Captain John Armstrong: An Unusual Peter Robinson Settler

Many of the 1825 Peter Robinson emigration settlers to present-day Peterborough County were poor tenant farmers looking for a better life outside of Ireland. Many had only basic education, and some spoke Irish Gaelic and little or no English. There were, however, some notable exceptions to this image.

John Armstrong was such an example. Born in 1788 in Torne, King’s County, Ireland, he was a great-grandson of the Reverend William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies, an Irish peer of County Waterford. The Baron’s daughter Lady Catherine Eleanor Beresford married the Reverend William Armstrong, and their son Thomas was John’s father; Thomas’ wife, John’s mother, was Frances (“Fannie”) Ann Wheeler.

In 1808, he married Elizabeth (“Eliza”) Frances Massey who also was descended from Irish nobility: her father was Lord Francis Hugh Massey, 2nd Baron of Duntrileague. Eliza was raised at the family’s Suir Castle, County Tipperary. John and Eliza had five (possibly seven) children in Ireland and five more in Canada.

John Armstrong enlisted in the British Army and served through the Napoleonic Wars, rising to the rank of Captain; he retired on half-pay at the end of hostilities in 1815.

In 1825, the Armstrong family left Ireland on the Emigrant Ship Resolution, and eventually settled on a land grant in Douro Township (Concession 8, Lot 10). Before establishing themselves in Douro, however, they were assigned a house in Scott’s Plains (now the City of Peterborough) for several months while John served as the Commissariat Officer for the newly-arrived emigrants. In this position he was responsible for issuing tools, cooking utensils, provisions, seeds, and other necessities to fellow Robinson settlers. He worked from an office in or near the downtown government storehouses. After moving to their homestead, the family suffered some setbacks but gradually adjusted to life in “the backwoods” and prospered.

In 1837, Captain Armstrong temporarily returned to active military service with the local militia during the Upper Canada/Mackenzie Rebellion.

John Armstrong died on 24 April 1853, and Eliza passed away in 1875. Both are buried in Little Lake Cemetery, along with several of their children and grandchildren. An unusual settler family, indeed.

By: Don Willcock,

The Peterborough Museum & Archives,

300 Hunter St E, Peterborough 705-743-5180

www.peterboroughmuseumandarchives.ca

The image credit is: Images of Captain John and Aliza Armstrong from Carol Bennett’s book, Peter Robinson’s Settlers, 1823-1825