John Armstrong
Kingsbury County, South Dakota, janitor in the 1930s and old De Smet acquaintance of Laura and Almanzo Wilder.
My gosh! Manly always falls for [Lillie] and Johnnie hard. He enjoyed it and I was amused. It is funny how everyone who never would have been so familiar in the old days calls me Laurie and loves me so much, but in some way I like it. – Laura Ingalls Wilder, June 16, 1931.
John Armstrong and and his wife aren’t mentioned in the De Smet Little House books published during Wilder’s lifetime; they are mentioned in “The Road Back” diary entry dated June 16, 1931 (see page 314, A Little House Traveler, published in 2006). It is implied that Almanzo and Laura knew Johnnie & Lillie Armstrong prior to leaving South Dakota for Missouri in 1894:
Manly went to De Smet and spent the morning loafing with Charley [Dawley] and Gay Barrows. In the afternoon I went with him and looked up some more of the records at the courthouse, and we called on Lillie Keating Armstrong and she took us to see Johnnie Armstrong, where he is janitor at the courthouse. She is the same flannel-mouthed Irishwoman as ever. Flattery! My gosh! Manly always falls for her and Johnnie hard. He enjoyed it and I was amused. It is funny how everyone who never would have been so familiar in the old days calls me Laurie and loves me so much, but in some way I like it. It all makes me miss those who are gone, Pa and Ma and Mary and the Boasts and Cap Garland.
John Henry Armstrong (“Johnnie”) was born December 26, 1868, in County Louth, Ireland, the son of Harriet and Thomas Armstrong. In 1882, John and his sister Susan arrived in New York from Liverpool. Their uncle – also named John Armstrong – was in the stock-raising business and had a large land interest in Kingsbury County. Although he spent much of his time at his home in Port Colborne, Ontario, Armstrong (the uncle) was president of Kingsbury County Bank in 1880, with Thomas Ruth as cashier, and he also served on the board.
The Armstrong siblings ended up in De Smet via Canada in 1882, with Johnnie joining his uncle in running Spirit Lake Stock Farm. In December of his arrival year, Johnnie filed on a tree claim, the SE 32-112-56. He relinquished it and refiled as a homestead on June 4, 1886, making final proof April 17, 1889. He made final proof on a preemption claim, the SW 32-112-56, on February 16, 1884. Almon Johnson’s homestead adjoined the Armstrong land; Almon was a brother of Little House character Minnie Johnson. Johnnie Armstrong married Lillian “Lillie” Belle Keating on November 26, 1891, the daughter of Michael Keating and Mary (Shannon) Keating. The Armstrongs had a house on East Second Street in De Smet, and Johnnie purchased and ran the dray line in De Smet, adding a butcher shop and ice house to his holdings in 1896. For many years, Johnnie was caretaker and janitor at the Kingsbury County courthouse and he took great pride in maintaining the lawn and flowers planted on the courthouse grounds. Although the Armstrongs had no children of their own, they were “aunt and uncle” to many children in De Smet.
Johnnie Armstrong died at age 77 in De Smet on March 14, 1943. Lillian Armstrong died at age 86 on November 11, 1948. They, and Johnnie’s uncle, are buried in the De Smet Cemetery. There are many Little House connections to close relatives of the Armstrongs, so make sure you read the cemetery tour document for the family linked below. The photo above was taken in 1941 at the Armstrongs’ golden wedding anniversary celebration.
John and Lillian Armstrong (A Little House Traveler)
De Smet Cemetery tour info for ARMSTRONG