1040 AD

Earl Macbeth slew Scotland’s king Duncan and chased his son Malcom to England. Siward Fairbairn, a Dane whose daughter was married to King Duncan, was asked by King Edward the Confessor to help his father-in-law. He rode north with Malcom to confront Macbeth. Malcom’s horse was killed in battle and the young king surrounded, but Siward Fairbairn grasped Malcom by his thigh and set him upon another horse, and they persevered to victory. For this, King Edward rewarded Siward Fairbairn lands on the border, and gave him the appellation of “Armstrong”.

1200s AD

Armstrongs lived in the forests near Ousby, about fifteen miles south of Scotland. Beginning in the thirteenth century, the clan shifted north and thrived for hundreds of years by “rieving”. Their hallmark, not an honorable one, was to slip back across the border and plunder the English countryside.

1600 AD

With James VI’s ascension astride both the Scottish and English thrones, the king cleaned up the borderlands. With swift action and two armies at his call, he had the Armstrongs’ castles torn down and the remaining clan members hunted down and executed. The last clan chief, who was holed up in the hills, was dragged out of his lair and hanged in Edinburgh in 1610.

1620s AD

A William Armstrong, who was a grandson of John Armstrong of Gilnockie, left Scotland as the borderlands were being “cleansed”, and settled in Fermanagh, Ireland, near Sligo. He is credited with “founding a large family with numerous branches”.

1790s AD

A William Armstrong, from Sligo, married Jane and came to the United States on a packet from Liverpool. They had three sons. Thomas, who was born in 1790, Robert in 1793, and William in 1796. In 1800 William, the father, is listed in the Baltimore Directory as a grocer on Caroline Street, and shortly after he moves to Stall #5 on the County Wharf. He dies in 1805, leaving his wife to raise their fifteen-, twelve-, and nine-year-old sons.

1820s AD

The youngest son, William, married a “Rebecca C.,” and in December 1828, they had one child, Robert W. Armstrong, known as Rob, who became a whaler.

1849 – 1859

R.W. Armstrong at sea and in New Zealand.

1859

Rob returns to Baltimore and moves back into his uncle Thomas’s house at 73 North Paca Street. After several months of re-acclimating himself, demonstrating his sobriety, and beseeching others for work, Rob landed his first job at a grocers, J. O. Dugan’s. Then, after a few more months, he was hired as a salesclerk at his uncle’s large and well-known millinery store, Armstrong & Cator.

1865

Rob marries Eudocia Muller, and they move to 76 Lexington Street to begin their own family. In 1868, they established their own millinery store at 237 West Baltimore Street. A few years later the store shifted to 128 Lexington Street, and then to a larger location at 209 West Lexington Street, where it remained for a number of years.

1866 – 1888

Rob’s and Eutocia’s children:

• 1866 Birth of Minnie A.,

• 1868 Birth of Ada A.

• 1872 Birth of William R. A.

• 1875 Birth of Louis W. A.

• 1879 Birth of Rob E. A. , dies 1884.

• 1883 Birth of Jennie L. A.

• 1886 Birth of Harry J. A.

• 1888 Birth of Gelston H. A.

1890

Minnie marries George F. Ludington

1895

Minnie and George have son, G. Franklin Ludington

1899

Death of Eudocia Armstrong from appendicitis.

1902

Death of Rob W. Armstrong from heart ailment.

1916

G. Franklin Ludington serves in Army, attends Harvard Law School, moves to NYC

1922

G. Franklin marries Marion Hagadorn, from Olean, N.Y.; they live in NYC.

• 1926 Birth of Nancy L.

• 1932 Birth of Nicholas L.

1953

Nancy Ludington marries Douglas R. Brash; they live in NYC.

• 1954 Birth of Diana B.

• 1958 Birth of Alexander B.