E.F. married C. Dodd [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Anne Armstrong was born in Toronto, York County, Ontario, Canada.
2. Janet Elizabeth Armstrong was born in Toronto, York County, Ontario, Canada.
3. Margaret Ruth Armstrong was born in Toronto, York County, Ontario, Canada.
4. Raymond Armstrong was born in Toronto, York County, Ontario, Canada.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Toronto East; Occupation: tailor
• Census: 1901, East Toronto lived with father and six siblings

Joseph married Eliza Beale Aikenhead on 7 Aug 1906 in New York. Eliza (daughter of Edward Aikenhead and Alice Julia Chambers) was born on 11 Jul 1879 in Brooklyn, NY; died in 1962 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; was buried in Flesherton Cemetery. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Toronto East; Occupation: Baliff R.
• Religion: Wesleyan Methodist
• Census: 1851, Artemesia, Grey County, Canada as a carpenter.
• Immigration: 1856, to Canada from Ireland according to 1901 census
• Census: 1901, Toronto East census gives DOB as 1820

Frederick married Mary Jane Strain on 3 Dec 1858 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Witness was William Armstrong.. Mary (daughter of Joseph Strain and Elizabeth Little) was born in 1835 in Ireland; died on 8 Sep 1880 in Toronto, York County, Canada; was buried in 1880 in Flesherton Cemetery. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Ontario Marriages

3 December 1858 Toronto, York County
Frederick Armstrong age 35
Born: Ireland
Residence: Artemesia Township
Father: George Armstrong
Mother: Margaret Armstrong
Spouse: Mary Strain, age 22
Born: Ireland about 1836
Residence: Artemesia
Father: Joseph Strain
Mother: Elizabeth Strain

Other Events and Attributes:

• Immigration: 1869
• Census: 19 Jun 1900, 416 Pacific, Borough of Brooklyn, NY

Notes:

According to his granddaughter, Edna Armstrong Bolten, Edward was on his way from Ireland to Toronto to work for his brother, James Aikenhead, in the hardware business. The ship was quarantined on an island in the St. Lawrence river due to an outbreak of typhoid fever. Edward helped care for the sick, as he did not contract the disease. Gentlemen he met persuaded him that better opportunities awaited him in New York than in Toronto. He went there and was hired as a clerk with R. G. Dun.

The sad tale of a Canadian island
By: John Fitzgerald

On May 17, 1847, the Medical staff on the island of Grosse Ile on the St Lawrence River at the Canadian entrance made a dreaded discovery. The first ship from Europe – the first of the season after the river had thawed following the cold winter – arrived at the port. Named ‘The Syria’, the ship was filled with Irish famine refugees, over half of them dead or dying from typhoid fever. In the following months, 36 more ships arrived bearing an additional 13,000 desperate immigrants, many of whom were dying from fever or starvation. It was the beginning of a long, sad history of the island and one of the grimmest chapters in Irish-Canadian history.
Grosse Ile, known as the Great Island, lies on the St Lawrence River, 30 miles east of Quebec City. Its role as an immigrant screening and quarantine station began in 1832 when the Canadian Government established a small facility there in response to a cholera outbreak in Europe. Hundreds of immigrants, mostly English and some Irish, died on the island while in quarantine. After two years the outbreak subsided and the island became a quiet place in admitting new arrivals to Canada. From 1835 to 1845, some 21,000 were processed through the center with only 23 deaths recorded. But all that changed with the arrival of the Irish Famine in 1845.
The worst year was undoubtedly 1847 when nobody has any idea of the numbers of people that died on Grosse Ile. It is generally accepted that the poorest of the Irish immigrants headed for Canada as the cost of the passage was considerably cheaper. In 1847, an estimated 100,000 immigrants arrived in Grosse Ile, ten times the normal average.
The arrivals were in a desperate state. Weakened by malnutrition – even before they boarded the ‘Coffin Ships’ – they spent between 35 and 90 days crossing the Atlantic in crowded, unsanitary conditions. In 1847, 200,000 died at seat, prompting people to describe the Irish-American route as the longest graveyard in the world. When these wretched people arrived at Grosse Ile it was ill-equipped to deal with such a humanitarian disaster.
There were only a handful of doctors and nurses on the island and less than 150 beds. The staff and volunteers worked tirelessly and erected tents and sheds to handle as best they could the rising numbers that were dying from typhoid.
They wrote several letters to the Canadian Government, begging for help, but were ignored. Likewise, the British Government washed their hands of the problem.
By the summer of 1847, 2,500 patients were housed on the island. The conditions were so bad one of the doctors contracted fever and was lucky to survive. While the conditions on the island were bad nothing compared to the conditions on the ships docked in the St Lawrence waterway, waiting to be unloaded. Unable to handle the volume arriving, the officials on the island ordered the ships to set anchor and wait until room became available on the island. It was heart-breaking for those on board as they had not a drop of water to drink or no medication.


The day of December 31 was taken from his wife, Alice Chambers Aikenhead's diary.
According to his granddaughter, Edna Armstrong Bolten, Edward Aikenhead was on his was to Canada to work for his older brother, James, in the hardware business when his ship was detained at an island because of typhoid. Edward was not stricken and helped care for those who were. He men business men who convinced him that better opportunities awaited him in New York.

Edward married Alice Julia Chambers on 11 Sep 1877 in Church of the Redeemer, Brooklyn, NY. Alice (daughter of Rev. Richard Chambers and Charlotte Bootle) was born in Dec 1851 in West Indes; died in 1945 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; was buried in 1945 in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Aikenhead plot, Toronto, Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Emigration: 6 Jul 1867, Sailed from Nassau to New York on the Corsica with mother intended to become inhabitants of England.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Religion: Wesleyan Methodist
• Immigration: 1848, to Inistioge, Artemesia Canada from Ireland with wife and eight children
• Census: 1851, Artemesia, Grey County, Canada as a carpenter/builder.

Notes:

Said to have rescued a Methodist preacher from a beating in the streets and gave him a place where he could hold his meetings, According to Elizabeth J. Armstrong, 1940, George's father was an English officer who died and left his two sons to the care of their uncle, an Anglican rector. Both boys went to college, George studied architecture for eight years and the other studied for the Anglican ministry. George married Margaret E. Frencham, daughter of Edward, whose brother Sir George Frencham was wine taster to the king.

George, his wife, and eight children went to Canada. The eldest son, William, stayed in Toronto. George went to the States. Frederick, Henry and Wesley accompanied their parents to Artemesia. George became Justice of the Peace and Post Master at Inistioge. Frederick became a bailiff. Henry became a merchant. Wesley taught school and succeeded his father as Clerk of the Court.

George married Margaret Frencham in 1813. Margaret (daughter of Edward Frencham and Sarah unknown) was born about 1793 in Ireland; died in 1867 in Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Religion: Wesleyan Methodist

Other Events and Attributes:

• Immigration: Joseph and family, except William, went to Canada in late 1840s.
• Occupation: Flesherton , Ontario; Occupation: at death, described as farmr and tailor

Joseph married Elizabeth Little about 1830 in County Monaghan, Ireland. Elizabeth was born in Ireland; died on 1 Feb 1889. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Edna Bolten gives 1808 as her date of birth based on family records.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Thomas was a bookseller and stationer.

Thomas married Eliza Beale or Beal in UNKNOWN in Kilkenny, Ireland. Eliza was born in Thomastown, Kilkenny. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Rev. married Charlotte Bootle about 1847. Charlotte (daughter of George Bootle and Sarah Dosset) was born in Jun 1823 in West Indes; died on 9 Sep 1900 in Brooklyn, Kings, NY; was buried on 11 Sep 1900 in Greenwood Cemetery Brooklyn, NY lot 28307 section 135. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Emigration: 6 Jul 1867, Sailed from Nassau to New York on the Corsica with Alice, intended to become inhabitants of England.

Notes:

1900 Brooklyn, NY address 383 Pacific (lodger) census she gave her date of birth as June, 1823, West Indies. Her parents were also born in the West Indies, according to the information she gave the census taker.