Runaway Sisters: The Story Behind the Photo of Annie and Kitty Armstrong and Their Brother John F. Armstrong
March 23, 2016
John F. Armstrong (1845-1893) with his sisters Anne Armstrong (1863-1939) and Catherine “Kitty” Armstrong (1860-c. 1940) in Augusta, Georgia, 1887
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: the death of JF’s wife, Sarah McAndrew Armstrong in January; the fire that destroyed Daly & Armstrong, JF’s dry goods store in Augusta, Georgia in February; and Annie and Kitty Armstrong’s trip to the United States in April in defiance of the family in Sligo.
Letters from County Sligo
Most of the letters from County Sligo in the spring of 1887 were written to JF after April 18th, when Annie and Kitty, his two youngest sisters, traveled to Liverpool, England on their way to New York. In Liverpool the next day, April 19th, they boarded the steamer “The City of Chester” as intermediate passengers bound for New York.
JF’s brothers, James and Luke, each wrote him letters expressing their strong opposition, as well as that of their parents, to Annie and Kitty’s plans. However, it’s the two letters from Mr. James J. Flanagan, who apparently corresponded with JF on political matters, that shed the most light on the sisters’ motivations for leaving home.
In his first letter, dated April 18th, the day they left, Mr. Flanagan wrote of Kitty that “…for the past 6 years she gave me to believe that she loved me.”
He explained further in a second letter, dated April 20th, that “It was generally understood that Kitty and I were to be married, so you can guess what tattle and surmising there is here over her departure…”
Although she would not tell him her reason for leaving, he speculated that it was a combination of factors, not least of which was “…James and Luke remaining so long unmarried and expecting that the girls should remain with them indefinitely, and then Tom’s marriage…” (Francis and Anne Leonard Armstrong had four sons: James, JF, Luke, and Tom.)
He added that Kitty’s initial desire for leaving may have been in the hopes that such talk would “bring about her marriage…” But, he noted, after he and the family laughed at her and Anne’s talk about going to America, it may have made them even more determined to go.
Letters from New York
The rest of the letters in the collection date from early May and were written from New York City by Kitty, Annie, and Kate Leonard, a cousin living there.
In a letter dated May 1st, Kitty wrote JF that “…we intend to earn a lot of money and go home after 3 years…” Other letters from Kate Leonard mentioned that Annie and Kitty were well and that they refused to cash the check he’d sent them.
On May 6th, Kitty wrote JF that they were very moved by his last letter, and they would soon travel to Augusta to see him. In the only letter from Annie, which is undated, she apologized for not writing sooner, and told him they would head to Augusta before long.
Less than a week afterward, the May 12th edition of the Augusta Chronicle carried a short announcement that John F. Armstrong’s sisters, Annie and “Ellen” were visiting from Ireland and would return home in a month. But only two weeks later, on May 27th, the Chronicle noted that the sisters had left the previous day for New York on their way home to Sligo.
The Photograph of JF and the “Runaway Sisters”
Annie and Kitty were photographed with JF at Platt Photography in Augusta in May of 1887. One of the most treasured heirloom photographs in my mother’s family, it hung on the wall of my Aunt Frankie‘s small living room at the Maxwell House Apartments in Augusta in the 1960s and ’70s.
Over the generations, Annie and Kitty have been jokingly referred to as the “Runaway Sisters” because of their determination to defy their family in County Sligo and see America for themselves.
Surprisingly or not, Kitty did not marry Mr. Flanagan after she returned to Ireland. She eventually married a Mr. Gordon but tragically, over the years, all of their children died. After Mr. Gordon died, she lived with her widowed son-in-law. She died during the early years of World War II.
Annie never married and was remembered by at least one great-nephew as being very serious and strict. In the 1911 Irish census, she was living in the Townland of Derreens in County Sligo with her ninety-one year old mother, Anne, and her unmarried siblings James, sixty-seven, and Mary, fifty-two. She died in County Sligo in 1939.
References
1901 census of Ireland, County Roscommon, District Electoral Division (DED) Artagh North, Aghalustia Townland, unpaginated, house no. 27, Kate Gordon, age 38; digital image, National Archives of Ireland, Census of Ireland 1901/1911 (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie : accessed 2014 & 2015); original manuscript not cited.—-Notes: This information matches up with the information given in Fr. Kevin Condon’s 19 September 1973 letter to Mary Van Sant Wheeler, cited below. According to the 1901 Irish census, Kate Gordon, age 38, was born in Co. Sligo. For more info on Kate/Kitty, see her letter of 9 January 1887 and her letters of 1 May and 6 May 1887 to JF.
1901 census of Ireland, County Sligo, District Electoral Division (DED) Glendarragh, Tullyvellia Townland, unpaginated, household no. 3, Anne Armstrong, age 34; digital image, National Archives of Ireland, Census of Ireland 1901/1911 (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie : accessed 2014 & 2015); original manuscript not cited.—-Notes: Annie Armstrong, JF’s 34-year-old sister, and their parents, Francis & Anne Armstrong, were living with their brother Thomas Armstrong’s family in Tullyvellia Townland, County Sligo.
1911 census of Ireland, County Roscommon, District Electoral Division (DED) Artagh North, Aghalustia Townland, unpaginated, house 1, Kate Gordon, age 50; digital image, National Archives of Ireland, Census of Ireland 1901/1911 (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie : accessed 2014 & 2015); original manuscript not cited.—-Notes: According to the 1911 census return, Kate Gordon (Catherine “Kitty” Armstrong), age 50, was living with her husband, Patrick Gordon, and their three daughters in County Roscommon. Kate had given birth to five live children, three of whom were still living. See info from the 1901 Irish census for Kate in the citation above.
1911 census of Ireland, County Sligo, District Electoral Division (DED) Cloonacool, Derreens Townland, unpaginated, household no. 16, Anne Armstrong, age 47; digital image, National Archives of Ireland, Census of Ireland 1901/1911 (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie : accessed 2014 & 2015); original manuscript not cited.—-Notes: Anne Armstrong, JF’s 47-year-old sister, was living with her brother James, mother, Anne, and sister Mary in Derreens Townland, County Sligo. This appears to be the house the family lived in on the Nicholson Estate before they were evicted in 1876. Although more research will have to be undertaken to seek proof, it’s possible JF sent the money to build this house after he immigrated to Augusta, Georgia in the summer or fall of 1865. Neither Mary Armstrong nor James Armstrong were located in the 1901 Irish census. It’s possible they were living in County Sligo but were not enumerated.
“A Big Fire in Augusta: The Opera House and Other Buildings Burned–Loss $200,000.” New York Times, 13 February 1887, online archives, New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/1887/02/13/archives/a-big-fire-in-augusta-the-opera-house-and-other-buildings : accessed 28 March 2015), citing original p. 7.—-Notes: Article about a fire on Broad Street in Augusta, Georgia. Daily [sic] and Armstrong, the store JF co-owned with James Daly, was listed as having lost $9400 worth of stock. The store’s name was Daly and Armstrong.
Condon, Father Kevin (All Hallows Seminary, Dublin, Ireland) to Mary Van Sant Wheeler, private address USA, 19 September 1973.—-Notes: Fr. Condon was the grandson of Bridget Armstrong Gannon, John Francis Armstrong’s sister. In this letter, he briefly described his interactions with JF’s sisters when he was a young boy and explained what happened to them. He had particularly fond memories of Kitty, although he only remembered meeting her once or twice.
Collection of letters to John Francis Armstrong from his first cousin Kate Leonard (c1849-1929) of Brooklyn, NY, associate JJ Flanagan of Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo, and James, Luke, Kitty, and Ann Armstrong, his siblings of County Sligo, April & May 1887; images of paper copies of the originals are in the possession of Tulie Wheeler Taylor, 2015; paper copies of the originals are in the possession of Mary Van Sant Wheeler, 2015.—-Notes: Paper copies of the originals were given to Mary by her sister Pat Van Sant Real in the 1970s or 1980s. The whereabouts of the original letters are unknown, but they were given to Pat by other descendants of JF. Kate Leonard was the first cousin to JF and lived and worked in Brooklyn, NY. She later moved to Springfield, MA, where her other siblings settled. It is believed that Kate and her siblings were double first cousins to JF and his siblings, and that they grew up next to each other in Killcummin Townland in County Sligo. There are condolence letters to JF, written in February of 1887 in Springfield, MA, from Kate’s sisters, Beesy Leonard Carmody (c1852-1930) and Ellen Leonard Rooney (c1849-1932).
Find a Grave, online database and images, (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60302533/katherine-leonard : accessed 1 March 2018), memorial page for Katherine “Kate” Leonard (c1849-1929), Find a Grave Memorial no. 60302533, citing St. Michael’s Cemetery, Springfield, Hampden Co., MA.—-Notes: Memorial page for Kate Leonard has no info on her but, interestingly, there is a photo of a gravestone with the names of her sister and brother-in-law, Ann T. Leonard (1852-1940) and William Bradley (1851-1920) and their children: James, Kate, Harry, William, John. At the bottom of the gravestone are two names, Jane Leonard and Kate Leonard, no dates. It’s possible that Jane was also a sibling who immigrated from County Sligo.
“Miss Kate A. Leonard”, Springfield Republican (Springfield, MA), 27 December 1929, online archives, Genealogybank (https://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 25 February 2018), citing original p. 4.—-Notes: Kate’s obit lists her surviving siblings: Mrs. Ann Bradley and Mrs. Beesy Carmody of Springfield, MA, Mrs. Ellen Rooney of NY City, NY, and John J. Leonard of Springfield, MA.