Untitled
Surnames: Grant, Kenney, Bond, French, Baumeister, Lathrop, Riddel
From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 45-46
LEROY GRANT ARMSTRONG, M.D., of Boscobel, has practiced medicine for forty-two years, and is the oldest practitioner in the northern part of Grant county. He is of Irish descent, and the family name, ARMSTRONG, has been traced to its origin in the tenth century, when a king of Scotland was thrown from his horse, and assisted to mount by his armor-bearer, Fairbeorn. He took the king by the thigh and set him on his saddle. "The royal master gave him the appellation of Armstrong, and assigned him a crest, an armed hand and arm, in the left hand a leg and foot in armor, proper," and this is the coat of arms of the family.
Our subject is a lineal descendant of Francis ARMSTRONG, who emigrated from the North of Ireland to this country in 1727. He settled in New York, in what is now Orange county, where he leased a tract of land. His son, Robert, the great-grandfather of Dr. ARMSTRONG, of Boscobel, was the father of Moses ARMSTRONG, who became the father of Robert ARMSTRONG. The latter was born at Genoa, Cayuga Co., N.Y., in 1804. His brother, Amza, who was head stone cutter and mason, supervised the building of the locks on the Erie canal at Lockport, and while working there Robert learned the trade of stone mason. In 1839 he was married to Miss Huldah GRANT. He was living on rented land, and with difficulty could make head against adverse circumstances. To better his condition he came to Whitewater, Wis., where Delilah, his sister, who had married Giles KENNEY, had settled in 1840. He worked at his trade, and when the railroad from Milwaukee to Prairie du Chien was built he had the contracts for the construction of the mason work between Whitewater and Rock River. In 1864 he removed to Brodhead, where he died in 1875. His wife died at the home of her son, Leroy G., at the age of eighty-five years. They were Presbyterians, and he was a stanch Democrat. He held the office of city marshal at Brodhead.
Dr. ARMSTRONG and Miss Sarah D. BOND, daughter of Jonathan and Mary (FRENCH) BOND, were married Jan. 22, 1861. She was born in Pennsylvania Oct. 29, 1834, and died at Boscobel Aug. 23, 1894, the mother of four children, two of whom, twins, died in infancy. Charles A. is a physician in Boscobel, and is the partner of his father in medical practice; his sketch appears elsewhere. George C. is an attorney, and at the present time represents Bradstreet's Commercial Agency at Salt Lake City. Dr. ARMSTRONG contracted a second marriage Jan. 1, 1895, Miss Rosa BAUMEISTER, a daughter of David BAUMEISTER, becoming his wife; she was born in Garnavillo, Clayton Co., Iowa. They have one son, Archie Ames, born May 25, 1897. Mrs. ARMSTRONG is a member of the Lutheran Church. The Doctor owns a residence and other property in Boscobel. He is a charter member and past master of Grand Lodge, No. 169, A.F.& A.M.; past high priest of Boscobel Chapter, No. 52, R.A.M.; and past eminent commander of De Molai Commandery, No. 15, K.T. He is a member of John McDermott Post, No. 101, G.A.R., of which he served as first commander.
Dr. ARMSTRONG spent his early years at Whitewater, and entered the academy at Fort Atkinson in his seventeenth year. He secured a certificate for country school teaching, and in this occupation secured money for a course at the State University, where he was under the preceptorship of Dr. S. P. LATHROP. In October, 1856, he matriculated at Rush Medical College, Chicago, where he was graduated in 1859, in a class of thirty-one pupils. He received the first prize in surgery from Prof. Brainard, and second honorable mention before the entire Faculty. During his course at this institution he acted for a time as nurse in Mercy Hospital. He took a course at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in the city of New York, in 1873-74. Dr. ARMSTRONG has been a close student of his profession, and has taken special courses in gynecology and surgery at Bellevue Hospital, the Woman's Hospital, and the Presbyterian Hospital, in New York.
Dr. ARMSTRONG began the practice of his profession in 1859, in partnership with Dr. RIDDELL, at Palmyra, Wis., and continued with him for a year and a half. He practiced at Fennimore, Wis., for two years. In 1862 he was appointed assistant surgeon of the 8th Wis. V.I., which regiment he accompanied to Corinth, Miss., where he was transferred to the Army of the Potomac, and assigned to the 6th Wis. V.I. He was promoted and commissioned surgeon of the 48th Wis. V.I. in 1865, accompanied this regiment to Kansas, and was there made post surgeon in charge of the hospital at Fort Scott and at a later time was transferred to Fort Larned, Kans., where he remained until the expiration of his term of service, in February, 1866. Returning to Wisconsin, he opened an office in Boscobel, where he has since remained in continuous practice. Dr. ARMSTRONG belongs to the State Medical Society, of which he was vice-president in 1875, and president in 1888; is a member of the American Medical Association, of the Grant County Medical Society, and of the Southwestern Medical Society. He was United States examining surgeon in the pension service at Boscobel from 1867 to 1883. He is health officer of Boscobel, and was alderman in 1867, and again in 1899, and was a member of the school board from 1868 to 1901, as such helping to organize and establish the high school upon a basis that should secure its admission to the accredited list of high schools at the State University. Dr. ARMSTRONG is a general practitioner, and has performed such capital operations as resection and laparotomy as fall within a general practice. Among his most valued essays and papers at the various society meetings are several upon puerperal convulsions and their treatment.
(Transcriber's note - the word sketch above refers to a biography, not a picture.)
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck