only one of the family who settled within the boundaries of Yates county. he married Sarah, daughter of Rowland Embree, in 1822, and settled on one hundred and thirty acres, the east part of lot 12, which his father had purchased twenty-nine years before, but which was still in its wild estate. They still reside on the same premises. He was born in New Jersey in 1793, and his wife at Stillwater, N.Y., in 1799...." [Note: the reference to the family of Alexander Armstrong is difficult. Could it be in error? See below. KP]

From Rootsweb.com: "Matthew Patterson, his son-in-law, was executor. He filed papers saying Martin Armstrong died intestate. He listed estate assets of minimal value. I believe that there was an attempt by the family to avoid having an estate by the extensive history of transfers of land from Martin Armstrong to his grandsons Martin Agnew and Martin Patterson and others prior to his death. Matthew lived in Franklin, so it appears Martin was living with him when he died. I haven't figured out the whole picture, but there was land in NY also. Martin Armstrong's grandsons Martin and Daniel McCoy of Bourbon County, KY filed documents (found in the Lexington County Courthouse) stating that their uncle George Armstrong was then (1810) living on land in NY (exact location not given) that they had inherited from their grandfather Martin Armstrong of Somerset, NJ.

"I don't mean to accuse anyone of duplicitous actions, just that the property was divided among the heirs in advance of Martin Armstrong's death. Uncle George had been living in Lexington KY for a while. He moved back to NY by 1810 and lived in NJ for many years after that."

MARTIN ARMSTRONG NJ Somerset County Bedminster 1775

MARTEN ARMSTRONG NJ Somerset County E Precinct 1784

MARTIN ARMSTRONG NJ Somerset County E Precinct 1786

MARTIN ARMSTRONG NJ Somerset County E Precinct 1787

MARTIN ARMSTRONG NJ Somerset County E Precinct 1788

MARTEN ARMSTRONG NJ Somerset County E Precinct 1789

MARTINE* ARMSTRONG NJ Somerset County E Precinct 1790

MARTEN* ARMSTRONG NJ Somerset County E Precinct 1791

MARTEN ARMSTRONG NJ Somerset County E Precinct 1792

MARTEN ARMSTRONG NJ Somerset County E Precinct 1793

MARTIN ARMSTRONG NJ Somerset County Eastern Precinct 1793

MARTIN ARMSTRONG NJ Somerset County E Precinct 1794

MARTIN ARMSTRONG NJ Somerset County E Precinct 1795

From genforum: Posted by: Nancy Malone Date: September 05, 2000

In Reply to: Re: ARMSTRONG-NJ by Jon Chambers

I have a daughter of Martin Armstrong, who d 1806 Somerset Co NJ. She pre-deceased Martin by many years. Her sons by John McCOY (d Bourbon Co KY 1813), Martin & Daniel, inherited land in NY from him. I believe Martin's wife was Rebecca JENNYS. Martin had sons George, James + ? They had a nephew or cousin b. 1799 KY named Chambers McCOY. Any connection to your CHAMBERS-Armstrong clan?

John Corman at Ancestry.com writes: "I have Martin ARMSTRONG of Somerset, NJ whose son George applied for a Rev. War pension and named his brother James as witness. George did not marry. I know nothing of James. Martin had a brother John living in a nearby town in the mid-1700s. Martin's daughter Catherine married Daniel AGNEW. The other daughters married John McCOY (d 1813 Bourbon, KY) and Matthew PATTERSON (d 1823 Somerset, NJ). Daniel AGNEW was a Scottish immigrant who was a professor of mathematics at Princeton for many years. Most of my information was gleaned from county land records and the Somerset Historical Society. Would love to learn more about John and Martin ARMSTRONG's roots if you know anything. I recall seeing enough on John's land dealings and such in that region (Hunterdon-Somerset) to determine he was Martin's brother. I believe they lived in NY before settling in NJ and had land in both states."

Martin Armstrong of Somerset Co NJ had his will probated ca. 1806. He had dau. Anne, b ca 1769 who m Christopher Howell of Griggstown, NJ.