not sure where i come from

[tabithak]

hi all,
i'm an australian gal interested in my family hertiage and was wondering if anyone can help me out.
my mother's side of the family are the armstrongs and i was wondering if someone can tell me which part of scotland they originate from...
your help will be greatly appreciated.

[Polwarth]

Hello
The Armstrongs come from the Scottish Borders and were historically one of the families known as Border Reivers. The following info was taken from http://www.electicscotland.com - which is a Scotland-based site. Another site based in Scotland is http://www.rampantscotland.com You should be able to find more information on both those sites. There is an Armstrong Trust site, but I'm not sure of the URL. I'm sure it will be shown on the Electricscotland site - and that should give you a lot more info re the Armstrongs.

BTW - this is not really a genealogy question, more a clan history one - if you need more info, you might be more successful if you post your request in the Clan forum on the site



"Amongst the Border clans the Armstrongs were one of the most numerous as well as one of the most powerful and feared. They possessed the greater part of Liddesdale and later spread into Eskdale and Annandale and by 1528 were reputed to be able to put 3000 horsemen in the field. Their constant forays into England to raid and plunder kept the Borders in turmoil. Traditionally the Armstrongs claim descent from Fairbairn, the armour bearer to a Scottish king, who rescued his monarch in the midst of battle when his horse had been killed under him. From this deed the family came to be known as "Armstrong" and received a gift of lands in Liddesdale. The first chief was Alexander Armstrand, Laird of Mangerton in the late 13th century. Gilbert Armstrong, Steward of the Household to King David II was Scotland's ambassador to England. Their lawlessness led James V to hang John Nie Armstrong of Gilnockie and his followers in 1529. He was considered one of the most notorious of the "Border reivers" and inspired the most famous of all Border ballads "Johnnie Armstrong". However, the hostile and turbulent spirit of the Armstrongs was not suppressed until the reign of James VI when their leaders were executed in 1610 and the Armstrong lands passed into the possession of the Scotts, another powerful Border family. The Armstrongs never recovered and the clan scattered. On the 21st July 1969, Neil Armstrong, an American descendant became the first man to walk on the moon and he carried with him a fragment of the Armstrong tartan."

[stewart67]

Hi Polwarth,
Just thought I would jump in here and say hello to you and see how you are doing,fine I hope,everything is good here,tabithak,how are you?I don't know much about the Armstrong clan but my friend was one and he used to say that he was also in the Green family but I always thought the Greens were an English family,is that right polwarth,polwarth is a very knowledgable source for these kind of questions tabithak,don't mean to butt in here,just wanted to say hello to pol,so,I'll write more later and thanks again polwarth for all the Scottish food suggestions on my cuisine forum,have a great day everyone and hope to hear from you all later.
Stewey

[tabithak]

hi,
thank you for that, i found it really useful.
i'm kinda new to this forum thing, so i wasn't quite sure which category to post this under.
anyway, thanks again for your help and i hope you keep well.
tabithak