Talented Tuesday - Professions of the Armstrong's of Cape Elizabeth, Maine

My 3rd Great Grandparents, John Armstrong and Betsey Woodbury Dyer Armstrong, together had at least 8 children:  Simon, Mary, Eben, Lucy, John B., Israel, Arthur and George.

I am interested in the professions of my ancestors and relatives.  It is fascinating to see how occupations change over time and this is what I was able to uncovered about the Armstrong sons professions.

Much of this information is extracted from the City of Portland, City Directory from 1871.

Simon Armstrong (1812-1839) - Simon was a mariner.  The only evidence of this is that he died while traveling by ship in Havana, Cuba.  If he made his living on the sea, it wasn't for long, since he died far too young at the early age of 27.

Eben Armstrong - (1818-1884) - Eben was a cooper.  The profession of cooper is not one you hear about often anymore, but it was an important profession in its day.   A cooper is the traditional occupation of making barrels out of wooden staves.  These barrels would be used to contain dry and liquid goods for storage and sale.  It should not be underestimated the skill required to make these barrels.  Coopers are still used to make barrels for specialty products such as aging wine, but wooden barrel containers have been replaced by pre-made plastic, wood and metal containers.

John B Armstrong - (1822-1900) - John B had a few professions including as a farmer, but in 1871 he was a Ferryman.  Portland, Maine and Cape Elizabeth (Now South Portland) are separated by Portland Harbor.  The most efficient way to go from Portland and Cape Elizabeth was to take the ferry.  John B. Armstrong ran the ferry business bringing people and goods between the two locations.  Eventually, their was a bridge built between the two locations which effectively ended the ferry business.

Israel Armstrong (1824-1892) - Israel is described as a mariner.  I didn't see any evidence of what type of business he conducted on the sea in 1871.  However, I did see that he was involved running the Portland-to-Cape Elizabeth Ferry in 1866.  Making a living from the sea was very popular in coastal Maine.

Arthur B Armstrong (1827-1893) - Arthur was a sparmaker.  A sparmaker is someone who works on building masts for ships.  This was during the time when most shipping was done by sailing ships and making and repairing "spars" or masts would have been a very desirable profession.  As more shipping moved to steam ships, this would have become less in demand.

George Armstrong (1832-1884) - I don't find any records of George in any profession.

Many of these professions would be considered obsolete today.  It is interesting to consider that some of the professions that we take for granted will be obsolete in 100 years.

Sunday's Obituary - Capt William White Woodbury

I have never been a huge fan of Forest Gump, but there is no disputing that genealogy research is "like a box of chocolates", because you never know what you are going to find.

I have been focusing a lot of my time researching the Armstrong line of my family living in Cape Elizabeth and Falmouth (now Portland, Maine).  I have traced the Armstrong family back to the early 1700's, but have hit a road block and I am hoping that there are some other distant relatives which will may have some information which can help me break through.

However, in the meantime, I have been researching Betsey Woodbury Dyer Armstrong's family.  I have multiple post on Betsey Woodbury Dyer Armstrong including:  Betsey Armstrong Probate Mystery, Armstrong Family Land Division - 1897, The Armstrongs and Woodburys of Cape Elizabeth.   

Betsey Woodbury was born Nov 16 1787.  Her parents were Israel Woodbury and Anna White Woodbury.  She married her first husband, William Dyer, Sept 27, 1804.  She was only 16.  They had at least three children:  Woodbury, Benjamin and William Dyer.  Her husband, William, died sometime between 1813-1817.  On Nov 1, 1817, she married her second husband, John Armstrong.  They had at least eight children:  Simon, Mary, Eben, Lucy, John B, Israel, Arthur and George.

Betsey had at least 9 siblings:  Hugh, Jane, Lucy, William, Christina, Jonas, Israel, John and Anna.  I will be making more blog posts on Betsey's mother family as they have some historical significance and some very interesting stories.

Today's post is about Betsey's brother, Captain William White Woodbury.  He died April 29, 1861.

Those of you who have researched in Maine, you know how rare it is to find any significant obituaries prior to 1900.  It is typical to find a death notice that says little more than the name and date of someone who has died.  So I was very excited to uncover such an information rich obituary for Captain Woodbury.  

I have transcribed it below:

Woodbury, William, Portland, April 29 at 90.  He arose on Monday morning at his usual hour and partly dressed himself; in two hours after, he was dead.  Capt. Woodbury was a descendant of John Woodbury, one of the Cape Ann company, who went to that place with Roger Conant in 1624; he afterwards settled in Beverly, Mass., from which the immediate ancestor of our deceased friend, Joshua Woodbury, came to Falmouth in 1727, and settled at Cape Elizabeth.  The parents of the deceased were Israel Woodbury and Ann, dau. of William, and dau. of Rev. John White of Gloucester, Cape Ann.  He was born on the old White farm near Simonton's Cove, at Cape Elizabeth, Oct. 2, 1772 (Maine records show DOB as Aug 4, 1772).  The Whites were ancient settlers at Cape Elizabeth; they occupied farms there previous to the Indian war, in which one was killed, and their land descended from their family to present day.  Capt Woodbury was long a successful shipmaster; afterward, he engaged in commercial pursuits on shore; was a prime mover in establishing the Marine Railway, incorporated in 1826;  he conducted it near thirty years, until it closed its affairs.  He was many years President of the Marine Society, and twenty-seven years President of the Merchants Bank of Portland, holding the office at the time of his death, and having been a Director from its incorporation in 1825.  He married in 1798 (Maine records show Nov 17, 1797), Mary, dau. of Capt William Hoole, who went to Portland from Boston just previous to the Revolution, which whom he has happily lived more than sixty-three years, and by whom he leaves one son and five daughters.  She survives to lament her faithful and long-cherished companion.  Capt W. was a man of most determined will, of sound judgement, of great discernment, and inflexible integrity. 

One of the great benefits of this obituary for my research was that I was trying to confirm that Betsey's mother Anna or Ann White was related to Rev John White of Gloucester.  This obituary was able to confirm this for me.  In addition, since the obituary was written at the time of his death, that I can have a high level of confidence in its accuracy.

The fact that I can confirm my lineage to Rev John White opens up some very interesting genealogy. More on that to come in future posts.

Obituary Source:New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol 15 (1861) pg 287

Armstrong Family Land Division - 1897

My recent trip to Portland, Maine paid additional dividends.  I was able to go to the Portland courthouse which holds the land records for Cumberland County, Maine.  I wish I could have spent more time there, but I was able to obtain records of how John Armstrong and Betsey Woodbury Dyer Armstrong's family land was divided and distributed.


Family lore indicates that land was granted to the Armstrong family in 1757 for South Portland, which is now Cape Elizabeth, Maine.  This land had been kept in the family for well over 100 years.  There are records that indicate additional land grants which go back even further, but that will be the subject for a future post.


John Armstrong (Born:  Feb 24, 1782) died in 1838, leaving his land and apparently his entire estate to his wife. Betsey Woodbury Dyer Armstrong.


Prior to marrying Betsey, John Armstrong has been married to Rhoda Miller.  John and Rhoda appear to have had three children:  Simon, William and Mary Armstrong.  Both Simon and William died in their 20's.  Rhoda Miller Armstrong died fairly young in 1816.


John Armstrong remarried about a year later in 1817 to Betsey Woodbury Dyer.  Betsey was a widow.  She had at least three children from her first marriage with William Dyer including:  Woodbury Dyer, William Dyer and Benjamin Dyer.


John and Betsey had at least 6 children together including:  Eben, Lucy, John B, Israel, Arthur B and George P Armstrong.


Betsey died on April 21, 1876 at the age of 88.  The disposition of her estate took a long time and was finally resolved in 1897.


The Armstrong family land holding appeared to be about 475 acres which was divided into 8 equal sized lots for the following heirs:

1. John B. Armstrong (He received one lot as well as the existing house and barn)
2. Lucy Armstrong Walton (Lucy Armstrong married William Walton)
3. Mark W & Henry B Walton (Lucy and William Walton's sons)
4. Mary L. Armstrong
5. Benjamin Dyer (Benjamin was Betsey's son from her marriage to William Dyer)
6. Mary Strout (Not sure if this is Eben Armstrong's wife who has remarried)
7. Arthur Armstrong's heirs (I don't have an exact date of death, but it appears that Arthur Armstrong died prior to disposition of his mother's estate ***Update****  Arthur B. Armstrong died in San Francisco, CA Nov 18, 1893)
8. Joseph W. Armstrong (Joseph is Israel Armstrong's oldest son)

Each lot was approximately 135ft of frontage on Shore Road and the lot went back approx. 19,000 ft.   These were very long thin lots.  Each division was roughly 60 acres.

The Armstrong family house at 905 Shore Road is still there today.

Tombstone Tuesday - The Armstrongs and Woodburys of Cape Elizabeth, Maine

I live in Florida, but was recently visiting New England to visit family.  I was lucky enough to spend a few hours in Portland and Cape Elizabeth, Maine (the long-time home of many of my Armstrong and Woodbury ancestors).

I had contacted Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in S. Portland, before my visit.  The caretaker was able to direct me to many of the graves of my ancestors.  Here are the ones I was able to capture.

John Armstrong (24 Feb 1787 - 27 May 1838) - Revolutionary War Veteran (my 3rd great-grandfather)

Betsey Woodbury Armstrong (16 Nov 1787 - 21 Apr 1876) - John's wife

John B. Armstrong (My 2nd great-grandfather), Jennie Campbell Armstrong and Clarence W. Armstrong

Robert E. Armstrong (My great-grandfather), Elizabeth M. Fuller Armstrong

Hugh Woodbury (My 5th great-grandfather) and his wife Jane Green Woodbury

I recently joined BillionGraves.  They have a goal of capturing gravestones for over a Billion graves all over the world.  This month they have a contest for those people who capture 1,000 or more gravestones using their iPhone app by August 31st get a BillionGraves T-shirt.  I am up for the challenge and think I can do it.

Check out their website for more details.  I am a big believer in having all tombstones available online.