Armistead Family History #13

                                               Stepping Into the Nineteenth Century


In my last Blog Post I left off with the members of my Armistead family in North Carolina preparing to enter the 19th Century.  This line of the Armisteads had been in North America, since early in the 1630's.  That means they had been here for nearly two centuries and were about to enter the third. My Armistead family first arrived in Virginia and later moved south to North Carolina.  I am sure they were wondering what the 1800s would hold in store for them.

However, before I let the Armisteads "Step into the Nineteenth Century" I am going to bring us up to date on some of the history of the time. If you have read any of my other posts you know that I love the history part just like I love the genealogy part.  We know that the last decade of the 18th Century was an exciting time that would establish this country and how it's government would work. After all, by 1790 it was only 14 years from the "Declaration of Independence" and the country's first president was still in his first term.

A new state, Vermont, was added to the United States in 1791 and two more states, Kentucky and Tennessee, were added in 1792 and 1796 respectively. The addition of Kentucky as a new state made it the first state west of the Appalachian Mountains.  Daniel Boone, the famous explorer and trailblazer, was busy working to open up new pathways to the west.  He is probably the one most remembered for opening the Wilderness Trail through the Cumberland Gap.  The Cumberland Mountains are a long ridge of mountains located within the Appalachian Mountains and the Cumberland Gap opens up at a point near the junction of the present states of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. (1)   

Title:  Daniel Boone escorting settlers through the Cumberland Gap
Artist:  George Caleb Bingham (1811–1879)    
Description:  Daniel (1734-1820) and his wife Rebecca travelling westwards to Kentucky;
Date:  1851-1852
Medium:  oil on canvas
Current location:  Washington University in St. Louis, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
St. Louis, USA
Source/Photographer:  The Bridgeman Art Library, Object 29102

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23197838

Description:  Wilderness Road
Source:  Library of Congress
Uploader:  User:Nikater
Date:  2 Mar 2007
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In 1791 the steamboat was patented in the United States by John Fitch, in 1792 the US Post Office was established, the New York Stock Exchange was established, and construction of the U.S. Executive Mansion was started.  The "Executive Mansion" would not be called the "White House" until 1818.  It took a long time to build things back then, I guess, because the first president to actually occupy this new home, built for the purpose of housing our president while in office, was John Adams. Adams was able to finally move in during 1800, even though it was not completely finished.  He was defeated for re-election and so was only able to live there a few months. Thomas Jefferson would be the first president to live in the "Executive Mansion" during his full term.  George Washington struggled somewhat with the decision to stand for another term as president or go home to Virginia.  At last he decided, once again, that his country needed him and he was elected to serve a second term in 1792. (2)

Description:  Daguerreotype of the south front of the White House.  (Earliest known Photograph.)
Date:  1846
Source:  This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3c12293.This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information.
Author:  John Plumbe (1809–1857)    
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In 1793 George Washington laid the cornerstone for the Capitol building in Washington D.C., in 1794 Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin, and in 1795 the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, began operating as the first state university in the U.S. In 1796 John Adams was elected president of the United States and replaced Washington in 1797. (3)

Description:  John Adams 
Painter:  Gilbert Stuart, c. 1800-1815, oil on canvas.
Current location:   National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA. 
Source/Photographer:  http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg60a/gg60a-42933.html
Licensing:  This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or less.  You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States.
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By deciding to serve only two terms, Washington set a precedent that all succeeding presidents would follow, until Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for and was elected to a third term in 1940.  Most importantly, the transition to the new president, John Adams, was carried out in a peaceable manner under the Constitution of this fledgling democracy.  This transition to a new president and the passing of the government's control from president to president has been one of the foundations of this country.  On December 14, 1799, George Washington died at his home in Virginia. Washington's passing brought to an end a truly remarkable era that had been dominated by Washington's strong guiding hand.

Thomas Jefferson was elected president in 1800 and took office in 1801.  In the election of 1800 Thomas Jefferson and the current president, John Adams, carried on a bitter campaign to see if Adams would be re-elected or if Jefferson would prevail and become the new president.  Historians point to this election as the election that started the two political party system. Many people felt, at the time, like this process was so bitter and so many things were hanging in the balance, that it had our young republic on the brink of collapse. Historians also believe that the election of 1800 was a turning point in American history. There were many factors that came into play, such as a tie vote in the Electoral College and behind the scenes wrangling to get one Elector to change his vote. If I have peaked your interest, you might want to read a very interesting account of this election in John Ferling's book, Adams vs. Jefferson, The Tumultuous Election of 1800. (4)

Description:  Official Presidential portrait of Thomas Jefferson
Date:  1800
Source:  http://www.whitehouseresearch.org/assetbank-whha/action/viewHome
Author:  Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860)    
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While in office, President Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase from France, which doubled the size of the United States. To actually find out what he bought, Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark on an expedition to map and investigate this new territory in the northwest portion of the United States. Also, in 1803, Ohio was added as our 17th state. Jefferson was elected for a second term and then left office to return home to Virginia, just as Washington had done. James Madison won the next election and took office as Jefferson's successor in 1809. (5)

Description:  Portrait of James Madison.  
Medium: oil on canvas 
Date:  1816
Source:  The White House Historical Association. The painting is in the White House collection
Author:  John Vanderlyn (1775–1852)

This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or less.   You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States.

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By 1810 various issues were emerging that would grow to be of major importance and major irritation as well between the United States and Great Britain.  These issues became so severe that the United States finally declared war against Great Britain and the War of 1812 began.  There were several reasons the U.S. declared war.  Among the most important were trade restrictions and the impressment of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy. (6) 

President Madison was elected to a second term in 1812 and at the same time naval battles were raging on the high seas.  In 1814 Washington, D.C. was occupied by the British and the White House was burned.  Britain's army then proceeded on to Baltimore, where the British planned to launch their next assault. The port of Baltimore and Fort McHenry would be the next attack point and they believed a victory there would enable them to then control the area and attack other areas as they pleased. The British commanders were about to receive a huge shock! (7)    

In June of 1813 Major George Armistead arrived to take command of Fort McHenry.  One of the very first things he did was to order a flag for the fort.  He wanted the flag to be "...so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance." (8)  He ordered the flag to measure 30 feet by 42 feet. The flag was made by Mary Pickersgill, with some assistance by her daughter Caroline. (9)

Description:  Flag that floated over Fort McHenry in 1814.
Date:  1873
Source:  George Henry Preble
By George Henry Preble - Frank A. O'Connell; Wilbur F. Coyle (1914). National Star-Spangled Banner Centennial, Baltimore, Maryland, September 6 to 13, 1914. Baltimore: National Star-Spangled Banner Centennial Commission. p. 66., Public Domain, 

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Preparations were made in and around the fort by Major Armistead and others to meet the assault by the British.  On Sep 13, 1814, the British navy began a bombardment of Fort McHenry and the surrounding area that lasted an agonizing 25 hours and included 1500 shells fired at the fort by the British.  Armistead and his men were greatly tested by the bombardment but they returned nearly as many shells as they received.  With the dawning of the morning of Sep 14th, the huge American flag that Armistead had ordered to be made back in June of 1813, could be seen from miles away, still flying proudly over Fort McHenry.  Fortunately, the British cannons were not particularly accurate and were not able to destroy the fort as they had hoped.  It is hard to imagine withstanding that kind of fury being rained down on you.  The sound, the smell in the air, the suffocating dust and debris thrown up by the exploding shells.  And then there is the fear that each shell might be the one that hits right next to you. (10)  

Description:  The caption reads "A VIEW of the BOMBARDMENT of Fort McHenry, near Baltimore, by the British fleet.
Date:  29 July 2005 (original upload date)
Source:  Transferred from en.wikipedia
Author:  Original uploader was Dr.frog at en.wikipedia
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By Original uploader was Dr.frog at en.wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3661221

Later, after the battle had concluded, and Major Armistead had been promoted to Lt. Colonel, he made his reports to his superiors, as was required.  I included a quote from Colonel Armistead's report below where he gives a short description of the bombardment:  

"The bombardment continued on the part of the enemy until 7 o'clock on Wednesday morning, when it ceased; and about 9, their ships got under weigh, and stood down the river.  During the bombardment, which lasted 25 hours (with two light intermissions) from the best calculation I can make, from 15 to 1800 shells were thrown by the enemy.  A few of these fell short.  A large proportion burst over us, throwing their fragments among us, and threatening destruction. Many passed over, and 400 fell within the works. Two of the buildings are materially injured, the others but slightly."

"I am happy to inform you (wonderful as may appear) that our loss amounts to four men killed, and 24 wounded. The latter will all recover."....."Were I to name individuals who signalized themselves, it would be doing injustice to others. Suffice to say, that every officer and soldier under my command did their duty to my entire satisfaction."

"I have the honor to be &c.
George Armistead, Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army" (11)

At this point the British knew they could not win with a long and costly siege on the port and withdrew. Armistead was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel for his part in this heroic and extremely important defense of Fort McHenry.  In fact it turned out that the battle at Baltimore and Fort McHenry was not only a major battle, but was instrumental in turning the tide of the war for the Americans.  An outcome that the British certainly were not expecting. (12)

There was a another very significant and unexpected consequence of this battle.  I've written about it before on my blog. At the time of the battle at Fort McHenry, a man by the name of Francis Scott Key was being detained on a British war ship.  He had gone out to attempt to obtain the release of a friend being held by the British.  The British would not release Key's ship to return home due to their impending attack on Fort McHenry.  Key was forced to witness the British bombardment of Fort McHenry from the ship. On the morning of Sept. 14, 1814, after the bombardment of the fort, Key could see the fort's huge flag of the United States flying proudly over the fort and was inspired to write a poem titled "The Defense of Fort McHenry".  Later the poem was set to music and eventually became our national anthem.  The flag, referred to as the "Armistead Flag",  that provided Francis Scott Key's inspiration is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution. (13)

"The Armistead Flag" or "The Star Spangled Banner Flag" as it is exhibited today at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/star-spangled-banner
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmuseumofamericanhistory/sets/72157623910310943/

If you are interested in more detailed information about this flag, Colonel Armistead, and his family, you should get these two books. They are both a short read and I think you will find them very interesting:  "Guardian of the Star-Spangled Banner, Lt. Colonel George Armistead and The Fort McHenry Flag", by Scott Sumpter Sheads, and "The Star-Spangled Banner, The Flag that inspired the National Anthem", by Lonn Taylor.

I know that Colonel George Armistead can be claimed by many, many people as a relative and that my relation to him is as a somewhat distant cousin, but it doesn't stop me from being very proud that I can claim the defender of Fort McHenry as one of my kinfolk.

Description:  Painting of Lt. Colonel George Armistead.

Artist:  Hall, H. B., Artist (NARA record: 3123749) - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain, Under the following terms:Attribution-You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonalbe manner, but not in any way that suggests the license endorses you or your use.  Noncommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.Share Alike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
https://www.nps.gov/fomc/learn/historyculture/george-armistead.htm
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On Dec. 24, 1814, a peace treaty was signed at Ghent which ended the war of 1812.  An end to the fighting did not come, however, until a battle in Louisiana was fought.  Unaware of the peace treaty, over 5,000 British troops attacked Major General Andrew Jackson and his American soldiers on Jan 8, 1815. Jackson delivered a crushing defeat to the British at what is known as the Battle of New Orleans. The British suffered over 2000 casualties, the US forces suffered only 71.  With the end of the war, the United States would finally take its rightful and significant place among the nations of the world. (14)

Title The Battle of New Orleans.
Date:   January 1815.   Copy of engraving by H. B. Hall after W. Momberger., ca. 1900 - 1982
Author:  Hall, H. B., Artist (NARA record: 3123749)
Record creator Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Chief Signal Officer. (09/18/1947 - 02/28/1964)
Current location National Archives and Records Administration, College Park  
Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S)
Record ID:  This media is available in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the ARC Identifier (National Archives Identifier) 531091.This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. 
Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860 - 1985 (National Archives Identifier: 440)· Series: Signal Corps Photographs of American Military Activity, compiled 1754 - 1954 (National Archives Identifier: 530707)· NAIL Control Number: NWDNS-111-SC-96970· 111-SC-96970
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During the second decade of the 19th century, the country elected a new president, James Monroe, 5th president of the U.S.  He took office in 1817.

Title:  Portrait of James Monroe
Artist:  Samuel Morse (1791–1872)    
Date:  circa 1819
Medium:  oil on canvas
Current location:  White House    
Notes:  White House copy of the 1819 painting Kloss, William, et al. Art in the White House: A Nation's Pride. Washington, D.C.: The White House Historical Association, 2008:

Licensing:  This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or less.  You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States.

This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.

The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.

By John Vanderlyn (1775–1852) - The White House Historical Association. the painting is in the White House collection[1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1761716

Besides the election of a new president in 1816, the U.S. was a buzz about something else important, the weather.  In fact the weather was so strange all year, and not just in the U.S., but all over the world, that 1816 became known as "The Year Without a Summer".  It was cold all year and snowed in July in places where this had never happened.  Google it and read about it.  It is quite fascinating. In 1818 General Andrew Jackson caused a stir when he and his army invaded Spanish Florida during the Seminole Wars. This action caused some ripples in the U.S. negotiations between the U.S. and Spain in the attempt by the U.S. to purchase the Florida Territory.  An agreement finally came together in 1819 and Florida was ceded to the U.S. by Spain.  Also, in 1818, Congress adopted the United States flag to be configured with thirteen red and white stripes and one star for each state in the union. (15)

From 1810 to the end of 1819, the U.S. admitted 5 new states, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, and Alabama, bringing the total to 22. Population of the United States rose from 5,308,483 in 1800 and 7,239,881 in 1810 to 9,638,453 in 1820.  The state of New York had the largest population with 1,372,812.  In 1820 Missouri applied for statehood and the fight over slavery heated up the rhetoric in Congress to the boiling point.  The Missouri Compromise was finally worked out to allow the entry of Missouri as a slave state with the admission of Maine as a free state.  This brought the total number of states to 24 and kept the free and slave state balance in check at 12 each, but it only kicked the problem a little further down the road and settled nothing.  The bitter debate in Congress and in the country was only an indication of things to come in the next few decades, as the United States would find itself sliding toward a civil war.  You can read more about the Missouri Compromise online or maybe you still remember it from high school history. (16)

Description:  Map of the states and territories of the United States as it was from 1822 to 1824. On March 30 1822, the two Floridas were organized as Florida Territory. On November 15 1824, Arkansas Territory shrank, the western portion becoming unorganized.
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Now, let's go back to North Carolina and see what is going on with the Armistead family.  In my last post I listed William and Sarah Armistead's seven children still living in 1800 and for clarity I will list them again here.  John, Eliza (married to David Turner), Robert, Mary (married to David Wright), Sarah Guyther, (I don't know her husband's first name.)  Sarah Guyther died in Dec. of 1800. Stark, and Priscilla (She was still in the house with their mother Sarah), and William's wife Sarah Armistead (my great-great-great-great-grandmother) were still living. Anne Armistead, (Jordan's widow) was also alive and listed in the 1800 Census with her two children in Washington County, N.C.

This first decade of the 1800s was a continuation of what the Armisteads had been doing.  They were engaged in farming, commerce, and fisheries.  Many pages of documents show that they were still struggling to get the wills of William Armistead, Sr., William Armistead, Jr., and Anthony Armistead settled.  As mentioned, Sarah (the daughter) died in 1800 and then Robert died in 1806. Robert left a wife and children who joined all the others in seeking a piece of various estates.  Also, passing away in this decade was Penelope Daly Armistead.  This is William Jordan Armistead's two year old little sister who died in 1801.

By looking at the 1810 Census we can see how the family was changing as they started the next decade.  Sarah Armistead is listed with Priscilla (age 27) still at home, probably helping to take care of her mother.  John Armistead, along with his wife Sarah, are listed, David and Elizabeth (Armistead) Turner, Ann Cochran (Stewart) Armistead, along with her son, William Jordan Armistead, (Ann did not remarry after Jordan's death), Stark Armistead (now married with several children), Mary (Stewart) Armistead (her husband, Robert Armistead died in 1806), and David and Mary (Armistead) Wright are all present in the 1810 Census. Only the mother, two sons, and three daughters remain of the original family.

Over all my Armistead relatives did not fare well from 1811 to 1819.  Sarah Armistead (my 4X great-grandmother) died in 1818 and her son John followed her in death that same year.  Mary (Armistead) Wright died in 1817, which left only Elizabeth (Armistead) Turner, Stark Armistead, and Priscilla (Armistead) Thorpe of the original family members.  Elizabeth lived until 1822 and Stark Armistead lived until 1835.  Stark was a very successful businessman and plantation owner.  No doubt he was aided some by being the last surviving son and he probably got a really good inheritance.  I have not found a date of death for Priscilla, the youngest, but I know she lived into the 1830's. 

In 1815 my great-great-grandfather, William Jordan Armistead, enrolled in the University of North Carolina.  I found his name in a book called Catalogue of the Members of the Dialectic Society Instituted in the University of North Carolina June 3, 1795, Together with Historical Sketches.  His name was entered as joining the society in 1815 and it stated that this date meant that he had most likely started to school that year as well.  The Dialectic Society was a "Debating Society" started at the University in 1795 after recognizing the "need of a society for training in speaking and writing". (17)  This society evolved into the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies or Di Phi as they are generally known today.  This organization is the oldest student organization at the University of North Carolina. (18) Take a look below at the outline of courses they studied in the1830's, probably similar to what it was in 1815.

Freshman Class:

First Session:  1. Sallust the whole, 2. Ancient Geography, Worcester's Elements., 3. Arithmetic revised, 4. Graeca Majora, Cyropaedia, 5. Algebra, 6. English Grammar.

Second Session:  7. Virgil, Georgies.  8. Cicero's seven Orations.,  9. Graeca Majora., Anabasis, Herodotus, Thucydides, Elian, Polyaenus. 10. algebra completed., 11. English Grammar.

Sophomore Class"

First Session:  13. Graeca Majora. 13. Horace. Odes, and one book of Satires. 14. Caldwell's Geometry, six books, and the ninth.  15. Exercises in Making Latin

Second Session:  16. Horace. Gould's Editio Expurgated.  17. Homer's Illiad, 4 books.  18. Cicero's Orations continued.  19. Geometry, completed.  20. Plane and Spherical Trigonometry, with practical examples.  21.  Modern Geography, revised.

Junior Sophisters.

First Session:  22. Logarithms.  23. Day's Mensuration, Navigation, and surveying.  24.  Mechanical Philosophy.  25 Philips' Conic Sections.  26.  Cicero de Senectute et Amicitia.  27.  Rhetorick.  28. Exercises in Latin construction.  

Second Session:  29.  Fluxions.  30.  Mechanical Philosophy.  31.  Chronology.  32.  Graica Majora, second volume.  33.  Rhetoric, continued.  34.  Exercises in Latin construction.

Senior Sophisters.

First Session"  35.  Chemistry and mineralogy.  36.  Mental Physiology.  37.  Logick.  38.  Astronomy.  39.  Graica Majora, second volume.  40.  Horace's Art of Poetry.  41.  Exercises in Latin construction.

Second Session:  42.  Chemistry and Geology.  43.  Moral Philosophy.  44.  Political Economy.  45 Astronomy.  46.  Tacitus, or selections from Cicero's philosophical works.  47.  Graica Majora, second volume.  48.  Exercises in Latin and Greek construction.

Composition and declamation taught through the whole Collegiate course. (19)

I do not know if William Jordan Armistead graduated from UNC, but I do know that on the 20th of Jan. 1820 William married Mary Elizabeth Edwards Baker.  It would be interesting to know how the young couple met, but unfortunately I don't know anything about that.  Mary Elizabeth was from Martin County, N.C. She was the daughter of Dr. Simmons Jones Baker a successful and well known doctor and property owner.  Was this a marriage of two people that met and fell in love or was this one of the popular "arranged" marriages between two wealthy families.

Dr. Baker might have done business with the Armistead family on a retail basis by purchasing goods from the Armisteads.  Maybe the simple fact that the two families, Baker and Armistead, were successful and possibly well known families living within a few miles of each other, (Martin County borders Bertie on the south) made it inevitable the two families would know each other and that the natural order would be for the families to end up having children that would intermarry between the two families.

You can see from the map above of North Carolina counties, that Bertie, Martin, Washington, and Tyrrell Counties are all adjacent to each other.  As the Armistead family grew it spread out into the counties around Bertie, where their parents lived.  They owned property in various counties, as did Dr Baker.

Actually, after looking at all the records I have, I can say that I am quite sure William Jordan Armistead knew who Dr Baker was.  In 1812 Dr. Baker was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina (and William Jordan Armistead, as mentioned above, was enrolled there in 1815). (20)  From 1814 to 1818 Baker was elected first for two years as a member of the House of Commons for North Carolina and then three years as senator. (21)  He also served as a director on the board of a bank.  Dr Simmons Jones Baker owned at least 50 slaves in 1810 and 81 in 1820, according to the census records. Seems kind of brutal to estimate wealth this way but the fact is this gives us a good guess at how big his plantation operations were.

The 1820 Census shows William Jordan and Mary Eliza (Baker) Armistead living in Washington County, North Carolina, newly weds of only a few months.  The couple is listed as owning 10 slaves, which most likely had been inherited by William or given to Mary Eliza by her father upon her marriage or maybe a combination of both.  They had a fairly modest plantation in comparison to William's uncle, Stark Armistead, who had 62 slaves or Dr Baker as I mentioned above. However, in comparison to the general population, they started their marriage in very good condition.
  

Source Citation:  1820 U S Census; Census Place: Washington, North Carolina; Page: 415; NARA Roll: M33_80; Image: 386
Source Information:  Ancestry.com. 1820 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Original data: Fourth Census of the United States, 1820. (NARA microfilm publication M33, 142 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Description:  This database details those persons enumerated in the 1820 United States Federal Census, the Fourth Census of the United States. In addition, the names of those listed on the population schedule are linked to the actual images of the 1820 Federal Census. Enumerators of the 1820 census were asked to include the following categories in the census: name of head of household, number of free white males and females, number of other free persons except Indians, number of slaves, town or district and county of residence.

So I think this is a good place to take a break.  In my next post I will pick up with William Jordan and Mary Eliza Armistead as they start out their lives together as a married couple.  Many children, a big move south, other relocations, etc., will all come along over the next few decades.  I am so excited to see what lies ahead, aren't you?



References:
1) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1790.html
2) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1790.html
3) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1790.html
4) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1800.html , Ferling, John, Adams vs. Jefferson, The Tumultuous Election of 1800, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, New York, 2004, Cover pg.
5) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1800.html
6) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1810.html
7) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1810.html
8) Shead, Scott Sumpter, Guardian of the Star-Spangled Banner, Toomey Press, Baltimore, Maryland, 1999, pg. 8.
9) Ibid., pg. 10.
10) Ibid., pg. 9, 10.
11) Ibid., pg. 16, 17.
12) Ibid., pg. 17.
13) Ibid., pg. 42,43.
14) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1810.html
15) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1810.html
16) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1820.html
17) Catalogue of the Members of the Dialectic Society. (pg.59) Ancestry.com. U.S., School Catalogs, 1765-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.  
Educational Institutions. American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts.
The Digitized Content is licensed from the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) and may not be reproduced, transferred or commercially or otherwise exploited, in whole or in part, outside the terms and conditions of this service without the express written consent of AAS. All rights reserved.
http://interactive.ancestry.com/2203/32761_1020704762_1652-00064?pid=3696185&backurl=     
18)https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dialectic_and_Philanthropic_Societies&printable=yes 
19) Catalogue of the Trustees, Faculty and Students, of the University of North Carolina:  For 1833-1834. (pg. 11, 12.)  Ancestry.com. U.S., College Student Lists, 1763-1924 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. College Student Lists. Worcester, Massachusetts: American Antiquarian Society.  The Digitized Content is licensed from the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) and may not be reproduced, transferred or commercially or otherwise exploited, in whole or in part, outside the terms and conditions of this service without the express written consent of AAS. All rights reserved.  
http://interactive.ancestry.com/2207/32217_622204_0463-00002?pid=358886&backurl=
20) Ibid., pg. 2.
21) Wheeler, John Hill,  Historical Sketches of North Carolina From 1584 to 1851, Regional Publishing Company, Baltimore, MD.  1974, pg 253.  .http://interactive.ancestry.com/48630/SketchesNCII-000626-251?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.com%2fsearch%2fdb.aspx%3fdbid%3d48630%26path%3d&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnBrowsing#?imageId=SketchesNCII-000628-253 

Armistead Family History #12

                                                                     Reflections on Life

Last time I said we would pick up in my next post after William Armistead's death in 1791.  I'm going to hedge on that just a little bit.

Before we part ways with William Armistead, I want to look back at the years prior to his death in 1791.  Have you ever stopped and thought about the things you have experienced in your life?  Who were the presidents, or what great events do you remember?  I wonder what Sarah and William thought about the great events of their lives prior to 1791?  Let's suppose that they some how found time in the late hours of Dec 25, 1790 to sit down and reflect on their lives over the previous 20 years.  It's possible William had been sick or maybe he was simply feeling the effects of being 60 years old but let's say something caused him to take a little time to take stock of his life. Imagine that we are able to listen in on William and Sarah Armistead reminiscing.  Outside a cold winter wind is howling and the snow is blowing as the conversation between William and Sarah turns more serious and maybe a little melancholy.  Sitting in their chairs in front of a nice warm roaring fire in the fireplace, sipping from a glass of port wine, they quietly talk about their family as well as historical events that had taken place during their lives.

Their personal state of affairs must have brought them a great deal of satisfaction.  William was a very large plantation owner and a very successful business man.  Together they had brought into this world eleven children, of course Sarah had the hardest part of bringing them in but they both had a part in raising them.  Now the children were growing up, indeed half of them were adults and several were married.  Some had moved out to neighboring counties and started to become successful on their own.  I'm sure they were proud of their grown children but still had concerns for those children still at home.  Maybe they discussed who might marry one of their daughters or wondered about the younger children and what they were going to make of themselves.

As they turned their attention to world affairs and talked about what they had witnessed together, I wonder if Sarah and William had any idea of just how momentous the last 20 plus years had been?   Just think of what they had lived to see. They had been there for the build up and execution of a long bloody Revolutionary War, the winning of that war, and then the creation of a new nation.  They witnessed the official end of the Revolutionary War with the signing of the Peace Treaty with Great Britain on Sep 3, 1783 and they benefited from a very significant event that took place on Nov 3, 1783, when General George Washington signed orders to dissolve the Continental Army and then departed for his home in Virginia. (1)  This is one of the most significant things Washington did for his new country.  Because of his popularity and power, he could have taken his army and assumed control of the government and set himself up as the head or the king of this new country.  That is exactly what would have happened in Europe.  But he didn't do that and by that act he set the country on it's road to allowing the people of the new United States of America to carry on the country's business as a free and democratic country, a country that was no longer controlled by a monarch.

Signing of the Constitution of the United States.

Artist:  Howard Chandler Christy (1873–1952)    
Title:  Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States  
Description:  George Washington presiding the Philadelphia Convention.  
Depicted people: George Washington , Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin - among others: see image notes orFile:KeySceneAtTheSigningOfTheConstitutionOfTheUnitedStates.jpg.
Date:  1940
Medium:  oil on canvas
Current location:  United States House of Representatives
Source/Photographer:  The Indian Reporter
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code. See Copyright.

The Armisteads probably would have reflected, as they sat by that fire, on the passage, by the U.S. Congress, in July of 1785, an act which established "the decimal coinage system, with the dollar...as the monetary unit," making the dollar the unit of currency in place of the pound. (2) The U.S. was the first country to do this. Then they may have mentioned the time in 1786, when delegates from several states got together and called for a Continental Congress to hold a convention to write a constitution. In response to that call a Constitutional Convention was held, and by Sep. 17, 1787, this convention, which, of course, was presided over by General Washington, produced a constitution that was submitted to the states to be ratified.  By June of the next year it was ratified by enough states to be adopted as the Constitution of the United States. (3)

First page of the United States Constitution.

This file was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the National Archives and Records Administration as part of a cooperation project. The National Archives and Records Administration provides images depicting American and global history which are public domain or licensed under a free license.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code. See Copyright.

William Armistead possibly took part in the next significant event by voting for a North Carolina Representative. Sarah, being female, would not have been able to vote.  This event was the creation of the first Congress under the new Constitution, which convened for the first time in Federal Hall, New York, NY on Feb 4, 1789.

Old City Hall, New York City, NY where the first United States Congress met in 1789.

Description:  "Old City Hall, Wall St., N.Y." Steel engraving by Robert Hinshelwood, from Washington Irving's Life of George Washington, 5 vol. (1855-59).
Date:  1855-59.
Source:  New York Public Library - Digital Gallery. Digital Image ID:801114, Digital Record ID:709553
Author:  Robert Hinshelwood  
Licensing:  This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less.   You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States. Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Jamaica has 95 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the rule of the shorter term. Côte d'Ivoire has a general copyright term of 99 years and Honduras has 75 years, but they do implement the rule of the shorter term. Copyright may extend on works created by French who died for France in World War II (more information), Russians who served in the Eastern Front of World War II(known as the Great Patriotic War in Russia) and posthumously rehabilitated victims of Soviet repressions (more information).

Congress Hall in Philadelphia where the third meeting of the United States Congress was held.

Description:  Exterior Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Date:  11 December 2007, 01:18
Source:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/angstdei/2103167194/
Author:  tim eschaton from Los Angeles, USA
Permission(Reusing this file):  This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
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This Congress presided over the Electoral College voting for the first president and vice president of the United States. George Washington was elected President and John Adams was elected Vice President.  The new government was officially put in place on March 4, 1789 and the U.S. Constitution was declared to be in effect. Washington and Adams were inaugurated on Apr 30, 1789. (4)

After the inauguration, the new president had to start putting the new government together. Remember that President Washington did not have a manual on how to start a new government of a new country.  Yes, he had the Constitution, which outlined some of the things he and the new congress had to do, but many of the ways that things are done today were started by President Washington.

George Washington Portrait.  First president of the United States.

Artist:  Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828)    
Title:  English: George Washington
Description:  Portrait of George Washington (1732–99)
Date:  20 March 1797
Medium:  oil on canvas
Dimensions:  73.5 × 61.1 cm (28.9 × 24.1 in)
Current location:  Clark Art Institute    
Place of creation Germantown, Philadelphia
Object history:  William Willing by 1845; to (Lewis Rogers, agent, New York, 1845); to R.L. Paterson, 1845; to Charles Paterson, by descent; to (Hermann Schaus?); to Mrs. Elizabeth S. Clark, c. 1905; to Stephen C. Clark, by descent, 1909; to Robert Sterling Clark by April 1911.
Notes:  This portrait was based on the uncompleted Antheneum portrait by Stuart; the uncompleted portions were filled in by Peale. This copy has been published in pre-1923 materials, including p. 442 of The Life of George Washington[1] and p. 79 of Early American Painters.[2]

What do you suppose William Armistead thought about the new government?  Did he realize how radically different it was from the one presided over by the King in England?  I can only imagine that he approved of President Washington, since Washington was a Virginian and William was born in Virginia before moving to North Carolina.  And of course everyone loved Washington anyway.

Important events did not end with the inauguration. The Armisteads were witnesses to the Federal Judiciary Act of Sep 24, 1789, which created the Supreme Court, as outlined by the Constitution. Also, a series of amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, were submitted by Congress to the states for ratification on Sep. 25, 1789. After approval by the states, the Bill of Rights, which were put forward as a compromise in the Constitutional Convention of 1786, to help assure the Constitution's passage by the states, became the first ten amendments to the Constitution.  (5)

The Exchange Building in New York City where the Supreme Court first met.

The-Old-Royal-Exchange-building
Description:  English: This is a drawing of the Old Royal Exchange building in New York City, formerly located in Broad Street near the intersection with Water Street.
Source: This drawing was published in Vol. 2 of the History of the City of New York by Martha Joanna Lamb (1881; page 634), as referenced here.
Author: This file is lacking author information.
Licensing:  This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1923. See this page for further explanation. 

On January 8, 1790, president George Washington gave the very first State of the Union address and established a precedent that is still carried out to this day. On Feb. 1, 1790 the Supreme Court held it's first session of this newly created court. (6)

Old City Hall in Philadelphia where the Supreme Court later convened.

Description:  Front of Old City Hall Supreme Court building in Philadelphia, PA
Date:  August 2008
Source:   Own work
Author: Ben Franske
Licensing:  I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following licenses: Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic,2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.
You are free:· to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work· to remix – to adapt the workUnder the following conditions:· attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).· share alike – If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.

On March 1, 1790 Congress commissioned something that is near and dear to my heart, the first decennial census of the United States. Once again, an act that was dictated by the Constitution and put into law by Congress. As a genealogist I rely heavily on the census that has been conducted every ten years, starting with 1790 up to the most recent, which was in 2010.  In that first census there were 3,929,214 people that were counted.  The largest state by population was Virginia with 691,737.  (7)

Title page of 1790 U.S. Census of Population and Housing.

Description:  Title page of 1790 U.S. Census of Population and Housing
Date:  1 March 1791
Source:   Census.gov
Author: U.S. Census Bureau
Permission(Reusing this file):   This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code. See Copyright.Note: This only applies to original works of the Federal Government and not to the work of any individual U.S. state, territory, commonwealth, county, municipality, or any other subdivision. This template also does not apply to postage stamp designs published by the United States Postal Service since 1978. (See § 313.6(C)(1) of Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices). It also does not apply to certain US coins; see The US Mint Terms of Use.  
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And then one last item of note that I imagine that could have been mentioned by the Armisteads on that December night, might have been the approval and signing by President Washington on July 16, 1790, of the Residence Bill, passed by Congress, that created the District of Columbia, the future home of the Federal Government. (8)

I would think that the time from 1770 to 1790 that William and Sarah experienced, was, at the very least, one of the most important periods, if not the most important period, of time that has taken place in our country's history.  I hope they were able to sense the importance of their time and be proud of their young country, and to be proud of the part they played in it's creation.

After a long and successful life, William Armistead died early in the year of 1791 at the age of 60. With his passing, Sarah, aged 52, was left with her hands full.  She had several young children at home to raise, a plantation to oversee and a fishery to run.  She did have some older children to help her and the records indicate she did quite well on her own over the coming years.  She did it all on her own as a single mother, having not remarried after William's death.

A notice in regards to William Armistead's death was reported by a local newspaper.  These two quotes are from The State Gazette of North Carolina:

Vol. VI.  Friday, March 11, 1791. Numb. 279.

"State of North Carolina, Edenton, March, 1791.  Public notice is hereby given...to all the creditors of the late William Armistead, Esq. of Bertie County, that the said William Armistead is dead, and that the subscribers, of said county, qualified as executors on the 23d ultimo.  John Armistead, William Armistead, Robert Armistead, Executors." (9)

Vol. VI.  Friday, March 18, 1791.  Numb. 271.

“Pursuant to the last will and testament of William Armistead, deceased, Will Be Sold, at his late dwelling house on Cashie River in Bertie County, on the 4^th Monday in April next, the perishable part of his estate…also the …Schooner Priscilla, burthened about 155 tons, the schooner Ostrich and Sloop Little Dick, about 55 tons each…Negroes, horses, two herring seines, one set of Blacksmith’s and joiner’s tools…The Executors.” (10)

In addition to the information I found on my ancestors, I found another article that is very interesting. It is unrelated to the Armisteads but I thought you might find it interesting as well.  This is from the same edition of the paper.  The quote is below:

Vol. VI.  Friday, March 18, 1791.  Numb. 271.

“Remarkable instances of Persons bleeding to death.”

“On Tuesday, the first instant, died, near the North-Mountain, Frederick County,           Zoll, aged 19 years.  His death was occasioned by a slight cut in one of his feet with an axe.  From the time of his receiving the wound, … no method could…stop the bleeding.  Five brothers to the above person have bled to death at different periods…  The father of the above persons has had two wives and by each of them, several children; those who died in this singular manner were all by the first wife.”  (11)

The condition of abnormal bleeding has been recorded for hundreds of years.  In the late seventeen hundreds it did not have a name.  It has sometimes been called "the Royal Disease" because it "affected the royal families of England, Germany, Russia and Spain in the 19th and 20th centuries." (12)

"In 1803, John Conrad Otto, a Philadelphia physician, was the first to publish an article recognizing that a hemorrhagic bleeding disorder primarily affected men, and ran in certain families. Otto called the males 'bleeders'.  In 1813, John Hay published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine proposing that affected men could pass the trait for a bleeding disorder to their unaffected daughters. Then in 1828, Friedrich Hopff, a student at the University of Zurich, and his professor Dr. Schonlein, are credited with coining the term 'haemorrhaphilia' for the condition, later shorted to 'haemophilia'."(13).

"The X and Y chromosomes are called sex chromosomes. The gene for hemophilia is carried on the X chromosome. Hemophilia is inherited in an X-linked recessive manner.... if a son inherits an X chromosome carrying hemophilia from his mother, he will have hemophilia. It also means that fathers cannot pass hemophilia on to their sons." (14)

Today we know that:  "Hemophilia is a rare disorder in which your blood doesn't clot normally because it lacks sufficient blood-clotting proteins (clotting factors).  Hemophilia is an inherited (genetic) disorder. There's no cure yet. But with proper treatment and self-care, most people with hemophilia can maintain an active, productive lifestyle." (15) But that was obviously not the case in 1791.

In the first census of the United States, which I mentioned above, that was taken in 1790-91, there were five Armisteads listed in North Carolina. Two that were listed were William Armistead in Warren County and Anthony Armistead in Northampton County. I'm pretty sure these two are related to William Armistead and moved to North Carolina from Virginia. There is an Anthony Armistead listed in Bertie County that I believe to be my William Armistead's brother and of course William is listed in Bertie as well. (Although the date of the census below is June 1791, I assume the William listed is William Armistead, Sr., and that he was counted before his death in Feb 1791.) The fifth person is John Armistead, living in Tyrrell County. Tyrrell County is just over one county to the east of Bertie and a little south.  I believe this is William's oldest son.  Eliza was married and no longer at home.  So at this first census the children still at home were Priscilla, 7, Stark, 10, Mary, 13, Jordan, 15, Sarah, 20, Robert, 23, William, 28. Only the head of household was listed by name.  The others in the house were listed by gender and age only and then by free or slave so I am taking an educated guess on the names of the ones at home.

1790 United States Federal Census.  First Census of the United States.

From Ancestry.Com
Source Citation
Year: 1790; Census Place: Bertie, North Carolina; Series: M637; Roll: 7; Page: 348; Image: 206; Family History Library Film: 0568147
Source Information
Ancestry.com. 1790 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Original data: First Census of the United States, 1790 (NARA microfilm publication M637, 12 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

After William's death in 1791, the household probably still looked like that listed above for a while but would change over the next few years.  Sarah did not remarry and the children slowly moved on. His sons took on more work from their deceased father.  Several married and moved away. William's brother Anthony, who is also listed in the census above in Bertie county, died in 1792.

In searching for wills and other documents for my genealogy research, I came across a treasure trove of original documents in "North Carolina, Estate Files, 1663-1979," on the Family Search web site. These wonderful documents have been imaged and can be accessed online at FamilySearch.com.  I found hundreds of pages to sort through that were in the many Armistead folders.  Different hand writings of that period from county to county and from document to document made searching difficult and tedious at times.  I felt like I had taught myself a new language when I got to where I could read them.

One document I came across proved to be very interesting.  William Armistead, Jr., was the administrator of Anthony Armistead, his uncle, and in one of the many documents filed in various counties in regards to his estate, I found an account of William, Jr. explaining to the court why he had not taken action on a distribution from Anthony's estate, as ordered by the court.  Here is the quote from the document and then the original document below that.

State of North Carolina,

"William Armistead maketh oath that he was appointed by the court of Bertie at the              Session of the said Court in the year 1792 administrator of Anthony Armistead late of the said County deceased -- That this Deponent left the State some time in the year 1793 on a voyage to the West Indies and being captured by the British Cruiser he was detained till late in 1794 before his return -- that on the return he was informed and find it to be true that a Judgment had been entered up against him by the said Court at the February Session there of in the year 1794, in favor of ..." (16)

Copy of Court Document filed by William Armistead, Jr.

"North Carolina, Estate Files, 1663-1979," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/DGS-004763695_00176?cc=1911121&wc=93LD-ZV8:183206401,183204102,183316901 : accessed 3 May 2015), Currituck County > A > Armistead, Anthony > image 27 of 38; State Archives, Raleigh.

There are several reasons I found this interesting.  One was the fact that William had sailed to the West Indies.  He was apparently employed in the same business as his father and had gone to purchase products for his shipping business. The second thing is the fact that he was captured and held by the British.  This same thing was happening with regularity on the high seas.  Many of the individuals captured by the British were being impressed into the British Navy, much to the consternation of the U.S. Government and U.S. Citizens.  This issue would eventually be one of the main reasons for the War of 1812 between the U.S. and Great Britain.  It really brings it home and makes it personal to me, when I think that my 4th great-uncle felt this abuse directly by Great Britain.

There are some other interesting items in the above document but I will let you read and discover those items on your own.  The document is dated April of 1795.  Barely a year later William Armistead, Jr. would be dead.  Makes me wonder if he had some lingering effects from his captivity.
He died unmarried as there is no mention in his will of a wife or children.

I have included the notice of William Jr.'s death that was in the newspaper:

Vol. IX.  Thursday, May 19, 1796.  Numb. 540.

“Died, on Friday last, at Plymouth, Mr. William Armistead.  (Friday, May 13, 1796)” (17)

Vol. XI.  Thursday, June 30, 1796.  Numb. 546.

“Sold, at Plymouth, The brig Betsy,…and the schooner Dolphin…property of Mr. William Armistead, deceased…  The Executors.  June 25, 1796.” (18)

Vol. XI.  Thursday, October 20, 1796.  Numb. 561.

“Notice.  Will be Sold, at Plymouth, on the 4th of November, a large quantity of West-India produce, the property of William Armistead, jun. Deceased, consisting of Rum, sugar, Molasses, Coffee and Salt..; and at the same time and place, will be sold, his land, which lies in the counties of Beaufort, Tyrrell, Bertie and Franklin and a number of lots in the town of Plymouth, among which are several water lots… The Executors,.  Plymouth, October 13, 1796.” (19)

William and Sarah Armistead's seventh child and fifth son, who is my great-great-great-grandfather, Jordan Armistead, married Anne Cochran Stewart, daughter of John Stewart and Penelope (Daly) Stewart, on Oct., 6, 1796.  They had one son, William Jordan Armistead, my great-great-grandfather, on Sep 29, 1797, and a daughter, Penelope Daly, born Feb. 25, 1799.  I included below copies of pages from an Armistead family bible where I obtained this information, followed by the transcribed copies. Copies of the bible pages, along with the transcriptions, were given to me by Patricia Lyons and they have been extremely helpful in getting all the Armistead ancestors sorted out.

Copies of Birth, Marriage, and Death records from the William Jordan Armistead and Mary E.E. (Baker) Armistead Bible.  This Bible was given to Mary by William Jordan Armistead on April 20, 1822, two years into their marriage.

On June 24, 1795 Jordan was bondsman for his younger sister, Mary, who married David Wright. Of course, as mentioned, he was married in 1796.  Also, in 1796 he and his brother John were named administrators of his deceased brother William, Jr.'s estate.  In 1797 Jordan and Anne sold some land to Jordan's mother Sarah.  There were a number of documents where Jordan was active in administering William's estate and according to Hall's Wilmington Gazette dated September 5, 1799  Jordan Armistead was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons. (20)  There really is not a lot more information about Jordan because, tragically, he died Dec 27, 1799, at the age of 24.  I don't know how he died.  The first thing that hit my selfish brain was, "Wow, my DNA barely survived another close call!" Anne and Jordan's daughter, Penelope, died Nov 16, 1801.  Jordan's sister, Sarah, died a year after he did, in Dec. of 1800.

In the 1800 census of North Carolina Sarah Armistead is listed in Bertie County with a son and a daughter, Stark (20) and Priscilla (17), still at home.  However, the census also shows one male, under 10, in the household.  This might have been a grandson that she was caring for but I am not sure who that would be.  Ann Cochran (Stewart) Armistead is listed in Washington County (which just barely touches Bertie to the southeast) with one son, William Jordan, 3, and one daughter, Penelope, 1, along with a female between 16 and 25.  This may have been a sister or some other relative that was helping take care of the household.  Also, in Washington County are Robert Armistead and John Armistead, who I believe to be sons of Sarah and William, Sr. Additional Armisteads in North Carolina are Robert in Halifax, Anthony and Carver in Chatham, and William, still in Randolph.  All, most likely, are related in some way but it is just too much to try to go into all the relationships here.

William and Sarah Armistead's children still living by the end of 1800 were:  John, married and living on his own, Eliza, married to David Turner, Robert, married and living on his own, Mary, married to David Wright, Starkey, and Priscilla, still at home as mentioned above.

1800 United States Federal Census.  Second Census of the United States.

From Ancestry.com
Source Citation
Year: 1800; Census Place: Bertie, North Carolina; Series: M32; Roll: 30; Page: 26; Image: 33; Family History Library Film: 337906
Source Information
Ancestry.com. 1800 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Original data: Second Census of the United States, 1800. NARA microfilm publication M32 (52 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Second Census of the United States, 1800: Population Schedules, Washington County, Territory Northwest of the River Ohio; and Population Census, 1803: Washington County, Ohio. NARA microfilm publication M1804 (1 roll).

And as a new century rolls in, the Armistead's lives continue to unfold in North Carolina.  William Jordan Armistead will come of age, marry and then do as his grandfather did, move on to another state to get a little more "elbow room".

In my next post I will catch us up on historical happenings in the 1790's (this post just got too long to include here) and then I'll get into the Armistead's continuing journey into the 19th Century.

References:

(1)  http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1700.html  
(2)  http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1700.html  
(3)  http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1700.html  
(4)  http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1700.html  
(5)  http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1700.html  
(6)  http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1700.html  
(7)  http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1700.html  
(8)  http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1700.html  
(9)  Fouts, Raymond Parker, Abstracts from the State Gazette of North-Carolina, 1787-1791, Volume I, GenRec Books, Cocoa, FL, 1982, pg 56, 57.
(10)  Ibid. pg 57.
(11)  Ibid. pg. 57
(12)  Hemophilia A. (2014). National Hemophilia Foundation. Retrieved 11 May 2016, from https://www.hemophilia.org/Bleeding-Disorders/Types-of-Bleeding-Disorders/Hemophilia-A
(13)   History of Bleeding Disorders. (2014).National Hemophilia Foundation. Retrieved 11 May 2016, from https://www.hemophilia.org/Bleeding-Disorders/History-of-Bleeding-Disorders
(14)  Hemophilia A. (2014). National Hemophilia Foundation. Retrieved 11 May 2016, from https://www.hemophilia.org/Bleeding-Disorders/Types-of-Bleeding-Disorders/Hemophilia-A
(15)  Hemophilia - Mayo Clinic . (2016).Mayoclinic.org. Retrieved 11 May 2016, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hemophilia/basics/definition/con-20029824
(16)  "North Carolina, Estate Files, 1663-1979," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/DGS-004763695_00176?cc=1911121&wc=93LD-ZV8:183206401,183204102,183316901 : accessed 3 May 2015), Currituck County > A > Armistead, Anthony > image 11 of 38; State Archives, Raleigh.
(17)  Fouts, Raymond Parker, Abstracts from the State Gazette of North-Carolina, 1787-1791, Volume III, GenRec Books, Cocoa, FL, 1982.
(18)  Ibid.
(19)  Ibid.
(20)  http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/statewide/newspapers/1799elec333gnw.txt, Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Carolyn Shank Carolynshank@msn.com August 4, 2008, 12:28 pm