Armstrong

In the 1901 census there were nearly a 1000 people named Armstrong in the county. It’s a very common name there.

The general settlement of Fermanagh is reasonably well documented, with many Scots settling there. Many people were “encouraged” to move from the Scottish borders to Ireland because there had been several hundred years of lawlessness there whereby cattle were routinely stolen and travellers robbed. (They were known as Border Reivers, reiver being a Scottish word for a robber). The new King James 1 of England decided to try and remedy this by relocating many of them to Ireland (where he needed settlers) and in so doing killed two birds with one stone. There were quite a few Armstrongs listed in the Fermanagh Muster Rolls (c 1630) so they were clearly well established by then.

For detailed information you could read: “The Scottish Migration to Ulster in the Reign of James I” by M Perceval-Maxwell. There’s a mention on page 285 of some Armstrongs from the Scottish Borders being deported to Ireland in the early 1600s.

On pages 286/7, it says: “If we look at the muster, we see that immigrants with names associated with a specific district of Scotland very often settled near to one another. Fermanagh provides the most striking example of this practice. The names occurring most frequently in the muster of this county (those occurring between 25 and 60 times) were Johnston, Armstrong, Elliott & Beatty, in that order, all Border names.”

Border Reivers website:

http://www.borderreivers.co.uk/Border%20Families/BORDER%20SURNAMES%20%202.htm

Hi Elwyn.

Thanks for reply to my post.

Have ordered book by M Perceval-Maxwell and look forward to reading it.  Have also read up on the "Border Reivers" and have found some interesting stuff that makes me wonder if I'm in some way desendant from "Johnnie of Gilnockie" (I wonder how many Armstrong's believe the same!).

This is certainly a great place to "reach out".  I've never been to Ireland but it's now on my wish list.

Thanks again for responding to my query.

Came across this post re: Armstrongs in Fermanagh.  My grandmother, her siblings parents resided in Aghavea Parish, Brookeborough.  the family emigrated to Canada mid 1920's with the two eldest children Thomas and Mary remaining in Ireland.  I am travelling to Ireland this year and to date have been unable to trace anything relating to them.  My grandmothers parents were Joseph Armstrong and Mary Jane Campbell another scottish surname.  I also believe they originated in the borders of Scotland.  Mary Janes father was James Campbell.  The 1901 census lists the family residing in Currin Greenhill Fermanagh.  Mary age 3, Thomas age 1.  By 1911 they resided at House 3, Lurganbane, Brookeborough, Aghavea Parish Fermanagh with 5 out of the 7 children my grandmother Margaret E being the youngest at age 1.  Two more were born after that time.  Looking for any family ties through Thomas or Mary.  One record shows a Thomas Armstrong fitting his age dying in 1918 but I have no recollection of my grandmother speaking of this.  Mary E?  did she marry, have children I can trace.  Any input would be appreciated.

One of those Border Families was the Armstrongs whose decendents eventually went to America and Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon. He took a small square of the Armstrong tartan with him and was a staunch member of the Clan on the Border.

My grandfather was an apprentice industrial blacksmith in Dublin and my grandmother was a Levina Carney from County Cork. This is on my Father's side and he and his siblings were born in Liverpool. This site has no record of them marrying in Ireland so I'm assuming they married in Liverpool. Maybe there's some record of my descendants in Fermanagh but my records are scetchy and my Father has died so I'm lost now for detail. Wonderful site and thank you.

Ulster,

Mary Elizabeth Armstrong appears to have married William Hodge Jones of Knocknalosset, Co. Fermanagh on 17.3.1916. See:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1916/09780/5549971.pdf

The Valuation revision records on the PRONI website show him as tenant of plot 5 in that townland from 1923 until at least 1929 (which is when those records stop). It was a 119 acre farm which he farmed jointly with John Johnston.

That couple appear to have had at least one child: Ellen born 26.3.1917. There may have been others but later records (ie within the past 100 years) are not available on-line. You would need to go into PRONI or GRONI in Belfast to search them. Or if you can’t do that you may need to get a researcher to do it for you.

This looks to be William Jones, in the 1911 census. If researching his background, note that he was born in Edinburgh, though his father is from Fermanagh.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Fermanagh/Carnmore/Errasallagh/513487/

I searched for marriages in Fermanagh in the period 1918-1937 for Thomas Armstrong, on the GRONI website. There were 6. You could look at them, but of course there will be others outside that area. So if he moved away it could be difficult to trace him. And Armstrong is a very common surname in that area.

Hello:

I would suggest The Steel Bonnets by George MacDonald Fraser if you are interested in the reiving history of the Armstrongs, Nixons and Elliots. It's a good telling of the story of the Denateable Lands in the West March.

My family came to Canada from Northern Ireland in the 19th Century having been, so far as we know, among that part of the clan deported by James V1 of Scotland. It seems likely they were re-settled in Fermanagh and I'm seeing if I can confirm that. I'm also interested in finding out whether any of my ancestors might have served with the Inniskilling Dragoons.

Very happy to have stumbled across this site.

Another good factual account is “The Border Reivers” by Godfrey Watson (published 1974). There’s pages and pages of information about the Armstrongs. When discussing the relocation of many reivers to Ireland, Watson says (p195):

“Next on the list were the Armstrongs, and particularly those of Whithaugh. In 1609 a plan was hatched for the voluntary settlement of Ulster in order to reinforce the Protestant population, and great numbers of Borderers, feeling that there was no longer any future for them at home, departed to try their luck in Ireland. Many remained there to become honest, hard working citizens, and particularly to make their mark as soldiers. Others drifted back only to find, in the case of the Armstrongs, that the Scotts and Elliotts had been awarded their lands.”

The surname Armstrong was completely unknown in Ireland prior to this, so if your ancestors were named Armstrong and lived in Fermanagh then it’s 100% certain they were incomers, and probably from the Borders.

There are no records, either in Scotland or Ireland, of the individuals who came but there’s obviously a possibility yours came from Whithaugh (which is near Newcastleton, in Roxburghshire). The ruins of the Armstrongs castle there are open to the public:

http://www.stravaiging.com/history/castle/whithaugh-tower

http://www.welters-worldwide.com/Manifesto/Heritage/Heritage2.htm

The other thing that one Armstrong left us is a very fine song. Originally called “Armstrong’s Goodnight” it was supposedly written by Sandy Armstrong on the eve of his execution (November 1600) for reiving. Until Robert Burns wrote Auld Lang Syne, it was reportedly the most popular song in Scotland.

This night is my departing night,
For here nae longer maun I stay
There’s neither friend nor foe o’ mine
But wishes me away.

What I hae done through lack o’ wit
I never, never can recall
I hope ye’re a’ my friends as yet,
Goodnight and joy be wi’ ye all.

Today the song is more widely known as The Parting Glass. Sung here by the late Ronnie Drew of the Dubliners:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M3wr4hYSf4