Anne Leonard Armstrong (c. 1820-1917)

August 3, 2014

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.

Anne and Francis raised their family on lands they rented and farmed on the Nicholson estate in Derreens in the Cloonacool District in County Sligo. After the Nicholson Estate was sold in July of 1876, they leased farmlands in the nearby townland of Tullyvellia, where Francis died in May of 1901.

By the time of the 1911 Irish national census, Anne had moved back to Derreens to live with her son, James, and her daughters, Mary and Ann, all of whom were unmarried. According to the household information in the 1911 Irish census, eight of the nine children she had given birth to were still living.

Anne died at the age of ninety-seven on February 2nd, 1917 and was buried in Kilcummin Cemetery next to her husband Francis.

Image

This image of Anne was taken around 1915. It was provided by William Coleman, a Leonard descendant, who lives in County Sligo.

References

1901 and 1911 Censuses of Ireland, Nationalarchives.ie,  From the National Archives of Ireland: Census of Ireland 1901/1911 and Census fragments and substitutes. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Sligo/Cloonacool/Derreens/773402/ (accessed 9 July 2014)

Hudson, Marie Van Sant. “Van Sant-Hudson Family Tree.” Compilation of genealogical research including historical photographs, U.S. Census data, newspaper articles, and other records. Ancestry.com. March 20th, 2013. http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/63557738/family (accessed 9 July 2014)