Gen. John Armstrong and Rebecca Lyon
Husband Gen. John Armstrong 1 2 3
AKA: Col. John Armstrong 4 5 Born: 1720 - the north of Ireland Christened: Died: 9 Mar 1795 1 4 Buried: - Carlisle, Cumberland Co, PA
Father: [Father] Armstrong ( - ) Mother:
Marriage:
• Biographical Sketch: Alfred Nevin, D.D., LL.D., Men of Mark of the Cumberland Valley, Pa. 1776-1876 (Philadelphia, PA: Fulton Publishing Co., 1876), Pg 75.
To read a brief biographical sketch of his life and career, click here.
Wife Rebecca Lyon 6
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: William Lyon ( - ) 5 7 Mother:
Children
1 M Dr. James Armstrong 4 8
Born: 1749 - Carlisle, Cumberland Co, PA 9 Christened: Died: 1828 4 10 Buried: - Carlisle, Cumberland Co, PASpouse: Mary Stevenson ( - ) 11 Marr: Abt 1789
2 M Gen. John Armstrong, Jr. 2 4 12
Born: 27 Nov 1758 - Carlisle, Cumberland Co, PA 2 4 13 Christened: Died: 1 Apr 1843 - Red Hook, Dutchess Co, NY 10 Buried: - Rhinebeck Cemetery, Rhinebeck, Dutchess Co, NYSpouse: Alida Livingston (1761-1822) Marr: 1789 13
3 F Alice Armstrong 14 15 16 17
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: William Lyon (1729-1809) 1 7 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Marr: 1756 15 17
General Notes: Husband - Gen. John Armstrong
He was a prominent and patriotic Pennsylvanian of provincial and revolutionary times.
With two brothers and a sister he emigrated from the north of Ireland, and settled at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, about 1748.
Once deputy surveyor of Cumberland County and the leader of the expedition against Kittanning. His land was on Aughwick, below Fort Shirley [Huntington County].
He was born in the north of Ireland in 1725, and some time between 1745 and 1748 he became a settler in the Kittatinny Valley, west of the Susquehanna river, then the frontier of Pennsylvania and on the confines of civilization. He was well educated, and followed his profession of surveyor in his new-world home. In 1750 he and a Mr. Lyon laid out Carlisle, and four years later he was sent by Gov. Morris as a commissioner to Connecticut in regard to a land trouble between the Indians and Connecticut settlers in Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania. In 1755 Mr. Armstrong surveyed and opened a road from Carlisle to the "Three Forks" of the Youghiogheny river, over which supplies were to be carried to Braddock's army. After Braddock's defeat he enlisted as a private in a frontier company, but in January, 1756, was elected captain, and on May 11th of the same year was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. In the summer of 1756 he comanded the expedition against the Indian village of Kittanning, which made his name famous for all time to come in American history. In 1757 he served on the frontier, was commissioned colonel on May 27, 1758, and commanded the advanced division of the Pennsylvania troops in Forbes' expedition against Ft. Duquesne. He was a tower of strength on the frontier during Pontiac's war, and on the 30th of September, 1763, led a very successful expedition against the Indian towns on the west branch of the Susquehanna. He was the first brigadier-general commissioned (March 1, 1776) by the Continental Congress. He served at Ft. Moultrie, in Charleston harbor, and on April 5, 1777, was commissioned major-general by the Supreme Council of Pennsylvania. He commanded the Pennsylvania Militia at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. He was sent to Congress in 1778, and again in 1787. His public career closed with his last term in Congress, and he spent the remainder of his life at Carlisle. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, and was largely instrumental in establishing the first church which was organized at Carlisle, in 1757.
He was the central figure in every early movement of a general nature in Cumberland County. In civil, judicial, educational and religious affairs, he was always the leader. His judgment was remarkably good, and not only the County and State officers, but the United States government, and General Washington in particular, were accustomed to ask and rely upon his opinions on all public matters within his observation. His style, as shown in his numerous letters through all the Colonial Records and Archives, was very peculiar but forcible and original, his views were independent and comprehensive, his Christian faith sincere and Scriptural, and his social intercourse a little stern, but on the whole refined and delicate. In 1778 he was elected by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania a member of Congress for 1779 and 1780. He was again elected for the same office for 1787-8, when his public career closed. His death, however, did not take place until March 9th, 1795, at Carlisle. His remains lie entombed in the old Cemetery, in Carlisle, as yet [1879] without a suitable monument. A sketch of his life may be found in Nevins' "Men of Mark in Cumberland Valley," and in the Pa. Mag. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I., pp 183 7. [HCC 1879, 91]
1 Editor, History of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys (Philadelphia, PA: Everts, Peck & Richards, 1886), Pg 760.
2 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: John M. Gresham & Co., 1891), Pg 338.
3 Alfred Nevin, D.D., LL.D., Men of Mark of the Cumberland Valley, Pa. 1776-1876 (Philadelphia, PA: Fulton Publishing Co., 1876), Pg 75.
4 J. Simpson Africa, The History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1883), Pg 19.
5 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 12.
6 William Henry Egle, M.D., M.A., Pennsylvania Genealogies; Chiefly Scotch-Irish and German (Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Co., 1896), Pg 383.
7 Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vols. III & IV (New York, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1918), Pg 869.
8 Conway P. Wing, D.D., History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations (Philadelphia, PA: James D. Scott, 1879), Pg 99, 160, 185.
9 Conway P. Wing, D.D., History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations (Philadelphia, PA: James D. Scott, 1879), Pg 185.
10 Conway P. Wing, D.D., History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations (Philadelphia, PA: James D. Scott, 1879), Pg 186.
11 Conway P. Wing, D.D., History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations (Philadelphia, PA: James D. Scott, 1879), Pg 160, 185.
12 Conway P. Wing, D.D., History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations (Philadelphia, PA: James D. Scott, 1879), Pg 99, 186.
13 Conway P. Wing, D.D., History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations (Philadelphia, PA: James D. Scott, 1879), Pg 99.
14 William Henry Egle, M.D., M.A., Pennsylvania Genealogies; Chiefly Scotch-Irish and German (Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Co., 1896), Pg 385.
15 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 79.
16 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania (New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1911), Pg 900.
17 Editor, Memoirs of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Vol. II (Madison, WI: Northwestern Historical Assosciation, 1904), Pg 292.
18 Editor, History of Indiana County, Pennsylvania (Newark, OH: J. A. Caldwell, 1880), Pg 378.
19 Editor, History of Erie County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner, Beers & Co., 1884), Pg 922.
20 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 13.
21 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 78.
22
Blanche T. Hartman, Genealogy of the Nesbit, Ross, Porter, Taggart Families of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, PA: Privately printed, 1929), Pg 18.
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