This telegram was sent to John Francis Armstrong (1845-1893) by his cousin Kate Leonard (c. 1849-1929) in Brooklyn, New York on May 8th, 1887.

In 1884, Augusta dry goods merchant John F. Armstrong remained active in local and state Democratic party politics in Georgia.

By the end of the 1870s, Irish-born John F. Armstrong (1845-1893) was a successful merchant in Augusta, GA. He was also active in the Georgia Democratic Party and involved in Irish-American relief efforts for Irish tenant farmers.

Although we haven’t found any trace of John F. Armstrong (1845-1893) before he left Ireland in 1865, we have located his father’s leased farmlands in County Sligo in Griffith’s Valuation.

In 1865, John F. Armstrong (1845-1893) left County Sligo, Ireland for Augusta, GA, where his uncle, Thomas Armstrong, had immigrated during the Great Irish famine of the late 1840s.

Six years after Marie started researching our great-great-grandfather, John Francis Armstrong, we continue to find new sources of information about him.

According to Griffith’s Valuation of 1857, John Leonard of Kilcummin Townland in County Sligo was renting a house (pictured) valued at one old English pound from Edward Cooper.

Over the past couple of years, two different relatives – one in Ireland and one in the US – have identified this house in Derreens Townland as the home of Francis and Anne Leonard Armstrong.

Catherine “Kitty” Armstrong was baptized at Cloonacool Parish in County Sligo on September 24th, 1860, around the time her brother John Francis turned fifteen. In April of 1887, when Kitty was twenty-six, she and her younger sister, Annie, left Ireland for New York in defiance of the family in Sligo.

A small collection of letters written to my great-great-grandfather, John Francis Armstrong, has been passed down in my mother’s family for generations now. Written in 1887, they generally refer to three family crises that occurred that year.

There’s a small Roman Catholic church in Cloonacool in County Sligo, Ireland with approximately ten stained glass windows dedicated to local individuals and families.

My great-great-great-grandparents, Francis and Anne Leonard Armstrong, were forced to move from their tenant farm in Kilcummin and Derreens Townlands in County Sligo in 1876.

Catherine “Kitty” Armstrong was born in 1860 in County Sligo, Ireland to Francis and Anne Leonard Armstrong.

Among the heirlooms passed down in my mother’s family are letters written to my great-great-grandfather, John Francis Armstrong (1845-1893), from his brothers and sisters in County Sligo, Ireland.

Kilcummin Cemetery is located near the village of Cloonacool at the foot of the Ox Mountains in County Sligo, Ireland. It is the burial place of Francis and Ann Leonard Armstrong, the parents of John Francis Armstrong of Augusta, GA.

Francis and Anne Leonard Armstrong, John Francis Armstrong’s parents, were tenant farmers in Kilcumin and Derreens Townlands near the village of Cloonacool in County Sligo.

Anne Leonard Armstrong, John Francis Armstrong‘s mother, was born circa 1820 in Kilcummin, County Sligo, Ireland. She married Francis Armstrong, a Catholic tenant farmer, and gave birth to nine children.