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| John Sample Armstrong and Ila Sanders |
Her father, John Sample Armstrong, was born 20 April 1856
at Buzzard Ridge, Tuscarawas County, Ohio to Robert Armstrong and Mary Foster
Sample. John had 10 siblings, and moved with
his family to Martin County Indiana when he was 10 years old. One of the stories grandma told me about her
father was him talking about the Civil War.
He could remember his older brothers marching out of town to go and
fight, his mother was holding his hand while she cried silently standing next
to him. According to a family genealogy
book my mother was gifted from her mother, William served as a private in
Companies I and D in the 51st Regiment of Volunteer Infantry for Ohio from 1862-1865. It doesn't say if
John’s other two older brothers, James and Robert, served but they would have
been barely old enough to fight at the beginning of the war. She always said brothers though, so I will
keep investigating.
John was a school teacher for nearly 50 years, educating most
of his children at the local one room school house. Grandma told me he had a love of the classics
and Latin insisting that his children studied hard and gained a good education. They owned dairy cows and worked their small
farm in the Trinity Springs area, now known as Crane Naval Station. First he married Catherine Holt on 18
November 1877 and together they had 9 children: Claude, Robert Carlisle, Mable,
Fern, Zorah, Bonnie Bell, Otto, Othello, and Ruby. Catherine, known as Kate, died
at the age of 37 on 10 September 1897.
She is buried with her family in the Holt Family Cemetery on Crane.
Ila Sanders, his second wife, was born on 19 February
1881 in Martin County, Indiana to Josephus Sanders and Mary Ellen Wildman. Her father, incidentally, was two years
younger than her new husband. Also, in a
strange twist of fate, Ila was being courted by one of John’s older sons (either
Claude or Robert). Grandma told me that
when Ila was brought by to meet his father John was smitten and he began
courting her too. My grandmother’s
father stole his son’s fiancé right from under him, but from all accounts they
had a good life.
They were married 24 November 1901 and had 10 children: Kathleen,
John Lee, Lowell, Beatrice, Max, Hope, George Gordon, Maxine, William Lodge,
and Jean. John died 18 May 1929 when his
youngest child was seven years old. Ila
followed him on 2 October 1949. They are
both buried at West Union Cemetery on Crane.
There are stories that Ila is buried at Goodwill Cemetery in Loogootee,
Indiana, however her tombstones are both at West Union. I am working on verifying the correct
location and why there is a discrepancy in family history.
From what I can understand having that many brothers and
sisters made for all sorts of trouble, and quite a few humorous stories to
boot. Below are three of my favorites
that my grandmother told me, quite often, as I grew up. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I
loved hearing them.
My favorite story, that would make my grandmother giggle every
time, involved a mocking bird and the word mom.
You can imagine having that number of children around meant there were
quite a few yells of “MOM!” from many different mouths. A mocking bird took up residence in a large
tree one summer near the house. Ila was in
the kitchen doing dishes at the sink when she heard calls of “MOM! MOM! MOM!”
coming from outside. She picked up the
dish towel to dry her hands and went searching for the child who was
yelling. Halfway through the yard is
when she realized all the kids were gone and no one was at the farm but
her. The calls started again “MOM! MOM!
MOM!” and she tracked the racket to the large tree near the house. There, on a low branch was a mocking bird imitating
her kids.
Right after John died Ila had her first major haircut. Grandma told me it was hot and sticky that
summer and her mom was tired of her bun and hair getting in her way. The weight of her thick hair often gave her
headaches. Her older sister (either
Beatrice or Hope) was home and grandma said that she was scandalous with her
short hair and flapper style dress. She
had an idea for her mom, and convinced Ila to sit down in a chair in the
kitchen, she was going to cut her mother’s hair short. Grandma said her mom was not sure about this
and protested at first, but was not up for fighting it. Ila’s hair was dark brown with a touch of
grey in it hanging past her waist. Her sister
brushed it back and cut it off, all one length, just below her shoulders. That way her mom could still put it up, but
it wasn't so heavy and in the way all the time.
Grandma said that her mom was ecstatic about it and couldn't believe how
much better she felt. Her older daughter
gave her an “I told you so” look that made them all laugh that much harder.
Finally, a story about her dad. John had a beautiful chestnut buggy
horse. The only problem, the horse had a
horrible issue with passing gas. Yes, a
farting horse. When his boys began
courting one of them was so embarrassed by the horse that he would whip him every
time the horse would… let one go. John
had no idea this was happening and was quite surprised when he and his wife
were riding in the buggy one day and the horse began to jump uncontrollably away
from the carriage jarring them each time he did so. They were nearly thrown from the buggy on their
way into town and turned around to walk the buggy home. That poor horse was flinching afraid he was
going to get hit with buggy whip each time he had the urge, which caused more
stress. See the problem yet? Her older brothers were in deep trouble with their
father, who was not laughing at the time.
To say their hide was tanned and they were punished for ruining a
perfectly good horse would put it mildly.
Grandma said that when she heard her father tell this story, many years
later, he would start to laugh very hard remembering that poor horse and the
look on her older brother’s face when her dad got home. All because of an embarrassing situation on a
date; teenagers never change do they?
