Armistead Family History #14

                                                         Moving Further South


So, here we are in January of 1820 and my great-great-grandparents, William Jordan and Mary Eliza (Baker) Armistead, are newlyweds, living in Washington County, NC.  Financially they appear to be in good shape and I believe they had confidence in their future.  After all, in 1820 they were citizens of a young, rapidly growing nation that offered many opportunities for people to be successful.

Let's take a look at the early 1820s and see what my Armistead ancestors experienced along with the other folks in the country at that time.  In 1820 President James Monroe was elected to a second term in office, which he began serving in 1821.  In July of that year the United States officially took possession of the Florida territory from Spain and then in an action that would prove significant to the Armistead family over the coming years, the Florida Territory was recognized as an official territory of the United States in March of 1822. (1)

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.
Source:  Own work 
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This is a great map (see above) showing how the country was growing.  I'm throwing out this tease to pay attention to Florida Territory becoming US territory because Florida will prove very important to several branches of the Armistead and Baker families during this and the next few decades.

I am going to run through a portion of a pedigree chart and explain how two lines of Armisteads are related.  It is important because I think the movement of these Armisteads was coordinated or at least they had knowledge of each other and one line had an influence on the other.  Of course there is always that other option I could choose, that it was total coincidence, but that is no fun so I am going on the theory it was somehow coordinated.

Charts printed from Family Tree Maker 2014.1
Software MacKiev, copyright 2017.

This may be confusing so don't fret if you can't follow all of it.  Just know that the people I am writing about are all related.  My line going backwards goes from my great-great-grandfather, William Jordan Armistead, to my great-great-great-grandfather, Jordan, then great-great-great-great-grandfather, William, and finally 5 times great-grandfather Anthony Armistead    (I got tired of typing "great"). So now I am at the top and I will go back down a different branch. Anthony Armistead's first son was named John Armistead (1) (my 4 times great-grand uncle) and he was half-brother to my 4 times great-grandfather, William, same father but different mothers. This John Armistead (1) had a son named (you guessed it - why make it easy) John (2) and they lived in Virginia.  John Armistead (2) in turn had sons named Marcus Aurelius Armistead (Very interesting that I now have a grandson named Marcus although he was not named for this person) and Latinus Armistead.  I love this John (2) because he used new and very original names for his kids. Sure makes it easier to trace.

It is not so terribly important you follow all this. The point is that Marcus Aurelius and Latinus of Virginia were cousins to William Jordan Armistead, my great-great-grandfather.  By the late 1820s these two lines of Armisteads along with Simmons Jones Baker's family (Mary Eliza's father) started moving to Florida.

Oh, before I move on, I have to relate an interesting tidbit about John Armistead's sons names. In her book "The Armistead Family", Virginia Armistead Garber wrote, "There is a tradition in the family that ... John A(rmistead) became involved in some feud with his family or kin, (and) vowed he would never give another child a family name.  With Spartan determination, he kept his vow. Therefore the old Roman names that have descended in his line."  John's sons were Marcus Aurelius and Latinus, as mentioned above, and also Fabian, Ajax, Lycurgus, and Leander. (2)

Now that you are thoroughly confused with the pedigree chart, I am switching back to historical facts of the middle and later 1820s.  In 1824 the election for the 6th president of the U.S. turned into behind the scenes politics and high intrigue. General Andrew Jackson, his popularity heightened by his exploits in the War of 1812 at the Battle of New Orleans and his actions in the Seminole War of 1818, ran against John Quincy Adams, the son of former president John Adams, for President of the United States.  When the results were all in, the popular vote was 155,872 for Jackson and 105,321 for John Quincy Adams.  Of course we all know, from our recent elections, the popular vote doesn't really mean anything, what is important is the electoral vote.  In the electoral vote, however, Andrew Jackson also led with 99 votes to Adams 84 votes.  As you can see he was ahead in the electoral vote but because there were other people running, who also garnered electoral votes, Jackson's total was not a majority of the electoral votes.  After some back room political deals were done, John Quincy Adams was chosen by the House of Representatives to be the next president. (3)

Description:  Engraved BEP portrait of U.S. President John Quincy Adams
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John Quincy Adams served only one term, however, as Jackson used the political deals made in the House of Representatives, what he called "back room deals", to his advantage when he ran against Adams in 1828.  He received a majority of the popular vote and a majority of the electoral college vote and became the 7th President of the United states.

Description:  Andrew Jackson (1767 – 1845)English: Portrait of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States 
Date:  18 January 2011
Source:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents, specifically http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/images/aj7.gif The White House. The Presidents of The Unites States
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In one of those fascinating occurrences in history that happens from time to time, two of our greatest founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two people that were instrumental in helping to create this country, lay dying.  The date was July 4, 1826, Independence Day.  They had worked together on writing and signing the Declaration of Independence, then on waging a successful war against Great Britain, and finally on helping to write and put together the U.S. Constitution.  Through the years they had been collaborators, then political opponents, and then, after the bruising election of 1800, bitter opponents. After Adams and then Jefferson left the Presidency, they refused to communicate with each other for years.  Finally, a mutual friend somehow convinced them they should at least write a letter. Adams wrote Jefferson first and then Jefferson responded. These two political opponents found they had so much in common, reestablished their once amicable relationship, and started a prolific correspondence. Over the next fourteen years they exchanged over 150 letters. They became dear friends in retirement years as they discussed and debated all the current topics.  On that day, July 4, 1826, each one of the former presidents, when they new that death was at hand, expressed satisfaction that the other one still survived.  Of course they never knew, but they both died on the same day, Independence Day, 1826, fifty years after the Declaration of Independence. (4)

While these things were happening, William Jordan Armistead and Mary E. E. (Baker) Armistead were rapidly expanding their family.  In 1822, Ann Penelope was born to the couple, 1824, William Jordan, Jr., 1826, Simmons Baker, and 1828, Jordan.  These four children are all recorded as having been born in North Carolina.  Apparently the family made the decision and moved to Florida between 1828 and 1830 because the next child, James Perry was born in 1830 and the 1830 Census shows the family living in Magnolia, Leon County, Florida.

Title:  1830 United States Fedeeral Census.

Detail:  1830 US Census; Census Place: Magnolia, Leon, Florida; Page: 130; NARA Series: M19; Roll Number: 15; Family History Film: 0006711
Author:  Ancestry.com
Publisher:  Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.
Publisher Date:  2010
Publisher Location:  Provo, UT, USA
Repository Information Name:  Ancestry.com
Address:  http://www.Ancestry.com

Once again, I have an Armistead ancestor picking up and moving to new territory to find that ideal spot to farm.  The lure of fresh and fertile soil on the frontier must have been like a huge magnet to the people of this time and it must have been pulling hard on William Jordan Armistead.  He was a successful plantation owner in North Carolina and was well thought of by the people of Washington County.  The book "Historical Sketches of North Carolina from 1584 to 1851, Vol II," which I accessed from Ancestry.com on line, lists Wm. J. Armistead as Washington County's representative in the House of Commons in 1826.  But during this time many people from North Carolina were flooding into Florida territory.  So what would be the reason that would make William Jordan move his family?  Let's look at some possibilities. 

One big reason might be the one I already mentioned, fertile soil.  In the book Creating the Old South, the author, Edward E. Baptist, makes this statement: "In the early 1820s, Surveyor John Lee Williams produced a series of newspaper articles that described the area of fertile soil that stretched from the Apalachicola Valley to the Suwanee. He ventured his opinion that the small trading post at St. Marks 'will even be the principal port of this section of land'."  The author goes on to write how the fertile soil and optimum growing conditions would allow for growing cotton and then says, "In fact, the earliest pioneers were supposedly already raising prodigious quantities on the new soil, under the sun of the long growing season. A Leon County correspondent reported in 1826 that "Cotton was as high as my head on horseback." (5)

If all the flowery statements and fantastic claims about cotton and tobacco were not enough to get settlers to Florida Territory, there were additional claims as well.  Baptist goes on to write in  his book, "Even more significantly, Middle Florida's climate appeared to permit the cultivation of sugar cane. Sugar was, in the words of one Middle Florida settler, a 'higher game,' played for deeper stakes than cotton.  Planters in Virginia or the Carolinas knew tobacco and cotton and the rewards, and failures those crops could offer, but sugar promised something far greater."  Later on Baptist writes, "Would-be settlers eagerly consumed claims made by the Tallahassee Floridian that cane planted in Leon County hammocks or Jackson County's floodplains would produce 'equal if not superior to the best Mississippi [River] bottoms' in Louisiana. The article, which was copied in the national press, reported that 'We have now in our office ten stalks of sugarcane, raised on the plantation of Dr. Weedon, the produce of a single joint, weighing fifty and a half pounds'." (6)

It seems that the Armisteads and Bakers responded to all of these proclamations about how The Florida Territory was so fantastic.  Remember that Florida was not a state at this time, so these families were leaving a settled state in the United States and moving to settle in the Territory of Florida. It was a territory of the U.S. but far from having the same local and state governments, towns, etc., that existed in North Carolina.  In fact there was considerable unrest amongst the Native Americans in the area, even though the first Seminole War had just been concluded in 1818-1819.  

The first Seminole War had been fought in 1818 and General Jackson crossed through this area to remove the Native Americans inhabiting the area.  He was the first military governor in 1821.  Jackson County was named for General Jackson when it was established in 1822, Gadsden County was named for Jackson's aide-de-camp, James Gadsden in 1823, and Leon County was named for Ponce de Leon, in 1824. (7) These three counties were where the Armisteads and Bakers settled. 

An interesting aside (at least to me) is that my wife's great-great-grandfather, William Bradford Gilchrist Killingsworth, was very likely among those that fought under Jackson in Florida in the First Seminole War in 1818. Records show Killingsworth served as a Sergeant Major in Byrns' Company, 1 Volunteer Mounted Gunmen, West Tennessee, War of 1818 (Seminole Indian Wars). (8) That's all I have found so far.  I have no details on how long he served or what battles, etc. he participated in. 

I believe the Virginia Armistead brothers, Marcus Aurelius, and Latinus, made the trek to Florida in the 1820s.  It is hard to find a date for the exact year they arrived but in Dec of 1827 the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida approved Latinus and Marcus A. Armistead to have the right to establish a "ferry across the Apalachicola River, at or near the place where the said Armisteads have recently laid out a town called Aspalaga;..."  In the book "History of Jackson County", the author states that at the time of the above act, the town of Aspalaga was about a year old, and also found that a Post Office was established there in 1828 and Fabian Armistead, brother of Latinus and Marcus, was appointed as postmaster. (9)  The full text of the Legislative Council Act was published on the front page in the January 25, 1828 edition of the "Pensacola Gazette and West Florida Advertiser".   On a later page L. & M.A. Armistead  placed an advertisement for an "Improved Perpendicular grist Mill" stating they were "authorized Agents of Anthony Bencini, of North Carolina, to do all things necessary for the purpose of selling and conveying the right and privilege of Constructing, Building and using within the Territory of Florida his improved Perpendicular Grist Mill, for Grinding Meal, for which he has obtained a Patent."  The cost was $20. (10)

Title:  Pensacola Gazette and West Florida Advertiser.
Place of  Publication:  Pensacola [Fla.]
Publisher:   W. Hasell Hunt
Creation Date:  January 25, 1828  
Publication Date:  1824-1828
Frequency:  Weekly
Regular Language:  English

In the book "Creating an Old South" the author talks about occupations of settlers moving to Florida and makes this statement: ... “Others hunted deer and trapped otters, trading skins and pelts for cash or credit at stores like that of the Armistead brothers at Aspalaga in Jackson County.”  Also, there is this quote, "In the fall of 1829, Latinus and Marcus Armistead, Virginians who operated a merchant house at Aspalaga on the lower Chattahoochee River, sold sugar boilers to planters Richard Holmes, Peter W. Gautier Sr., T. Watson, and Sextus Camp.” (11)  I found another quote in "Jackson County Florida - A History" that I found interesting.  "A British traveler in 1829 described Aspalaga as a store which 'exists because of the Indian trade' with a village about two miles away.  According to him the village was headed by Wauhpachuna (meaning cow-driver) whose people owned both cattle and slaves.  They got along well with the storekeepers, each of whom 'speak the Indian tongue.'  Social relations were so good that the Indians played their ball games near the store."(12)

The Armistead brothers, Marcus and Latinus, were very active in Florida in the late 1820s and early 1830s as you can see from what I have already mentioned, but in addition they also purchased around 20 plots of land in Jackson, Gadsden, and Leon Counties and made purchases in other counties as well.  I assume they were into land speculation functioning as purchasing agents for settlers that planned to move to Florida. (13)

Now if we look at William Jordan Armistead and his family moving to Florida in about 1828 or 1829, it seems to me that that all these Armistead families knew each other and made the move south with the knowledge of all concerned.  It would be a really big coincidence if they didn't know anything about the other Armisteads and they moved there about the same time and into the same areas.  William Jordan Armistead first lived in Magnolia, Leon County, a town that had just been founded in 1827.

                                                                                            

Description:  Drawing of Magnolia.ate 1842
Source:  Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.
Author/Date:  Unknown
The original uploader was Noles 1984 at English Wikipedia
Permission(Reusing this file) Digital Image Information This is a one of a kind unique digital image from The Florida Memory Project, Florida Department of State. It holds the archives' number of: rc 05085. This image is needed to enhance and improve this article and no other representation exists.·Author: Author unspecified. Date unspecified.Use: The use of photographs and other materials in the custody of the State Archives of Florida is governed by state law and, in some cases, by the terms of the donation agreement under which the Archives acquired the images. In accordance with the provisions of Section 257.35(6), Florida Statutes, "Any use or reproduction of material deposited with the Florida Photographic Collection shall be allowed pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1)(b) and subsection (4), provided that appropriate credit for its use is given." Please contact the Archives if you have any questions regarding the credit and use of any material.Florida Department of State State Library and Archives of Florida 500 S. Bronough St.Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250(850) 245-6700
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Description:  Map of Magnolia, Florida
Date:  25 August 2006 (original upload date)
Source:  Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.
Author/ Date:  Unknown
The original uploader was Noles1984 at English Wikipedia
Permission (Reusing this file) Digital Image Information This is a one of a kind unique digital image from The Florida Memory Project, Florida Department of State. It holds the archives' number of: rc04168. This image is needed to enhance and improve this article and no other representation exists.·Use: The use of photographs and other materials in the custody of the State Archives of Florida is governed by state law and, in some cases, by the terms of the donation agreement under which the Archives acquired the images. In accordance with the provisions of Section 257.35(6), Florida Statutes, "Any use or reproduction of material deposited with the Florida Photographic Collection shall be allowed pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1)(b) and subsection (4), provided that appropriate credit for its use is given." Please contact the Archives if you have any questions regarding the credit and use of any material.Florida Department of StateState Library and Archives of Florida500 S. Bronough St.Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250.

The original uploader was Noles1984 at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34509153

Quoting again from "Jackson County, Florida - A History", Jerrell H Shofner found that "The Armisteads, who came from North Carolina to Apalachicola before settling in Jackson County in 1827, were involved in planting as well as a mercantile business.  W.J. Armistead was the most significant planter among them." (14)

Now, referring to William Jordan Armistead's father-in-law, and Mary Elizabeth (Baker) Armistead's father, Simmons Jones Baker, I have this quote "Dr. Simmons J.Baker, already in his senior years when he left North Carolina for Florida in the 1820s, brought with him his sons, James L. G. Baker and Simmons Baker, Jr., both of whom became planters in the Greenwood area and men of public affairs in the county and state."  Also, "St. Luke's (Episcopal Church) was consequently organized in March, 1838, by about a dozen families.  Dr. Simmons J. Baker, Sr., was the first senior warden, serving in that position until his death in the early 1850s." (15)

The decade of the 1830s opened with my great-great-grandparents living in the Territory of Florida, a part of the United States, but not as yet a state.  The U.S. was steadily expanding in numbers, having grown in population by 33% compared to the previous Census, and also having grown in territory. Pioneers opened up the Oregon Trail to the Rocky Mountains (1830) and then crossed the Continental Divide (1832).  The first passenger railroad in the U.S., the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (1830), began operation and Pennsylvania's Main Line canal was linked between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and began operation using a system of ten inclined planes (1834). Inventions and patents came quickly. Cyrus H. McCormick invented the reaper (1831), Henry Blair patented the corn planter (1835), Samuel Colt patented the first revolver (1836), Thomas Davenport patented the electronic printing press (1837), Samuel Morse developed the Morse Code system of communication (1838), the steam shovel was patented by William Otis (1839), Thaddeus Fairbanks invented the platform scales (1839), and Charles Goodyear invented rubber vulcanization (1839). (16) 

Description:  Martin Van Buren Salted paper print from glass negative 48.3 × 39.7 cm (19 × 15.6 in)Provenance from W.H. Lowdermilk & Co., Rare Books, 1418 F Street, Washington, DC
Date:  Between circa 1855 and circa 1858
Source:  Metropolitan Museum of Art
Author:  Mathew Brady (1822–1896)  
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.  By Mathew Brady - Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public Domain, 
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President Jackson earned a second term as president starting in 1833, and then Martin Van Buren followed Jackson in 1837.  In 1835 the people of Texas entered into a war against Mexico to win their independence. It is really difficult for me to only write a few words about Texas Independence, the Alamo, and San Jacinto.  So many people with huge personalities and interesting stories were involved.  Names like Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, William Barret Travis, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, James Fannin, Juan Seguin, and the list goes on and on.  If you look down a list of all the prominent names of that time in Texas history you will recognize them as the same as many of our present day cities, counties, and schools.  Texas' declaration of Independence was declared on March 2, 1836 but things looked really bad for this declaration to succeed on March 6th when the badly out-numbered  men defending the Alamo were overwhelmed and "put to the sword" by the Mexican General Santa Anna and his soldiers. Texas military leaders used the slaughter at the Alamo to motivate it's forces a few weeks later when Texan forces led by General Sam Houston surprised and defeated Santa Anna's much larger army at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21st.  Santa Anna was captured and Texas' independence was secured. Of course there is so much more to the story and many books have been written about this time.  I like Three Roads to the Alamo, by William C Davis, the story of Crockett, Bowie, and Travis and the paths they took that all ended up at the Alamo.  Also, Sam Houston, by James L. Haley and Eighteen Minutes, The Battle of San Jacinto and the Texas Independence Campaign, by Stephen L. Moore.(17)

During the 1830s, and before, many people agitated for something to be done about the "Indian Problem". Eventually politicians passed legislation that resulted in the The Indian Removal Act which was implemented over a six year period.  The consequence of the law was it required the removal of native tribes on the east coast to be forced to relocate farther west. Known as the "Trail of Tears" the movement of these tribes to Oklahoma Territory resulted in the deaths of thousands of Native Americans.  (18)

Description:  Map of the route of the Trails of Tears — depicting the route taken to relocate Native Americans from the Southeastern United States between 1836 and 1839.· The forced march of Cherokee removal from the Southeastern United States for forced relocation to the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma).
Date:  4 September 2007

By User:Nikater - Own work by Nikater, submitted to the public domain. Background map courtesy of Demis, www.demis.nl and Wilcomb E. Washburn (Hrsg.) Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 4: History of Indian-White Relations. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. 1988. ISBN 0-16004-583-5, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2681249

During the decade of the 30s, two more states were admitted to the United States, Arkansas in 1836 and Michigan the following year of 1837. A financial Panic occurred in 1837 that was precipitated by the failure of the big New York City banks (sounds familiar, right?) and in consequence unemployment reached record levels. (19)

But at least I want to end the 1830s on a happy note, for during the decade, German American immigrants introduced to America the tradition of decorating Christmas trees for the Christmas Holidays. You can see below the first published image of a Christmas tree. (20)

Description:  First published image of a Christmas tree, frontispiece to Hermann Bokum's 1836 "The Stranger's Gift".
Author:  Unattributed
Licensing:  This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1923.   Public domain works must be out of copyright in both the United States and in the source country of the work in order to be hosted on the Commons. If the work is not a U.S. work, the file must have an additional copyright tag indicating the copyright status in the source country.

By unattributed - https://karleeaturner.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/godeys-christmas-1848-issue/ https://archive.org/stream/strangersgiftchr00boku#page/n7/mode/2up, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54463422

Now I have my direct ancestors locating in Florida.  The Armisteads have migrated over a 200 year period from England to Virginia to North Carolina and now on to Florida.  Amazing to me how ready these families were to pack up everything and move hundreds of miles to a totally new territory.  I'll discuss the Armisteads time in Florida from the late 1820s up until about 1870 when it was time once again for one of my direct ancestors, my great-grandfather, to pack up and move to.......

Well, you didn't think I was gonna tell ya the answer now did ya?  It would spoil my next post.  See you in a couple months.

References:
1)   http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1820.html "America's Best History - U.S. History Timeline: The1820's". Americasbesthistory.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Dec. 2016.
2)   Garber, Virginia Armistead, The Armistead Family, 1635-1910, Whittet & Shepperson, Richmond, VA., 1910, pg 274.
3)  http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1830.html "America's Best History - U.S. History Timeline: The1830's". Americasbesthistory.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Dec. 2016.
4)   http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1830.html "America's Best History - U.S. History Timeline: The1830's". Americasbesthistory.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Dec. 2016.
5)  Baptist, Edward E., Creating an Old South:  Middle Florida’s Plantation Frontier before the Civil War, Uncpress.unc.edu, http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/page/197
6)  Ibid.
7)   http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1820.html "America's Best History - U.S. History Timeline: The1820's". Americasbesthistory.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Dec. 2016.
8)  Indian Wars Service Record Index, The National Archives, NARA Publication number:  M629. Index to compiled service records of volunteer soldiers who served during the Indian wars and disturbances from 1815 to 1858.
Accessed from: https://www.fold3.com/title_898/indian_wars_service_record_index#overview

9)   Stanley, Randall J., History of Jackson County, Jackson County Historical Society, p.19.

10)  Pensacola Gazette and West Florida Advertiser, Publisher: W. Hasell Hunt, Jan. 25, 1828, Pensacola, FL.

11)  Baptist, Edward E., Creating an Old South:  Middle Florida’s Plantation Frontier before the Civil War, Uncpress.unc.edu, http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/page/197
12)  Ibid.
13)   Ancestry.com. U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907,  (database on-line). Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
14)  Shofner, Jerrell H., Jackson County, Florida - A History, Marianna, FL, 1985, p. 29.
15)  Ibid., p. 63, 179.
16) http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1830.html "America's Best History - U.S. History Timeline: The1830's". Americasbesthistory.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Dec. 2016.
17)   http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1830.html "America's Best History - U.S. History Timeline: The1830's". Americasbesthistory.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Dec. 2016.
18)   http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1830.html "America's Best History - U.S. History Timeline: The1830's". Americasbesthistory.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Dec. 2016.
19)   http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1830.html "America's Best History - U.S. History Timeline: The1830's". Americasbesthistory.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Dec. 2016.
20)   http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1830.html "America's Best History - U.S. History Timeline: The1830's". Americasbesthistory.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Dec. 2016.

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
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).

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1735089

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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https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3385334

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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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Adams_by_Gilbert_Stuart,_c._1800-1815,_oil_on_canvas_-_National_Gallery_of_Art,_Washington_-_DSC09727.JPG

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

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11468994

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
https://www.flickr.com/photos/60383374@N07/galleries/72157628215382081/

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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
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15978502

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.
Author:  Made by User:Golbez.
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https://creative commons.org/licenses/by/2.5/deed.en

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