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The Armstrong history in West Florida as we know it dates back to the 1860s. At that time our family group consisted of Margaret (Armstrong) Wilson and her four siblings Jefferson Benjamin Armstrong, Sophrouia Susan Armstrong, Frances(Fannie)Armstrong and James Albert Armstrong.
Margaret (Armstrong) Wilson born about 1825 in Georgia is said to have died April 20, 1883 and to have come to Quincy, Fl from South Carolina. Her nickname was Winnie. Her granddaughter was named Winifred, so perhaps Winifred was her middle name. Some of our information comes from Andy Wilson in Quincy and our Wilson family is likely connected with his family. We don’t know anything on Margaret’s Armstrong husband but all their children were born in Alabama.
Jefferson Benjamin Armstrong was born June 2, 1846 in Alabama and died Jan. 14, 1911 in Marysville, Fl Cahhoun Co. He Mustered in the CSA at Rico Bluff in Liberty Co. Fl on Oct. 30 1863 as Pvt, Co B 5th Bn, Fla Cav. He was paroled at Tallahassee Jun 12, 1865. He married Margaret Nall on July 24 1866 and settled in Marysville Fl across the river from his brother and mother at Estiffanolga Fl in Liberty Co. He was a farmer and ran a little store there. He was listed as Calhoun Co. sheriff in August 1876. Jefferson and Margaret had eleven children. William James, Mary , Cornelia Elizabeth, Ida Ramoth, Catherine Victoria, Lula Greene, Nora E., Sara Ann, Loranzo S., Margie D. and Charlie Jefferson. Margaret died in 1900 and Jefferson remarried Mary Richards and had one more son J.B. Armstrong. Jefferson applied for and received a confederate pension. His pension application lists Butler Co. Alabama as his birth place. Mary applied for and was denied a widows pension. Jefferson, Margaret and Mary are buried at the Shiloh Cemetery in Marysville. Jefferson’s oldest son William married a Stanfield, Regina and they lived in Calhoun Co. they had five children Ethel, Anna, Irene and Selma. William was county commissioner and supervisor of elections in Calhoun Co. and lived there until his 90’s. He is buried in Pine Memorial Cemetery.
Sophrouia Susan Armstrong born about 1854 in Alabama married William H Neel on Dec. 26, 1866. William served with the CSA 2nd Cav Co. A. William was postmaster at Orange, Fl from 1882 to 1886 and in Bristol, Fl 1886 to 1889. He also owned orange groves, was sheriff and bought and sold a lot of property in the county. He and Sophrouia are listed on many pages in the deed record books of the day. William was a descendant of James T. Neel son of William Neel who received a large land grant in Georgia for his Revolutionary War participation. Sophrouia and William later moved to Apalachicola in Franklin County and died there. They had five children that we know of. They were Seanie, Susan, Daniel, William and Clara.
Frances Armstrong born about 1849 in Alabama married Seaborn(Cebe) Tate on Jan. 5, 1871. They had two children that we know of, Ella Tate and Sophrouia Tate. They are shown in the 1880 Census living in the Abe Springs area in Calhoun Co. Seaborn died about 1892. It is believed that he is the Tate of “Tates Hell� fame. After Seaborn died Frances married a Prather. Frances ran a hotel in Bristol Fl.
James Albert Armstrong was born April 15, 1845 and died March 31,1881. He is buried at the old home place in Estiffanolga Fl Liberty Co. He apparently died at 36 because of an appendicitis. James married Elizabeth Shelfer in Nov. 30, 1866. Her father was believed to have been Hardy A. Shelfer of Gadsden Co. James was Postmaster at Rico Bluff from 1868 to 1874. The family ran a store and post office at the steamboat landing at Estiffanolga Fl. On the 1870 Census he is listed as living in Liberty Co. (census p. 730). His mother-in-law Elizabeth Herndon age 55 is listed as being from North Carolina is living next door and next door to her was his mother Margaret Wilson age 45 listed as born in Georgia. Next to her is William Neel and Sara. This William is believed to be a brother of the William H Neel who married Sophrouia S. Armstrong.
James was a farmer, he raised bees for tupilo honey, raised some cattle and did some trapping. James and Elizabeth had four Children. Jenny L Armstrong was born Nov 28, 1867 died Mar. 24 1933. John Rufas Armstrong was born Sept. 25, 1868 and died Dec. 11, 1956. Robert Edward Armstrong was born Aug 9, 1871 and died Mar. 21, 1936. Fannie Armstrong was born in Jan 23, 1878 and died April 24,1953. James’ wife Elizabeth Shelfer Armstrong was born on Nov.3, 1846 and died Jan. 6, 1924. She is buried beside James at the family plot. James and Elizabeths Children are outlined next.
Jenny L. Armstrong never married. She was postmistress at Estiffanolga from 1909 to 1933 when she died. She ran a store and Post Office at the landing where the steamboats stopped. When the steamboat business waned they moved the store and Post Office back off the river to beside the homeplace which was on what is currently CR-333. Jenny is buried there at the family plot.
Robert Edward Armstrong married Sara Vickery. They didn’t have any children but raised two boys, whom each of their mothers had died. Cleveland Dissen Armstrong(his father was a stiller for Bob) and Sara’s nephew Willard Vickery. Robert ran steamboats on the river for a number of years and later entered the turpentine industry. He had several stills in Liberty Co. and later moved the operations to Nassau Co.
Winifred Frances(Fanny) Armstrong married Jessie McDaniel. They lived on a farm close to Wewahichka in Gulf Co. After a few months of marriage, he developed a very bad toothache. It became abscessed and since there was no dentist around he had to go to Thomasville Ga. When they pulled the tooth the infection spread all over his body and he never returned home alive. He died in Oct. 1885 and is buried in Hugh Creek Cemetery south of Blountstown in Calhoun Co. After his death, Fannie and her daughter Jessie Lee McDaniel moved back across the river to live with her mother and family, Fanny never remarried. Her Daughter Jessie Lee married A.L. Summers who’s family lived just a couple miles south of ours. They had six children, Iona, Elnita, A.L. Jr, Joyce, Lester and Gordon. Iona Summers Eubanks, Lester Summers and Joyce Summers Hosford still live in the general area today and have been very helpful in our family history search. Lester Summers still owns the old homeplace.
John Rufas Armstrong married Mary Elizabeth Stanfill. Her father was Dr. James Stanfill a CSA Vet, state senator, medical doctor and Methodist minister. The Stanfill’s lived on the Calhoun Co. side near Lake Iamonia. John was a farmer, trapper and a beekeeper. My aunt Eunice tells me he always had traps in the Apalachicola River swamp and his smoke house was always covered with hides.
Johns home was in Calhoun Co. just across the river from his father. Mary Elizabeth died in March of 1900. She and John had three children James Albert Armstrong, Gertrude Armstrong and Roberty Henry Armstrong . Roberty died 12/31/1899 at only two months Elizabeth died 26 days later. After Mary Elizabeth died, James(Jim) and Gertrude were raised at the old home place by their grandmother Elizabeth Armstrong and aunts Jenny and Fanny. Gertrude later became a nurse and worked at Chattahochee Hospital for years she married Lonnie Parker. They had no Children. James(Jim) married twice. He married Lois Weaver and they had a son James Roland but Lois died when he was an infant and he was raised by the Weaver grandparents. James(Jim) then married Lucy Bell Parrish of Sumatra Fl. Her father was John Jefferson Parrish. James and Lucy Bell later moved to Nassau Co. Fl to help his uncle Bob in his operations there. Jim and Lucy had eleven children Eunice, Clarence, Howard, Fred, Edward, Edna, Elizabeth, Florine, James, Richard and Joyce. John Rufas married four more times after Mary Elizabeths death but had no more children until his fifth wife, Thelma (Bamer) Tifton Reddick. They had a son Raymond Earl Armstrong. John Rufas died at his son Jim’s place in Nassau Co. and is buried there at Oakwood Cemetary.
The Summers and others have related some interesting stories about my early family in Estiffanolga. Lester Summers tells me that Uncle John used to tell stories on the front porch after dinner and of course save all the scary ones till last when they had to walk back down to their house a couple miles in the dark. One particular story was one about a panther and how you had to shed clothes as you ran to keep the panther busy so you could escape. One evening after this story Lester and his brother did hear a mighty squall in the woods on the way home. They just knew that panther was after them and they ran, as they never had. Addie Summers one of Lester, Joyce and Iona’s cousins remembers Aunt Fanny had the first kerosene powered refrigerators in their area and she would make them Jell-O a rare treat! Iona tells me she remembers the steamboat the Callahan, sounding the whistle as she made the bend in the river. That signaled the community to rush to the landing if you wanted ice for your icebox. This ice was stored in sawdust to help keep it from melting. Her father would run the horse and buggy to the landing and stop the rig just before it tumbled in the river scaring the dickens out of her. She also remembers the families bringing their corn to the Johnson mill to be ground in to meal and grits. There are so many wonderful families and wonderful stories to record. Anyone with information on the early Armstrong family is asked to contact Tim Armstrong at Ttimjx@Aol.com
Page created 07/22/03
By Cheryl Barfield Raffield
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RNT Family History