A Decade of Uncertainty
Why has it been so long, since you have posted on this blog,?!, you might be asking. I have several good excuses prepared.
1. I have been so busy with grand kids...
2. I am a confirmed procrastinator....
3. I am a little lazy at times....
4. I have been hampered by a bad back....
5. It's all my wife's fault...
6. All of the Above.
I could say "All of the Above" but I am going to lay most of the blame on a bad back. Have you ever had severe lower back pain? If you have you have my sympathy and if you have not, please do your best to take care of your back.
I think my back problem has its origin in my knee replacement surgery and subsequent therapy over a year and a half ago, because it started right after that. Last year was a mess with three rounds of shots and a round of therapy and lots of pain. For now I am doing well and hope to post on a more regular basis. Sever pain not only prevents you from doing things, (as in this instance, prolonged sitting and typing) but it also wears on your mind and prevents you from summoning the energy required to fight through pain to just get up and do anything.
OK, enough of that, let's get down to business....
And back to my poor ancestors whom I have neglected to write about for quite some time. I took two posts off to write about Armistead cousins in Florida, and Simmons Jones Baker, who is a direct ancestor, but is not an Armistead. All good information, I believe, and they are interesting people. But for those of you that are just interested in following the line of Armistead, it has been a long time off topic.
I believe everyone reading this post knows a fair amount about US History during the years between 1850 and 1860. This period of time is covered thoroughly in history class in high school and college. I will hit a few highlights or maybe lowlights to help you remember and get a feel for the times.
This was a turbulent decade that ended up exploding in 1860. Tensions were running high in Washington D.C. over slavery. On Jan 29, 1850, debate was intense in congress over a bill introduced by Henry Clay, known as the Compromise of 1850, and it brought about heated discussions in the Capitol and across the country. Believing that the bill might avert a possible civil war, Senator Daniel Webster endorsed the bill on 7 March 1850. This time compromise didn't exactly work out so well. (1)
Daniel Webster
By Unknown photographer - [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=661518
Henry Clay
By Julian Vannerson or Montgomery P. Simons - http://www.be-hold.com/themes/historical/henry-clay-salt-print/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72047963
America was expanding in size with rapid population growth. Remember the country now stretched from " sea to shining sea". Population growth exploded by nearly 36% from 1840 to 1850 and in 1850 it reached a level of 23,191,876. In July of 1850, President Zachary Taylor, who had just been sworn as president the year before, suddenly died. (2)
Zachary Taylor Mausoleum, Where the President is Buried.
By Bedford at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Igitur using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10816945
Millard Fillmore was sworn in as the 13th president. Hmmm. Unlucky number 13 for Fillmore. He was forced into the middle of this cauldron of burning emotions in the capitol and was not really equipped to handle it. Right off the bat his policies regarding slavery were counter to both the expansionists and the slave-holders. (3)
Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore (13th president of the United States). Image by Mathew B. Brady circa 1855-1865, and forms party of the Library of Congress Brady-Handy photograph collection.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Millard_Fillmore.jpg
In September California was admitted as the 31st state. This action was included as a part of the compromise of 1850. In addition to California becoming a state without slavery, the territories of Utah and new Mexico were created with no decision as to slavery, this allowed the occupants of the territories to decide the matter by their votes, as they organized their territories. Another provision of the compromise strengthened the Fugitive Slave Law, and also ended the slave trade in the District of Columbia. (4)
And this was only the first nine months of the first year!
Meanwhile in Florida, the Armisteads were going about their daily lives. In the 1850 United States Census, William Jordan (53 yrs. old) and Mary Eliza. E. (Baker) Armistead (48) were listed as living in the 4th Division, W. District in the County of Jackson. The space in the column asking for "Occupation," listed "farmer", and the space in the column for "value of Real Estate Owned" was left blank. This puzzles me because I would have thought he owned land or a home or both. Also, in 1840 he had owned slaves. Maybe he just did not want to answer the question or maybe he had a change in fortune over the last decade. The 1850 Census provided for a separate schedule for listing slave names and slave owners. I could not find W.J. Armistead in this schedule, which indicates he no longer owned slaves. I can't say that definitively because it is possible I just did not find the evidence of it.
1850 United States Federal Census
Year: 1850; Census Place: Division 4, Jackson, Florida; Roll: M432_58; Page: 321B; Image: 629
Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Description: This database is an index to individuals enumerated in the 1850 United States Federal Census, the Seventh Census of the United States. Census takers recorded many details including each person's name, age as of the census day, sex, color; birthplace, occupation of males over age fifteen, and more. No relationships were shown between members of a household. Additionally, the names of those listed on the population schedule are linked to actual images of the 1850 Federal Census.
Listed in the 1850 Census with their parents, were seven children still living at home: Ann P., (28), Mary S. (18), Sarah (16), Lawrence (14), Thomas S. (8), Emily B. (6), and Robert S. (2), (My great-grandfather.) Also listed with the family, was Martha Baker (11), probably Marys niece.
So seven children are living at home and four are living elsewhere. I have not been able to locate William Jordan Armistead, Jr. (26). I would guess he was somewhere close by but I have been unsuccessful at locating him in 1850. He will show up again in the next census, however.
Jordan (21) was living in the 3rd Division of Washington County, FL, in a boarding house, house number 127. His occupation was listed as "Clerk." Others staying there included mostly laborers, but there were two mechanics and one engineer. The first two men listed at this house do not show an occupation, so they probably owned the boarding house. They each showed property value of $7,500. Listed birthplaces of the men ranged from Georgia to Ireland, Germany, New York, and Delaware. Jordan's uncle, Simmons Jones Baker Jr., was listed in this same census only eight houses away at house number 119. The house number is the number assigned to a house by the census taker, assigned in order beginning with one, as he moves through his district. With these two houses being only eight houses apart, it suggests they were fairly close to each other. Makes sense that Mary would like having her son living close to her brother. Simmons J. Baker, Jr., was listed at 45 years old, a farmer, and had real estate valued at $10,000. Washington County, where they both lived, was adjacent to Jackson County with a boundary on its east that shared a boundary line with Jackson County, they were not far from Marianna. This was, at the time, a very large county with its southern boundary all the way down on the Andrews Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Through the years it lost land to other counties and is no longer that large. I will be mentioning Andrews Bay again later.
1850 United States Federal Census
Source Citation: Year: 1850; Census Place: Division 3, Washington, Florida; Roll: M432_59; Page: 293B; Image: 564
Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Description: This database is an index to individuals enumerated in the 1850 United States Federal Census, the Seventh Census of the United States. Census takers recorded many details including each person's name, age as of the census day, sex, color; birthplace, occupation of males over age fifteen, and more. No relationships were shown between members of a household. Additionally, the names of those listed on the population schedule are linked to actual images of the 1850 Federal Census.
Another brother living away from home was James Perry Armistead (20). As mentioned before he was not listed at home and like his brother, W.J., I could not locate him in the census. I have a strong feeling he was living in North Carolina when this census was taken, but I have not been able to confirm that. Perhaps he was at school, or he may have been out of school and tutoring somewhere. I will explain more about why I came to this conclusion a little later.
The last brother not living at home was Anthony Armistead (16). Anthony was listed in the 4th Division of Jackson County in the home of Frances R. Ely (38), a merchant who had real estate value of $14,156. Anthony was a clerk and probably was training under John Hughes (25), also living in this home and listed as a clerk. Once again, an uncle was living nearby, James L. G,. Baker (51), a farmer with real estate valued at $6,000. James L. G. Baker and his family lived in a home with Samuel C. Bellamy (40), a physician, (and land owner), who's column for real estate value was blank.
1850 United States Federal Census
Source Citation: Year: 1850; Census Place: Division 4, Jackson, Florida; Roll: M432_58; Page: 316B; Image: 619
Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Description: This database is an index to individuals enumerated in the 1850 United States Federal Census, the Seventh Census of the United States. Census takers recorded many details including each person's name, age as of the census day, sex, color; birthplace, occupation of males over age fifteen, and more. No relationships were shown between members of a household. Additionally, the names of those listed on the population schedule are linked to actual images of the 1850 Federal Census.
Besides the two Baker brothers listed above, Mary had at least two sisters living. One sister, Laura Lucinda (Baker) Saunders, was married and living in North Carolina. Mary's father, Simmons Jones Baker, Sr., (75), as I mentioned in my last post, was living in North Carolina in 1850. He was a farmer in Gates County and had real estate valued at $12,000. You can check online and get an estimate of how much $12,000 would be worth today. As you can imagine, it would be a hefty sum.
Of course there are other important things to report that happened this decade. Major book publications by American publishers included Herman Melville's "Moby Dick", and Nathaniel Hawthorne's "House of Seven Gables", published in 1851. In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin", a major work on slavery, was published. Over 300,000 copies were sold in just it's first few years of publication. The Studebaker Brothers Wagon Company was established in 1852 and was quickly on its way to becoming the wolds largest producer of wagons. My more "mature" readers, like myself, will recognize the Studebaker name from the car industry a few decades ago.
At the close of 1853, the Gadsden Purchase was completed, with the purchase by the US of 29,640 sq miles of land from Mexico for $10 million. Addition of the land to the area that is present day Arizona and New Mexico, finalized our present day borders of the Continental United States. (5)
Gadsden Purchase
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gadsden_Purchase_Cities_ZP.svg
Date: 23 March 2008
Source: Own work
Author: XcepticZP
Franklin Pierce
Portrait of Franklin Pierce (1804–1869) by Mathew Brady, between 1855-1865.The LoC describes this as "Copy neg. from original ink by Brady after Daguerreotype".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Pierce#/media/File:Mathew_Brady_-_Franklin_Pierce_-_alternate_crop.jpg
An inexperienced politician, Pierce's candidacy helps to illustrate how the country was so divided. Pierce was nominated by the Democrats on the 49th ballot! Can you imagine a replay happening next year? His competition included the biggest leaders of the party- Cass, Douglas, Buchanan, Marcy, and Butler. They managed to defeat each other during the nominating process and left Pierce the last man standing. (7)
Stephen A. Douglas
Author: Mathew Brady (1822–1896) Blue pencil.svg wikidata:Q187850 q:pl:Matthew Brady
Brady National Photographic Art Gallery (Washington, D.C.) (1858 - ?), Photographer (NARA record: 1135962)
Record creator: War Department. Office of the Chief Signal Officer.(08/01/1866 - 09/18/1947)
Title : Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, Ill
Date: between circa 1860 and circa 1865
Collection: National Archives at College Park Blue pencil.svg wikidata:Q38945047
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_A._Douglas#/media/File:Hon._Stephen_A._Douglas,_Ill_-_NARA_-_528297.jpg
Nebraska and Kansas
Artist: J. H. Colton (1800–1893)
Title: Nebraska and Kansas.
Description: A beautiful 1855 first edition example of Colton's map of Nebraska and Kansas. This is most probably the rarest and most desirable of all Colton atlas maps. Covers territorial Kansas and Nebraska as well as parts of adjacent Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Utah. .
Date: 1855 (dated)
Dimensions: Height: 13 ″ (33 cm); Width: 16 ″ (40.6 cm)
Accession number: Geographicus link: NebraskaKansas-colton-1855
Source/Photographer: Colton, G. W., Colton's Atlas of the World Illustrating Physical and Political Geography, Vol 1, New York, 1855 (First Edition).
This file was provided to Wikimedia Commons by Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, a specialist dealer in rare maps and other cartography of the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, as part of a cooperation project.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas%E2%80%93Nebraska_Act#/media/File:1855_Colton_Map_of_Kansas_and_Nebraska_(first_edition)_-_Geographicus_-_NebraskaKansas-colton-1855.jpg
A year later, in 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed. The act, proposed by Stephen A. Douglas established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and allowed for "popular sovereignty" to settle the issue of slavery in those territories and not Washington D.C. An unintended consequence of the act was the rise of "Bleeding Kansas" over the next several years. Opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act was so strong that it brought about the formation of the Republican party. The party held its first convention in July of that year. (8)
"Reynolds's Political Map of the United States" (1856)
Description: US map 1856 shows free and slave states and populations; this is "Reynolds's Political Map of the United States" (1856) from Library of Congress collection[1]
Date: 1856
Source: "Reynolds's Political Map of the United States" (1856) from the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division
Author: Reynolds
Permission(Reusing this file): This image is in the public domain due to its age.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reynolds%27s_Political_Map_of_the_United_States_1856.jpg
Image from "Kansas State Board of Agriculture First Biennial Report"
Text of document reads as follows:
The Day of Our Enslavement!! — To-day, September 15, 1855, is the day on which the iniquitous enactment of the illegitimate, illegal and fraudulent Legislature has declared commences the prostration of the right of speech and the curtailment of the liberty of the press. To-day commences an era in Kansas which, unless the sturdy voice of the people, backed, if necessary, by 'strong arms and the sure eye,' shall teach the tyrants who attempt to enthrall us, the lesson which our fathers taught the kingly tyrants of old, shall prostrate us in the dust, and make us the slave of an oligarchy worse than the veriest despotism on earth.To-day commences the operation of a law which declares:'SEC.12, If any free person, by speaking or by writing, assert or maintain that persons have not the right to hold slaves in this Territory, or shall introduce into this Territory, print, publish, write, circulate or cause to be introduced into this Territory, written, printed, published or circulated in this Territory any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet or circular, containing any denial of the right of persons to hold slaves in this Territory, such person shall be deemed guilty of felony and punished by imprisonment at hard labor for a term of not less than two years.'Now we do assert and declare, despite all the bolts and bars of the iniquitous Legislature of Kansas, 'that persons have not the right to hold slaves in this Territory,' and we will emblazon it upon our banner in letters so large and in language so plain that the infatuated invaders who elected the Kansas Legislature, as well as that corrupt and ignorant Legislature itself, may understand it, so that, if they cannot read they may spell it out, and meditate and deliberate upon it; and we hold that the man who fails to utter this self-evident truth, on account of the insolent enactment alluded to, is a poltroon and a slave — worse than the black slaves of our persecutors and oppressors.The Constitution of the United States — the great Magna Carta of American liberties — guarantees to every citizen the liberty of speech and the freedom of the press. And this is the first time in the history of America that a body claiming legislative powers has dared to attempt to wrest them from the people. And it is not only the right, but bounden duty of every freeman to spurn with contempt and trample underfoot any enactment which thus basely violates the rights of freemen. For our part we do, and shall continue to, utter this truth so long as we have the power of utterance, and nothing but the brute force of an overbearing tyranny can prevent us.Will any citizen — any free American — brook the insult of an insolent gag law, the work of a legislature enacted by bullying ruffians who invaded Kansas with arms, and whose drunken revelry and insults to our peaceable, unoffending and comparatively unarmed citizens were a disgrace to manhood, and a burlesque upon popular Republican government? If they do, they are slaves already, and with them freedom is but a mockery.
Description: Image from "Kansas State Board of Agriculture First Biennial Report" (Rand, McNally & Co., Printers and Engravers, Chicago: 1878)
Date: 1855
Source: Kansas State Board of Agriculture First Biennial Report
Author: Rand, McNally & Co., Printers and Engravers, Chicago
This media file is in the public domain in the United States.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Bleeding_Kansas_Poster.jpg
A much lighter note from 1855 brings us a fun fact you can use for a trivia contest. In 1855 the United States Camel Corps was created. The Civil War pretty much ended this experiment and the project was abandoned and the camels were sold at auction.
Also, in 1855, Booker T. Washington was born on April 5th. Born to a slave on a tobacco farm in Franklin County, Virginia, Washington would become one of the foremost black leaders and educator of the 20th Century.
By the time four years had passed and it was time to nominate persons for president in 1856, the Democrats were so disappointed with President Franklin Pierce, they did not even re-nominate him as their candidate. Instead, they nominated James Buchanan. Buchanan would go on to defeat the Republican candidate, the first such candidate under the Republican Party banner, James C. Fremont, and the candidate from the American Know Nothing and Whig parties, previous president, Millard Fillmore. Buchanan's election continued the string of lackluster presidents the country elected in this decade that tried to face the building storm over slavery that faced the American people. (9)
James Buchanan
Description: James Buchanan (cropped from the original image)
Date: photographed between 1850 and 1868, printed later
Source: Library of Congress
Author: From Brady daguerreotype (Mathew Brady) (1822-1896)
Permission(Reusing this file): Work of the federal government or rights expired
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Buchanan#/media/File:James_Buchanan.jpg
Well, I could say the year of 1857 was really up lifting or that it had its ups and downs for in that year the first elevator was installed! It was installed by Elisha Otis in New York City. Like I said, I could say that, but you know I would never stoop so low to get a laugh.....
Minnesota, (1858) and Oregon (1859) were admitted to the Union as the 32nd and 33rd states and the first productive oil well for commercial use was drilled by Edwin L. Drake in Titusville, Pennsylvania. (10)
Somehow I can't escape the dark cloud of inevitability of war that was hanging over the country. As I read history and even study my ancestors it seems there is this backdrop of dread that fills the air. Maybe it is just in my own mind, knowing how the story will unfold. I started to say, "how the story ends", but the "story" has not ended. The division during and after the Civil War continues through even to today and it seems there will never actually be an ending to this chapter in our country. But the decade of the 1850s did end and it ended with these next events bringing us ever closer to the 1860s and the eventuality of war.
In an often cited and rightly maligned decision in 1857, the "US Supreme Court ruled in the "Dredd Scott" decision, 6-3, that a slave did not become free when transported into a free state. It also ruled that slavery could not be banned by the U.S. Congress in a territory, and that blacks were not eligible to be awarded citizenship." (11)
Dredd Scott Portrait
Artist: Louis Schultze (ca.1820, Berlin, Germany – 6 February 1901, St. Louis, Missouri), Obituary
Title: Posthumous Portrait of Dredd Scott
Description: Dred Scott (1795 – 1858), plaintiff in the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) case at the Supreme Court of the United States, commissioned by a "group of Negro citizens" and presented to the Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, in 1888.[1][2]
Date: 1888
Medium: painting
Collection: Missouri History Museum
Notes: This portrait was painted decades after Dredd Scotts death, presumably based on the 1857 daguerreotype.
Source: Photographer Original image New source
Permission(Reusing this file) Image Credit: Digital image ©1998 Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DredScott.jpg
In "Bleeding Kansas", troops were ordered in to try and restore order between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in Dec 1857 and again in June 1858. John Brown was a name that was well known in these territories, and in the country, during this time. (See the painting below of Brown.) Brown was one of the most notorious of the many men fighting and killing over slavery in "Bleeding Kansas". (12)
John Steuart Curry: Tragic Prelude
Artist: John Steuart Curry (1897–1946)
Object type: mural
Description: Curry mural "The Tragic Prelude". Depicted people: John Brown
Date: 1938
Medium: oil and tempera
Collection: Kansas State Capitol
Source/Photographer: United Missouri Bank of Kansas City
Permission(Reusing this file) http://collections.si.edu/search/tag/tagDoc.htm?recordID=npg_225_UMB&hlterm=John%2BSteuart%2BCurry%2BTragic%2BPrelude
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist)#/media/File:THUMBNAIL001L.jpg
In Oct of 1859 John Brown and his men seized the US Armory, located at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, hoping to cause an uprising by slaves. Colonel Robert E. Lee's federal troops stopped them when he killed several of Brown's raiders and captured Brown. John Brown was tried and convicted of treason by the state of Virginia and he was hung on Dec 2, 1859. (13)
Artist: Ole Peter Hansen Balling (1823–1906)
Title: John Brown
Object type painting
Depicted people John Brown
Date: 1872
Medium: oil on canvas
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Source/Photographer: 6wGTA-pgdPr_9w at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist)#/media/File:Ole_Peter_Hansen_Balling_-_John_Brown_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
In the midst of all this the Armisteads (and Bakers) carried on their day to day lives. What do you suppose they were thinking? Were they concerned for their livelihood, indeed, for their very lives?
Just as there were in the other Southern states, there were slaves in Florida, but Florida held the fewest slaves of any state in the South, 31,483. Of that number 4904 slaves were owned and held in Jackson County by 357 of the total of 5,305 white residents that lived in the county. Together the total population of Jackson County was 10,209. Although there was a relatively small number of slaveholders in the county, I expect that jobs, and the economy of the county, still depended on slave labor. So, even though Florida and Jackson County had less slaves than the rest of the country, the gathering tensions, and hostilities affected them just the same.
Local events also kept emotions running high, such as attempts by slaves to escape their bondage on the plantations. A few succeed, but most did not. Some that did escape were able to stay away for a while, and were able to get away from the day to day drudgery, but they usually (if not caught first) would return a few days or weeks later. They probably were jolted, once they escaped, with the realization that attempting to escape to the North from Florida was almost impossible. Escape became even more unlikely of course, after the "Dred Scott" decision of 1857. Slave stealing accounted for some of the slave disappearances as well, according to Dale Cox in his book "The History of Jackson County, Florida: The Civil War Years." Men worked to steal the slaves and then resell them somewhere else. You can check out the detailed accounts of such occurrences in Cox's book.
The slave escapes, and slave stealing, along with rumors of uprisings and rumors of what might happen to whites by escaped or rioting slaves, kept the white population on edge. John Brown's attempt at Harper's Ferry to start a slave uprising, must have contributed to the uncertainty and fear in the county. In 1859 and 1860 two fires occurred in Marianna. At least one (and probably both) of these fires was caused by "an incendiary." Cox's book, mentioned above, includes first hand accounts of the fires and estimated losses ($60,000 to $75,000), and the names of the owners who lost buildings. The second fire occurred in the same location as the first, which prompted the conclusion that these fires were deliberately set, but the perpetrators were not found. This account is in Cox's book as well. (14)
As we move into 1851, I need to mention another sister (half-sister) of Mary E. Armistead. Her name was Elizabeth S. (Baker) Dudley. She was married to William H. Dudley and they lived in Wilmington, NC. I mentioned before that I have reason to believe James Perry was probably already in North Carolina as of at least 1850. I based this on the fact he was not in the 1850 census with his family. James Perry Armistead was living with his aunt and uncle, Elizabeth and William at some point. He may have just missed the census taker in both states. I don't know if he was in school, or tutoring the Dudley's children, but he was definitely there. The reason I know this is because of the entry below under Death Notices in the Fayetteville Weekly Observer, Fayetteville, N.C. newspaper, Tue, Nov 25, 1851:
James Perry Armistead death 1851
Fayetteville Weekly Observer at Newspapers.com.
www.newspapers.com/clip/1984471/james_perry_armistead_death_<br/>1851/?xid=637<br/>
As you can see, James Perry Armistead, died on 16 Nov 1851 in the home of Wm H. Dudley. He was 21. I can not explain to you for certain why he was living there, because I have not tried to research that. Best I can do is to speculate as I did above.
Continuing with this sad theme, I stated earlier to remember Saint Andrews Bay. A note in the Armistead Family Bible states simply, "Jordan Armistead was drowned in the Andrews Bay, Sep. the 23rd, 1851." He turned 23 just 16 days before he died. Again I have no further explanation. Was he down there for fun and drowned in a swimming accident? Or did he change jobs and start working along the Bay? Did he die on a ship, during a storm? Simmons Jones Baker, Sr., mentions his St Andrews Bay Land Company in his will, and divided it's land holdings amongst his children upon his death. Was Jordan working for his grandfather at the time of his accident? So many unanswered questions. So tragic to lose two young sons in the span of only two months.
Letter Nominating Lawrence T. Armistead to Attend West Point.
Source Citation: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; U.S. Military Academy Cadet Application Papers, 1805-1866; Series Number: M688
Source Information: Ancestry.com. U.S. Military and Naval Academies, Cadet Records and Applications, 1800-1908 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
Original data: U.S. Military Academy Cadet Application Papers, 1805-1866; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M688, 1 roll); Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
U.S. Naval Academy Registers of Delinquencies, 1846-1850, 1853-1882, and Academic and Conduct Records of Cadets, 1881-1908, 1846-1908; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M991, 45 rolls); Records of the U.S. Naval Academy, Record Group 405; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Military Academy Registers, 1867-1894; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M2061, 3 rolls); Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Register of Cadet Applications, 1819-67; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M2037, 5 rolls); Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917; Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Register of Cadets, 1803-1866; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M2124, 1 roll); Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984; Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Description: The U.S. Military Academy, also known as West Point or Army, was founded in 1802 in West Point, New York. The U.S. Naval Academy, also known as Annapolis, was established in 1845 and is located in Annapolis, Maryland. This database contains various records from these two schools, including application papers, registers, and conduct records.
In 1853 Lawrence Turner Armistead was nominated to attend West Point. By law, Florida only had one candidate that could be nominated from the state each year. His nomination was approved and in July, a month after his 16th birthday, Lawrence Turner Armistead enrolled in West Point. He joined nine other Armisteads that attended the academy between 1819 and 1860. Take a look at the Armisteads on the list below. Very impressive list of names. It appears, if I am reading the record correctly, (not shown here) that Lawrence graduated in 1857.
List of Cadets, Whose Names Started with "A", that Joined Between 1819-1860.
Source Citation: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Series Number: M688
Source Information: Ancestry.com. U.S. Military and Naval Academies, Cadet Records and Applications, 1800-1908 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
Original data: U.S. Military Academy Cadet Application Papers, 1805-1866; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M688, 1 roll); Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
U.S. Naval Academy Registers of Delinquencies, 1846-1850, 1853-1882, and Academic and Conduct Records of Cadets, 1881-1908, 1846-1908; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M991, 45 rolls); Records of the U.S. Naval Academy, Record Group 405; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Military Academy Registers, 1867-1894; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M2061, 3 rolls); Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Register of Cadet Applications, 1819-67; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M2037, 5 rolls); Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917; Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Register of Cadets, 1803-1866; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M2124, 1 roll); Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984; Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Description: The U.S. Military Academy, also known as West Point or Army, was founded in 1802 in West Point, New York. The U.S. Naval Academy, also known as Annapolis, was established in 1845 and is located in Annapolis, Maryland. This database contains various records from these two schools, including application papers, registers, and conduct records.
Ann Penelope Armistead was the eldest of the Armistead children. She turned 33 in 1855 and in that same year she married widower, George Franklin Baltzell (46). In the 1850 census Baltzell was living in Washington County, FL, with his first wife and five children. They had their sixth child after the census taker came by, so it was not listed in the 1850 census. I'm not sure what he did for a living. The census lists his occupation as "Medical". In the 1860 census he was listed as "Merchant". He owned 10 slaves according to the 1850 Slave Schedule.
Now, as that fateful year of 1860 approaches, we know the family has lost two more children and there are only six children still living at home. By this time the talk of war was certainly rampant in the South. There are many, many topics I would like to discuss. I probably delved a little too deep into the history aspect of this post and that made it pretty long, but you should see how many more things I wanted to include, but left out.
I am going to end this post now and start reflecting on how I want to present the time frame covering the Civil War. I think I will mainly cover how the war affected the Armistead (and Baker, and Baltzell) families, and will not discuss the war itself, or at least, not in detail. Yes, the family was affected a great deal and the 1860s will bring loss, heartache, a battle in their own home town, and devastating changes to the family.
We will pick up next time with the 1860 Census and walk together with the Armisteads through the catastrophic Civil War Years.
References:
1) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1850.html
2) http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/lpa/census/1990/poptrd1.htm
3) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1850.html
4) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1850.html
5) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1850.html
6) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1850.html
7) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1850.html
8) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1850.html
9) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1850.html
10) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1850.html
11) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1850.html
12) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1850.html
13) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1850.html
14) Dale Cox, The History of Jackson County, Florida, The Civil War Years, Copyright Dale Cox, 2010, pg. 508, 538 (online edition)
