Armstrong County Research

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Permalink Reply by Fred Close on April 17, 2011 at 2:22pm

I am researching the McKinstry family who arrived in Armstrong County from Mifflin County and settled near Apollo about 1798.  William and Elizabeth (Ross) McKinstry had four children: James, James, Margaret, Alexander and Sarah.  In 1802 William returned to Mifflin County as an executor of the estate of his father in law, James Ross.  William became ill and died leaving Elizabeth pregnant with one additional child, William.

Elizabeth asked the court in Westmoreland County to appoint her uncle as the guardian of the children and in 1806 wed James Harl with whom she had four additional children.  About 1815 the couple moved to Jefferson leaving James in Apollo.  James wed Sallie Jackson and they had ten children: William, Jane, Sarah, Elizabeth, Polly, James, Thompson, Jackson, Catherine and Alexander.

Alexander wed Harriet Stivenson Eakman, widow of Aaron Eakman a civil war casualty, in 1864.  They raised a family of eight:  William, Erie, Matttie, Maggie, George, Sallie and Benjamin.  The family worked in the Pennsylvania oil fields and eventually moved to Texas about 1900 to work the oil fields there. 

Contact with anyone researching this line would be appreciated.