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, Georgia.

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