Noah Armstrong - Family Histories - Coleman County, Texas

     William Burrage Armstrong and his first wife (name unknown) had two sons; William, born June 15, 1840 served in the Civil War from Hill County; Mathias, born September 30, 1840 in Lincoln County, Missouri, married Sarah Atlas Reed January 6, 1866. Served in the Civil War from Bell County, died August 21, 1882, buried in Sunshine Cemetery, Bell County. William Burrage then married Amanda F. Jeans May 27, 1845, and they had Thomas Newton, August 7, 1848-1856; Theodore, June 15, 1850-Nov. 1916, married Jane Elizabeth Reed, January 6, 1890; Noah, February 8, 1852 in Lincoln County, Missouri, July 26, 1956, married Betty Fullerton, November 30, 1879 in Dawson, Texas; Cornelius, September 23, 1853-1889 (was shot); Barnabus (Barney), February 9, 1855-November 29, 1904, married Lulubelle Watt, 1886; George A. "Doc." February 8, 1857-April 25, 1945, married Mary Elizabeth Goodwin, March 4, 1881; John Henry, February 22, 1858-1889 (was shot); Elizabeth Frances, November 4, 1859-June 20, 1933, married Coston Beauchamp October 29, 1878; Virgil, November 30, 1861-March 18, 1905, married Viola Harmon, March 11, 1886; Ida Belle, July 22, 1864-July 4, 1960, married James Harmon January 15, 1891; Thomas Rufus, March 27, 1869-March 26, 1946, married Claudia Blackburn.

     Noah was one or Coleman County's most colorful characters. His family moved near Salado. Texas shortly after his birth. He went to school at the old Salado College. He grew up living in the old Stage Coach Depot (Inn). Too young for the Civil War, he made up for it in later years. He joined the Texas Rangers in 1876 and engaged in many running gun battles with Indians. After two years in the Rangers, he settled down in Coleman County. Noah was one of two Armstrong brothers arrested and acquitted for the shooting of the Sheriff John Olive in the early 1890's. Ten years earlier, Olive had shot and killed two other Armstrong brothers, John and Cornelius, in the line of duty, of course. He was cleared, but bad blood remained. Noah lived to be over 104 years old. He at one time bought a saloon in Coleman and ran it for twelve years. He was the oldest living Texas Ranger in 1947 and had many write-ups in the Coleman papers. The last article was in 1955 when he turned 103, wherein he recounted his life as a ranger taking part in Buffalo hunts of 1876-78. "The Centenarian obliged reporters by emptying a revolver into a rolling tin can without missing a shot."

     Children of Noah and Betty were: William Rufus, born January 2, 1881, married Maggie Moxley; Irvie Lee, born September 21, 1885, married Albert Rister; Burrage Henry, born June 11, 1886, married Trixie Swann; Floyd Wood, born September 16, 1888, died 1907; Ida Gay, born October 23, 1890, married (1) John Sanford, married (2) W. C. Hazle; Ima May, born May 1, 1902, married (1) Ellsworth Goree, m. (2) William James.