Military Monday: John B Armstrong, Civil War Veteran or Not?

I am unsure any of ancestors fought in the Civil War.  Which seems strange, since many of my ancestors resided in the United States during the war.  I have uncovered evidence that two of my relatives took part in the Civil War Battle of Portland, Maine which I blogged about in a previous post.  I don't believe either of those relatives were active military.

However, I have reason to believe that my 2nd great grandfather, John B. Armstrong, was a veteran of the Civil War.  While researching some cemetery records, I found the plot record for the Armstrong gravesite in S. Portland, Maine.  The plot record indicated that John B. Armstrong was a Civil War veteran.  This notation was probably useful when they put out flags for memorial day and/or veteran's day.

The only problem is that when I have conducted research on John B. Armstrong's participation serving in the Union Army in the Civil War, I wasn't coming up with any records which show in what capacity he served in the war.

Recently, I found a record on familysearch.org  of Maine, Veterans Cemetery Records, 1676-1918
for John H. Armstrong with the same  date of death and in the same Armstrong plot as my ancestor.  This looked promising and it was understandable that the person who created the record may have made an error on this cemetery record between John B and John H Armstrong.

What was exciting was the record showed that John H. Armstrong had served in the Maine 7th infantry regiment, company G.  Enlistment date was listed as August 21, 1861.  He had entered as a private and was discharged as a sergeant.

So there you go.  John B. Armstrong, Civil War veteran.

The thing is that I didn't stop there.  I could have been satisfied to know that my ancestor was a veteran, but I went on to research the regiment to see if what I could find about their history of battles.  Also, I looked for more Civil War records that might show my ancestors role and involvement in the war.

Maine has such a wealth of genealogical records online, but they haven't made the Civil War records searchable, but I did find the records on familysearch.org.  The military records are under the Maine, State Archive Collections, 1718-1957.  Once you are under the archive collection, don't look at the individual Maine county records.  The civil war records AREN'T there.  They are under the first option "Maine".  Click on Maine and you will be able to select Military Records-Civil War.  From there you can browse records by the different Maine regiments and companies.

You have to review them one by one to find the records you are looking for.  Luckily, I knew the regiment and company and date of enlistment...so that should make it easy to find the records I was looking for.  

Which caused a problem.  I found the Enlistment Rolls, which includes the new recruits.  There is no listing for a John B Armstrong from Cape Elizabeth, Maine, but there is a John H. Armstrong from Portland, Maine.  Other records for John H. Armstrong for this regiment and company indicated he was born in 1838...my ancestor was born in 1822.  The discrepancies were adding up.   I suspect that there really was a John H. Armstrong and my ancestor was getting confused with his military records.

The last indicator that lead me to this conclusion was the US, Civil War Draft Registration, 1863-1865 on Ancestry.com.  The draft record indicated John B Armstrong of Cape Elizabeth, Maine eligible to be drafted in June 1863.  Seems very unlikely that an active military personnel would be listed as eligible to be drafted.

Did my ancestor, John B. Armstrong, serve in the Civil War?  I still don't know, but I feel confident it wasn't with the Maine 7th Infantry.

My search continues......

Mystery Monday - The Arrival of David and Mary Fuller to Portland, Maine

When we think about immigration to the east coast of the United States, our first thought is Ellis Island.  This was the first stop for many of my relatives on their American journey.  If you are from Irish descent, then perhaps your ancestors first arrived in Boston.  Many would be surprised to know that immigrants arrived to many of the other ports on the Atlantic coast, just not in the numbers that we associate with Ellis Island and Boston.

My 3rd great grandparents, David and Mary Fuller immigrated to Portland, Maine from Nova Scotia.  I have been looking for any record of David and Mary Fuller arriving in Portland, Maine for a long time.  Those of you who have been following my blog, will know that David and Mary Fuller lived in Horton, Nova Scotia.  They were married Sept 10, 1812.  Together they had at least 11 children:  Lavinia, Rebecca, Sephrona, Matilda, Martha, David Bishop, Benjamin, James, Theodore, Andrew and Collingwood.

The oldest children (the daughters) are all recorded as their children in the Horton Township Book.  However, the book is incomplete and doesn't include any of their younger children (the sons).

The sons all moved to Portland, Maine and the daughters stayed in Canada (at least for a while).  This created a challenge of proving that the David and Mary Fuller who are the parents of the sons were the same David and Mary Fuller who was the parents of the daughters.  In my previous post, Can a Published Genealogy be Wrong?, I outline my proof for David and Mary (Cary) Fuller being the parents of all eleven children.  

There are a few records which I would like to have found which had escaped me and now I have found one of them.

David and Mary Fuller show up in the Canadian census records of 1838 as living in Horton, Nova Scotia.  They do not appear in the US Census records from 1840.  They do appear in the US Census records as living in Portland, Maine with their sons:  James, Theodore, Andrew and Collingwood.   This had lead me to believe that David and Mary had arrived in Portland sometime between 1840-1849.

But how to prove it.  I had assumed that their were no immigration records of ships arriving with forein passengers to the port of Portland at that time.  I was wrong.  I found that the LDS Church (Mormons) had microfilmed records of arrivals at Atlantic ports including Portland during this time period.  If you are interested in this information check out the following records for FamilySearch.org :  

Copies of lists of passengers arriving at miscellaneous ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and at ports on the Great Lakes, 1820-1873 : NARA RG36 M575.

There is no index to these immigration records, so you do have to look through each passenger list to find your relatives. 

It was here that I found David Fuller and Mary Fuller arriving on the British Schooner Harmony on August 1, 1849.   It showed that they were citizens of Nova Scotia and had left from Windsor, Nova Scotia (about 15 miles from Horton, NS).  Interestingly, I have various records which indicate that several of their sons may have arrived prior to David and Mary.  So instead of the parents paving the way for their sons, they may have followed their sons.  

I have read in other publications that in the early to mid 1800's that the Nova Scotian economy had hit on hard times and there was an exodus of people to the US at that time.  So it isn't surprising that young men moved to the US to seek their fortunes.

While I was very pleased to find the record of David and Mary's arrival in Portland, Maine it isn't surprising that there is something in the record which doesn't match what I expected.  In this case, the record lists David's age as 50 and Mary's age as 45.  Where David's age should have been 68 and Mary's 58.  I don't think it is that unusual for the harbormaster to be inaccurate in the ages they recorded or the immigrants to misinform the person recording information.  I have seen this a lot in my genealogy research.

Surprisingly, David and Mary arrived without any of their children, so I will keep looking through these records to see if I can find arrivals of the sons separately.

The only records I have yet to uncover are birth records for any of the sons in Nova Scotia and a death record for David Fuller.  Mary Fuller died in Portland in Sept 16, 1873.  She died as a widow.  There is no records of David Fuller after 1858 in Portland.  I have speculated that he returned to Nova Scotia at some point and died while there, but have been unable to find any death records in Maine or Canada.

One more mystery solved.  So many more to go.

Mystery Monday - Betsey Armstrong Probate Mystery

My great aunt has written up a short history of the Armstrong family.  One of the more interesting items was that she stated that the Armstrong's had received their original land grant in Cape Elizabeth, Maine from the King of France back in 1747.  She stated that she had seen the original land grant document, but it was destroyed by accident in a fire.

It is likely that the land grant was issued by the King of England as Maine was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1747.  This is prior to the colonies winning their independence from England, which would mean all deeds would have stated that they were grants issued in the name of the King of England.  At this time the King of England used a title which stated he was King of England, Scotland, Ireland and France.  So I could see where some confusion may have occurred.

Another mystery has been the fact that my 3rd great grandmother, Betsey Woodbury Armstrong died April 26, 1876, but the Will land division wasn't executed until 1897.  The explanation for the long period between her death and resolution of her estate was blamed on the fact that the Will needed to be probated in England for some reason.   This is what I have been told as the reason why it took over 20 years to complete probate.

I recently found Betsey's Will which was proved November 7, 1877, which appears to shed some light on this family mystery.

Betsey Armstrong's Will states the following:

First:  I give and bequeath all my property real-or-estate or personal, to my son George P. Armstrong, in order that its income may be applied by the means below named, that may be used for his subsistence and comfort which on account of his infirmities of body and mind, I fear cannot be well provided for by his own labor.

Second:  My will is that upon the death of said George, what then remains of my property shall be distributed among my own legal heirs and Mary Sawyer of Chelsea, Massachusetts, if said Mary is then living, giving said Mary a distributed share equal to that of my heirs in the nearest degree of kindred.

Thirdly:  I hereby institute and appoint Ebenezer (Eben) Armstrong of Portland and Israel Armstrong of Cape Elizabeth, who are my sons, (and in case of their non-acceptance, death, resignation or incapacity to hold and exercise the trust, then my other sons, John and Arthur or such kind and discreet persons as the Judge of Probate may appoint if said John and Arthur do not act) Executors of this my last Will and Testament and appoint them as trustee to hold, manage, or invest said property or estate, during the life of said, George, for his benefit and to apply its income for his subsistence and comfort in the manner most likely to be for his permanent advantage, and if said income is not sufficient for subsistence and comfort to spend the principal part of said property as may be prudent for his comfort and benefit.

As you can see above, Betsey Armstrong's Will is predominantly focused on providing for the support of George P Armstrong.  My research has uncovered that it appears that George had some form of mental retardation.  He must have not had the capacity to take care of himself and his mother was very concerned what would happen to him after her death.  Betsey died in 1876 and it appears that George continued to live in the family home with his brother, John B Armstrong (according to the 1880 US Census).

George P. Armstrong died September 16, 1884.  He was only 51 years old.

I have to say from reading the Betsey's Will it isn't entirely clear how her estate should be distributed.  It seems reasonable to imply that there should be an equal distribution of the assets to all of her children, plus an equal share to Mary Sawyer (Israel Armstrong's wife).  So there may have been some questions about how it should be executed.   This would be something the named executors would need to work out.  Eben and Israel were named executors.  However, Eben died March 18, 1884 and Israel had moved with his family to Salem, NH.  Salem is about 90 miles from Portland, Maine.  What today is only an 1 hour and 30 minute drive probably would have taken at least a whole days travel in the 1880s.  At that time there were no cars and no highways.  This may have impacted his ability to act as  executor.   His wife, Mary Sawyer Armstrong, had passed away in 1875.  

My 2nd great grandfather, John B Armstrong, became the executor of the estate.

It is important to note that Betsey Woodbury Armstrong had been married prior to her marriage to John Armstrong.  She had been married to William Dyer.  Together they had at least three children:  Woodbury Dryer, Benjamin and William.  Only Benjamin was still alive in 1884.  Benjamin is not mentioned in the Will, but he is one of Betsey's sons and may have contested the Will if the executors may have been reluctant to provide him an equal share.  Also, the land that Betsey references has been in the Armstrong family for over 100 years and none of the land was from the Dyer family. It is almost certain had Betsey's husband, John Armstrong, outlived her, that none of the Dyer children would have been included in distribution of the family lands.

The theory of a contested Will seems to be the most likely reason for the delay in the final distribution of the estate.  The final property distribution took place in 1897 and is the subject of my post "Armstrong Family Land Division - 1897".  

Check out that post for the final details.

When conducting this research around land records and probate records on the Armstrong family, I found an invaluable online resource, the Cumberland County Registry of Deeds Online.  They have records from 1855 to present day, with original records available for viewing online by clicking on the "view images" tab.  If you have relatives who lived in Cumberland County, Maine this is a great source for more information about them and their land transactions and possibly find a copy of their Wills.

Sentimental Sunday - The Untimely Death of Clarence W. Armstrong

One of the reasons I have really dived into my genealogy research is a idea of remembering those that came before me.  Because, really, we owe each of our ancestors a debt to remember them and make their memories live on.


But what about those relatives who never married or never had kids.  In many ways, their memories die with them as there is no direct descendants to keep their memories alive.  


Those of you, who like me, do a lot of your genealogy research on Ancestry.com have probably noticed that relatives who die young or childless are often omitted from family research like they never existed.


This seems to me like a special kind of tragedy.


I will be devoting many future blog posts to those relatives who have few to remember them.  I have already posted about my great uncle, James Kurtz, who died during WWII.  My grandfather named his son, James in memory of his brother.


Clarence W Armstrong was my great grand uncle.  He was son to my paternal great great grandfather, John B. Armstrong.    I don't know very much about Clarence Armstrong except the circumstances of his untimely death.  He was born March 5, 1870 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine and died at the age of 39, September 8, 1909.   He was unmarried.


On the day he died, he had been doing some work at Fort Williams, he was driving a team of horses or mules with supplies for the fort.  He was driving along Commercial street when his horses became frightened by at Grand Truck engine (Grand Trunk was a commercial railroad company) that was passing nearby and started to run.  Clarence leapt from the carriage, probably to escape the runaway horses, but as he leapt his feet became entangled in the reins and he struck the side of the wheel which probably knocked him unconscious.  He was dragged quite a distance and when help reached him he was already dead from a broken neck.

Source: Public Documents of the State of Maine Being the Annual Reports of the Various Departments and Institutions
for the year 1909, Vol III, pg. 248

Clarence W. Armstrong, gone but not forgotten.

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.

Tuesday's Tip - A Love of Obituaries

I still remember my grandmother getting the paper and the first thing she turned to was the obituary page.  She wanted to see if it contained anyone she knew.

I use obituaries in a similar way, to learn more about the family members that I wished I had known.

For my family research, obituaries have been invaluable.  I use a wide variety of documents such as: census records, passenger lists, birth certificates, naturalization records, etc. in my research.  Perhaps none are better than obituaries.

Why do I love obituaries so much?  Nothing seems to connect the dots and help you find missing relatives better than a well written obituary.

Here is a perfect example from my maternal Great-Grandfather, George Gula.

• Date of birth:  March 18, 1889
• Birthplace:  Wolowitz, Austria (This was an amazing hint, since I didn't know where he was born)
• Occupation:  Hempfield Foundry in Greensburg
• Church:  St. John's Byzantine Church (not only do you learn about his faith, but the church could be an additional source of information)
• Children:  This can help you find living children's names, plus the spouses and married names of his daughters.  Also, it tells you where they were living at the time, which can be invaluable when trying to track them down.
• Siblings:  I didn't realize that George had a sister and that she lived in Connecticut.

What a wealth of information!

Where are the best places to look for obituaries?  

I have had a lot of success on Ancestry.com.  However, not by searching in the Ancestry.com "obituary" section.  I search under the "Newspaper & Publications" section. Ancestry.com has a nice selection of newspapers and look for a local newspaper for my ancestor.  I choose a local newspaper (if they have it) and search for my ancestors name or sometimes just surname.  Sometimes, I will use the keyword of “died” or “obituary” to narrow down the results.

When researching my Maine family roots, I have had a lot of luck with GenealogyBank.com to find obituaries.  They have a huge selection of newspapers from every state.  

When I have known exactly when and where my Maine ancestors died, I have turned to the Maine State Library.  They have a service where they will lookup obituaries for you.  The state of Maine State Library has a number of newspapers in their archive from all over the state and for a fee of $5 they will find the obituary or death notice (no charge if they don't find the obituary) for you.  I have had a great experience working with them. Usually, they will email me and let me know if they were able to find the full obituary (which is probably worth the fee) or if it is just a death notice (which may not be). You can use this website to request an obituary from the Maine State Library.

For me, obituaries have been a critical source of information.  They can take a little work to track down, but the hard works usually pays off.

Tales of Sea Serpents

We all know that Sea Serpents don't really exist. Just like we know there are no dragons, no mermaids, and no monsters.  But 120 years ago, things may have been a lot less certain.

It is said that when you are at sea that your mind can play tricks on you…how else can you explain sailors thinking that manatees, so homely they border on being cute, being confused for mermaids.

However, when the men of the schooner Edward Waite of Portland, Maine sailing back from Cardenas, Cuba with a cargo of sugar, spotted something strange in the water...something none of them had ever seen before....it was something they couldn't keep to themselves.

Upon coming into port on February 17, 1884 this is the tale told by the sailor, William Page, which was reported in the New York Times...

"Our voyage from Cardenas to Cape Hatteras was uneventful.  We passed that point on the morning of the 14th, and we were more than half the way to Cape Henry when we sighted a strange disturbance in the ocean.  It was my watch, and there were several men on deck at the time.  We thought at first that it was a whale, but as it did not 'blow' we concluded that it was a large shark, although some of the men who were watching it said that it was too large for a shark.  The thing, whatever it was, came nearer and nearer, as if charging for the vessel, and we began to get a little excited.  We noticed also, as it came within a reasonable distance, that the things head was raised out of the water.  It came nearer and nearer, leaving a long, wide wake behind it, and stirring up the water into foam like the paddles of a river steamer.  It passed the schooner within less than 250 yards, and we had a full view.  We were so much interested that I forgot to call the Captain, who was below asleep, but all of the watch saw the thing as plainly as I can see the schooner in the next dock.  It was a sea serpent and no mistake.  We could only measure its size by the line made in the water, but I should say that it was fully 90 feet long, with a head as large and something like the shape of a horse’s head.  The most remarkable thing about it was the color and size of its eyes.  They were of a bright saffron hue, and half as big as a man's hand.  It held its head above the water all the time we saw it, which was about half an hour, when it passed out of sight in a southerly direction.  We were at the time in latitude 35 degrees 40", and it was a clear day.  We could have not been mistaken."

Here is a link to the full article.

What did they see?  I can't think of anything we know of today which could fit that description.  Is it possible they saw something that has been yet to be rediscovered by marine biologists?  There is still so much we don't know about our oceans.  Or was it the result of too much sun and too much rum which caused some sort of mass delusion?

I can't be sure that my 2nd Great-grandfather, James Henry Fuller, was aboard at the time of the sighting of the Sea Serpent, but when doing my family research I wanted to look into which ships he had served upon.  I am thankful to the help of David Dearborn from the Maine Maritime Museum, who was able to find out for me that James Fuller served as a mate on the Edward Waite during his sailing career.  

I will probably never know for sure, but I can imagine that he was one of the men to see and tell tales of Sea Serpents.

The Civil War Battle of Portland, Maine??

Yes, that isn't a typo.  The confederates actually made it to Maine, which caused quite a stir for those New Englanders who thought they were safely away from the civil war fighting.

In June 1863, Lieutenant C.W. Read commanded a confederate ship named the Archer (a ship he had captured), which marauded off the east coast.  He and his men intercepted American trading vessels and set about burning and scuttling them.  Union forces were put on alert and at one point 40 ships were searching for them.

With Union vessels everywhere scouring the seas for him, Lt. Read decided on the audacious plan of sneaking into Portland harbor to steal a steam powered ship.


In the early morning of June 26, they passed into the port undetected.  They failed in their pursuit of a steam ship, but decided upon the revenue cutter the Caleb Cushing.  The Caleb Cushing was in port due to the recent death of their captain.  As a result, the ship only had a skeleton crew on watch which was easily overcome by the rebel forces.  The Caleb Cushing was a two masted sailing craft.  The rebels were able to exit the harbor without being challenged.

By early morning, the alarm was raised and a group of union forces, including local men, were in hot pursuit.


Two key events worked against Lt. Read and his men being successful in their escape.   First, the fact that shortly after clearing Portland Harbor the wind died down and they were nearly dead in the water.  Second, the fact that in their rush to escape they failed to realize that they had plenty of gunpowder, but almost no ammunition.  Had the wind been with them or they had adequate ammunition they would have almost certainly gotten away.  The Caleb Cushing was armed with a 32lb gun vs. the 2 brass 6 lb guns of the union ships.


It wouldn't have been a fair fight, that is for sure.


Lt. Read and his men abandoned the Caleb Cushing and set it ablaze which culminated in the dramatic explosion of the gun powder stores.  They surrendered and were incarcerated at Fort Preble in Portland.


Two of the union sailors in hot pursuit of the Caleb Cushing were my Great-great-grand uncles, Andrew Hanley Fuller and Collingwood Fuller.  Both sailors served on the Caleb Cushing, but were not aboard at the time it was taken.


Andrew H. Fuller's obituary includes the details of the excitement of this event.  Special thanks to my distant cousin, Marc Brouillette, for providing me a copy of Andrew Fuller's obituary and telling me about the story of Andrew's part in the capture of the confederates that took the Caleb Cushing.


To find more about the historic incident of the taking of the Caleb Cushing, I was able to find a variety of of archived articles from Geneologybank.com and at the Chronicling America Newspaper project from the Library of Congress.


If you find out that your ancestor was involved in a historical event, these resources make a great first stop to find out more first hand knowledge of the event and how it was viewed at that time in history.

The Loves of a Sailor.....James Henry Fuller

It may be true the old saying that a sailor has a girl in every port.

Benjamin C Cromwell Schooner

My Great-Great Grandfather, James Henry Fuller was a sailor living in Portland, Maine.  He was a captain or first mate on commercial ships which sailed from Portland to Boston and New York.  He was born 9/12/1827 in Windsor, Nova Scotia and was a commercial sailor from 1847-1905.  These weren't steam or diesel ships, but the old three masted schooners powered by nothing but sails and wind.


When not at sea, or possibly because of so much time at sea, James Henry Fuller was married 4 or 5 times!!  He married:  Mary Farr, Ellen Downey, Laura Freeman, Margaret Armstrong O'Hagen (she had been married before) and possibly Mary Newcomb.  For Mary Newcomb, the "intention to marry" was filed with the City of Portland, but I can't find an actual marriage record, so they may have called it off before the wedding.


It would appear the James H Fuller liked getting married, but may not have enjoyed being married quite so much.  To be fair to him, diseases that we don't worry much about today like scarlett fever, measles and pneumonia claimed many people at a young age.  It is likely several of his wive's died young and caused him to remarry.


He married his last wife, Margaret Armstrong O'Hagen, when he was 55 years of age (12/31/1882).  It was a good thing he did, because Margaret gave birth to my Great-Grandmother, Elizabeth M Fuller in 1886.  He was 59 and still spent much of his time at sea.  I don't think I would be up to being a father of a newborn at that stage of my life.


Here is a copy of Maine Marriage record of James H Fuller and Margaret Armstrong O'Hagen.


How did I uncover this information about the many marriages of James H Fuller?  The State of Maine has put most of their birth, marriage and death records online.  They are easily accessible on Ancestry.com.  If you aren't a member of Ancestry.com you can also go to Mainegenealogy.net or  Familysearch.org which offers the same state of Maine vital records.


More on the life of James Henry Fuller in future posts.....