Note: The following is a section of a family history compiled by Herbert Armstrong Poole between 1905 & 1960, transcribed by AAA Maitland 1998. Subject numbers are HAP's originals. HAP's page divisions are shown: after subject page numbers are complete document page numbers in brackets and issue dates. The original text had generations indented in turn: here, generation numbers are added to each individual: the children of the title subject are "1/--". Subject 3 Page 1 (44) ELEANOR ISABELLA ARMSTRONG Was born at Holly Park, Leitrim, Ireland (2 miles from Carrick-on-Shannon), on August 14/1841 and died, aged 76 at 89 Bluff, Yokohama, Japan, on June 4/1918. She was buried in the Yokohama Foreign Cemetery on the Bluff near her home and her husband's ashes were buried in the same grave on his death in 1929. She was the third child and first daughter of John and Eleanor Isabella (Wilson) Armstrong, subject 6. She married, 1st, at Arcola, Illinois, on November 7/1871, Colonel John Washington Young. They were divorced in 1872 and had no children. She married, 2nd, at Chicago, Illinois, on February 7/1876, Otis Augustus Poole, born at Beloit, Wisconsin, December 20/1848, died at Berkeley, California, April 1/1929, son of Augustus and Maria Bishop (Manchester) Poole, see Subject 4. See Subject 2 for issue and further particulars. Of her early life in Ireland, she remembered very little, as she was not quite 12 when her father brought her to America. When she was seven years old, her mother died April 24/1848; and eighteen months later, October 22/1849 her father married her mother's younger sister, Henrietta Wilson, then 23 years old, who outlived him by 22 years and died in Chicago April 16/1914. She was an affectionate and devoted step- mother to Eleanor and her sister Henrietta, two years younger, and was as considerate of them as of her own children who ranged from twelve to 25 years younger than Eleanor. In June 1853, John Armstrong brought his entire family to America, Eleanor being then nearly twelve years old. The voyage was by sailing vessel, 21 days, from Dublin to New York, whence they proceeded to Chicago and made it their home. Of Eleanor's education, I (her son Herbert A. Poole) know very little, having unfortunately paid scant heed to what she told us of those early days, but her character and accomplishments show that it must have been good, and moreover her father soon prospered in Chicago and would have been able to afford her every advantage. He was always devoted to his eldest daughter and the bond between them was touchingly strong. She applied herself particularly to music and was a prize pupil of Prof. Robert Goldbeck of the Chicago Conservatory of Music, becoming a pianist of exceptional distinction. She must have inherited many of her grandfather, Captain John Armstrong's characteristics for, like him, she had an unusual talent for letter writing and but little taste for cooking, and cared very little for food, often saying that all she wanted was an egg and a cup of tea. She was fond of entertaining, had a brilliant wit and conversational powers, and a surprising interest in scientific matters. (I remember in our school-days in Yokohama, she was a disciple of our Head-Master C.H.Hinton, one of the earliest exponents of the "fourth dimension" and we boys would scurry home from school at noon, and father from his office in the settlement, only to find the dining-room table littered with cubes, figures and designs over which Hinton and Mother were poring with their heads together, the houseboy hovering. Subject 3 P.1-A (44-A) I obtained the following account of her early life in Chicago, before the fire of 1871, from Mrs Weaver of Canyon, City, Colorado, one of the Burlingame daughters, see under subject 6. Mrs Weaver sent me this account in 1940, when she was very old, and said it was a story she had written for a magazine competition years ago, which was, by the way, not accepted by the magazine. How much fact and how much fiction there is in the article, she could no longer remember, but told me it was based on the facts of the case: the article read as follows:- "I was a little girl of about thirteen when I first saw Eleanor Armstrong in Arcola, and I bowed at her shrine in adoring admiration. Her first visit to Arcola was in the summer, and a brief one, bringing several gay friends with her, to help endure the horrors of country life as she called it, but even with their help she only stayed two weeks. John Armstrong, her father, at that time had two houses on Huron St, his own residence and a double house adjoining, which he had rented to others. My half sister, Emma Munch, with her husband Henry Munch and their two children, lived on one side of the double house: Mr Munch was a broker and he fortunately suffered no loss in the great fire, as his safe was intact. I spent the six months from October 1870 to March 1871 with Emma, studying the piano at the Chicago Conservatory of Music under Robert Goldbeck, who had taught Eleanor for many years. At the time the great Chicago fire broke out, Mrs Armstrong and all the children except Percy and his faithful nurse Ann, were at Maple Grove, Arcola. As the advancing flames crossed the river and moved steadily north, the city waterworks having been already destroyed, Mr Armstrong was frantic with anxiety for his helpless family in the Huron St house, consisting of Mr Goodfellow, Percy and Ann. The entire contents of the house went up in flames, except Eleanor's Steinway piano, which got an expressman to take to the west side, separated by a branch of the Chicago River. In the early fall of 1871, a family picnic was held in one of the city parks, and my cousin, Chandler Robbins seems to have been the head of the party. My sister Emma always said that Chandler was the last person one would expect to present a strange man without credentials, to the ladies. My sister Emma Munch and Eleanor were of the party. During the day a men approached Chandler and how he managed it, no one of the family has ever been able to conjecture, but he did so ingratiate Subject 3. P 2. (45) himself with Chandler that he introduced him to the ladies of the party. He represented himself as a Colonel in the Cuban Army, said he had visited all the Courts of Europe, &c. Of course he followed up the acquaintance with Miss Armstrong with such success that she invited him to accompany her to Arcola for a few days visit. On Sunday, October 8/1871, I spent the day at Maple Grove and on Monday morning, the 9th, Colonel Young, Eleanor and I took Mrs Armstrong to the Arcola station to board the Chicago train. When we arrived at the station we were appalled to hear that a telegram had been received "Chicago in ashes, send food for the suffering. It was debated whether Mrs Armstrong should go on, but she said she must go. I remember how all the bakeries of Arcola began to prepare food for the stricken city. Eleanor asked her friend Emma Munch when they were alone, "Who is the Captain or General or whatever title he has? He asked me to let him call and for the sake of a new experience I said Yes: there is something so odd about him: he makes me think of descriptions of Tallyrand, not quite so bad looking perhaps, but having a power altogether independent of his physique: is he an American? Emma replied, "I heard him refer to you as that divine creature with the form of a Juno and the face of a Venus: to tell the truth I know very little about him: Cousin Chandler introduced him so I suppose he is allright: yes, he is an American but he has been away from his native land so long as to give him a foreign air: he was in Mexico for some time and then on a filibustering expedition to Cube: he has had some thrilling experiences and he narrowly escaped with his life". A few letters were exchanged by Eleanor and Young and before the winter was over, he asked permission to make her a visit. When John Armstrong found how far matters had gone he was greatly annoyed and worried about it. "Eleanor, he wrote, we know nothing about this man: he may be a mere adventurer from all I can ascertain: I have made diligent enquiries and about the only fact I can learn is that be served in the Cuban Rebellion under Gomez: don't give him my further encouragement until you at least know him better." But all this was to no avail. She had made up her mind and no argument or entreaty could avail. The Burlingames were dismayed when they learned that their idol was to marry a man who impressed none of them favorably and of whom so little was known, and of whom nobody spoke well: they all thought of him as an adventurer whose account of his past life was not to be trusted. John Washington Young had served in the Civil War, as the following letter shows:- Adjutant General's Office, Albany, N.Y. May 12/1873. Captain John W. Young: Company K, 76th New York Volunteers, who was enrolled September 28/1861, was mustered into service as Major, September 30/1863, and taken prisoner May 5/1864 at the Wilderness, Virginia. He was honorably discharged March 12/1865, under provisions of Gen Orders No 108, dated War Dept, A.G.O. April 28/1863. Date of his Commission as Major, July 3/1863, for meritorious conduct. (signed) John W. Rathbone, Adjutant General. General Headquarters, State of New York. Young had some property in Indiana at this time, and he was considered by many of Eleanor's people and friends as a very handsome and fascinating man, large and heavy. John Armstrong always held that he was a bad egg, but could find nothing against him when he asked for her hand, and he very unwillingly consented to their marriage. They were married at Maple Grove, Arcola, on November 7/1871, by the Rev Dr Roberts, Presbyterian Minister. Mrs John Armstrong thought the world of him, (Young). After the wedding they went by train to some place on the Mississippi and thence down the river by one of the old Mark Twain side wheelers to New Orleans. Subject 3. P3. (46) They stayed there some days and made a side trip to Galveston. Eleanor's health then was rather weak, her lungs showing weakness, and she did not know whether Young faked his business in these warm climes for the benefit of her health, or not. He chose that direction, partly, he said, to look after his valuable mining interests in Mexico. They had not been married two weeks before she had her first insight into his violent character. They were walking from the hotel to the Opera in New Orleans, when a couple of men ahead kept turning around and looking at her, as she was a striking looking girl. Young was very jealous and it happened on arriving at the Opera House, she ran up the steps for fun, and he followed her slowly to find her right opposite these two men: he accused her of running after them and on their return to the hotel, threatened to shoot her if she were unfaithful to him. They went to Key West and many of the islands in the Carribean and then on to Mexico City, riding on mules, &c., to such benefit to her health and lungs that she has been strong ever since. Young was very fond of the ladies and even insisted on having questionable ladies to the house, and he used to fritter his money away on them. After their return to Arcola, some wonder was aroused, as week after week passed, the Colonel and his bride still lingered there. Then it was whispered that the silver mines were all a myth, and that John Armstrong was furnishing funds for their support. Young was a magnificent horseman and his daring feats excited much admiration, but he exercised his fascination in more direct ways, and more than one girl regarded him as a hero. Young assumed airs of authority over the farm, and he was always in the gayest of spirits, thought no labor ever soiled his delicate hands. Through the tales of one of the servants it was rumoured that he ill treated his wife. In December invitations were sent out for a big social function for New Year's Eve at Maple Grove: the Armstrong were always lavish with their hospitality and their entertainments were the theme for conversations for weeks after. This was an unusually brilliant affair: the two large parlours cleared for dancing and the musicians to come from Chicago. The large rooms rapidly filled and all seemed favorable for an evening of unalloyed pleasure. After two or three square dances, the musicians struck up a waltz. Several couples took to the floor and Eleanor asked a young lawyer, Mr Rogers, to dance with her. How superb she looked that night: as a chum of her younger half sister, Jennie Armstrong, I was there, not to take part, but to look on the festivities. As she glided down form the other end of the room, Young rose quickly, laid his hand on her arm and told her to come with him. She turned very pale and seemed about to refuse, but instead gracefully excused herself and left the room. He reappeared in a few minutes, and with an impressive gesture of his hand, silenced the musicians. He said "Friends, my wife has disobeyed my command not to dance a round dance with anyone but myself, and she suffers the consequences - I have locked her in her room." The Company stood spellbound for a moment: several of the guests left at once, among them Cora Blackwell and her fiancee, Mr Rogers. Others said "it will be less painful for her if we go on as if nothing has happened." In about half an hour she came downstairs, walked into the parlour and cordially greeted newly arrived guests. She had naturally a fine color, but now her cheeks burned crimson: she was always charming in her manner, gracious and full of wit, but that night she seemed to surpass herself. Her inimitable tact quickly dispelled all embarrassment , and by the time the party broke up, the episode of the evening was almost forgotten. The town rang with the story of the indignity, supplemented by many others which until now had been merely whispers. Mrs Armstrong, feeling she must unburden her heart to someone, told my father, Rufus Burlingame, that it was true Eleanor Subject 3 P4 (47) was very unhappy, but that she would not let anyone interfer, and I don't know that it would do any good: his temper was horrible when crossed. John Armstrong's only comment was "How art the mighty fallen". But he wrote his son-in-law in such terms that the latter decided a separate establishment would be more conducive to his comfort. He left Maple Grove next day and went to Chicago, soon obtaining a position in the Money Order department of the Post Office. In the spring of 1878 after he had been there about three months, he sent for Eleanor, writing that he wished her to accompany him on a trip to the Eastern States. A few days later they were in Washington, reaching the city by an early train, and after breakfast she went to her room, leaving her husband in the office reading the newspapers. He entered the room a few minutes later. "What is the matter, what has happened, she exclaimed", reading in his face the token of disaster. Eleanor, he said, I am in trouble. With all his tyranny and dominating will there were times when he was awed by something in his wife which he could not explain satisfactorily to himself. He said "The fact is, I've been driven to desperation by my hard luck and now the police are on my track, and if we don't get out of here in a hurry, they'll nab me and that will mean a residence in jail for three or four years: you're a million times too good for me, I know, but, true as I stand here, I didn't look for things to come out as they have, when I asked you to marry me: your father could have helped me but, instead, he as good as turned me out of the house: you know I stood that dirty Post Office for three months, but I couldn't stand the drudgery on such a pittance, so I did what thousands of others would have done in my place - forged money orders and did my own collecting: I thought we would make a new start in Canada but now I must send you back to Arcola and make my way alone: I saw in the papers downstairs they were on my track, so there's no time to be lost: when you go down, lock the door of the room and leave the key in the office: tell the clerk that I have gone out for an hour or two: then go to the station and take the noon train to Chicago." They were able to leave the hotel without suspicion, although there was a detective on hand to arrest the man answering to his description. Eleanor was sitting in her room in Arcola one night: it was late and all the household had retired. Suddenly she heard footsteps crunch on the gravel path below, then a pebble struck her window, which she softly raised. She saw her husband and admitted him, realizing that this unkempt man was him indeed. Always the most particular man in his appearance, he was now dirt begrimed, unshaven and his shoes almost in tatters. "You know, of course, that they caught me before I left Washington, he said, just as I was about to take the train. I thought it was all over, but before we had travelled far, it struck me that I might turn my social accomplishments to account, and I didn't spare myself: I believe that I had half convinced the man that I wasn't a bad fellow after all: I pretended being seized with violent pangs in my stomach, and made frequent visits to the toilet: when we were going through a forest somewhere in Pennsylvania, I opened the toilet window, and the next thing I found myself lying on an embankment and the train out of sight: I gave my ankle a nasty wrench but struck off into the woods: I think I would have died of starvation if I hadn't met some tramps: they took me with them nearly a hundred miles on freight trains, and the rest of the way I came on foot, with an occasional lift: if you will only hide me here till my ankle gets stronger, I will go away and never bother you again." Eleanor replied:- "I have no right to do this, this is my father's house and he would never consent to harbor such a criminal as you." You need not ask his consent: you will have to tell your step-mother who Subject 3 P 5 (48) has always liked me, and I am sure she will do what you wish. Eleanor would make no promise but her step-mother agreed to do this. When John Armstrong came down from Chicago that weekend he was not so much in the dark as her step-mother and Eleanor supposed. Through an unguarded remark of his wife he gained a clue as to what was going on. As Young was to be there only a few days longer he decided to let things take their course and thought Eleanor wished to tell him about it, he discerned her intention and would not permit the confidence. "Eleanor, he said, looking at her significantly, you know how I feel for you in your trouble about your husband: the papers stated he had escaped: if he should come here to be concealed, I would never give my consent." She understood and was silent. In the dusk of a summer evening, when Young felt himself sufficiently recovered, he left on foot for the outskirts of Arcola, intending to board a freight train. When he got there, two men sprang at him with their revolvers levelled: he fought frantically for his liberty, but a shot through the shoulder ended the conflict and he was born off to the Arcola hotel, and taken to Chicago by the midnight train. His trial was short and he was sentenced to six years penal servitude in the penetentiary. Eleanor returned him all the presents he had given her. This gave John Armstrong his chance, and with her permission, he persuaded her to divorce him. In fact John Armstrong offered to pay a good lawyer to defend him at the trial, provided she would file divorce proceedings. This she did through the family lawyer, Colonel Van Buren, a specialist in such cases, though she went to particular pains to find out if any other pleas other than being imprisoned was necessary, as she had a feeling that it was unfair to thus take advantage of Young's misfortunes, no matter how badly he had treated her. However, Van Buren said that ipso facto, the imprisonment was grounds for an annulment, and the thing went through promptly, for all of which John Armstrong gladly paid. She went back to Arcola after the divorce and stayed two years. She was just about boss of the place. She gave Percy his first music lessons. W.J. Calhoun, a lawyer form Tuscola was often entertained at Maple Grove: he became prominent in politics and in later years was appointed Minister to the Chinese Government at Peking. Eleanor met Otis A. Poole while John Armstrong and his family were boarding at Mrs Wright's at 1801 Indiana Ave: He and his friend Paul Hayward were also boarding there. Otis Poole was at at that time with Sayres and Thompson, tea merchants, as accountant. John Armstrong had, prior to her marriage to Otis Poole, told him all the particulars of her first marriage to Young. Young, though given a six year sentence, had everything made easy for him in prison owing to his extraordinarily captivating ways. The judge in sentencing him, commuted it to the smallest possible degree, and in prison he was given easy work. The prison doctor took a fancy to him, and while on sick leave in prison, he took up the study of medicine of which he had no previous knowledge. He studied hard and when at the end of four years his liberty was restored owing to good conduct, he came out of prison and immediately took his examination for a medical doctor, and passed high. He went to see his divorced wife, extolled her to the sky, and said she was his guiding angel, even thought she had meanwhile divorced him and married another man. He went to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and practised very successfully as a physician and died there in 1907. Shortly after he went to Fort Wayne, he married again but his wife soon divorced him. The third time he married the daughter of a Methodist Minister and she kept him very much under her thumb: he had two sons by her, both of whom took up the medical profession, one practising in Texas successfully. Eleanor never saw Young after the final interview, but for years after going to Japan was in terror that he Subject 3 P 6. (49). might come out and start a scandal which she had kept buried even from her children. But he never turned up and when he died, none of her Chicago relatives told her about it. Mrs John Armstrong kept the newspaper containing the notice of his death and showed it to her on the occasion of her visit to Chicago in 1908. Eleanor Isabella was a woman of much force of character, frank, impulsive and- always able to swing things. Her great musical talent made her house the center of musical activity in Yokohama, where every musician of note who came to Japan for thirty years, invoked her aid in getting up concerts, most of whom she accompanied on the piano until her daughter took this work off her hands. Ovide Musin the violinist Merck the cellist, Minnie Hauk, De Kontski, Terschalk, Belinfante and many lesser musicians all thronged to her house. A great deal of the musical knowledge of her children is due to going to sleep so many nights to the sound of good music in the Drawing Room. In spite of gouty fingers she still played until her death, and practised hours every day. She was a great card player and played solitaire almost every evening. After Otis Poole moved to Shidzucka, and her children had left the home of thirty years at 89 Bluff, a bungalow of seven rooms, she stayed there: she tried living at Shidzucka but didn't like the Japanese house or the loneliness when Otis Poole was away five months of the year on his yearly trips to America. Her latter years were not lonely as Chester lived only a few doors away. In 1912 she had her right breast removed owing to the appearance a small cancer, but late in 1917 the disease reappeared, and in spite of radium and X ray treatments she grew rapidly worse, her right arm being painfully swollen and numb. She took to her bed in April and died at 5 A.M. on Tuesday, June 14/1918. Her daughter Eleanor had been with her two months until early June when she had to return to Shanghai to give birth to her fourth son. Eleanor had been under the influence of increasing doses of morphine for two months and passed away in her sleep. Eleanor in always generous and kindly towards many in Yokohama who were sick or needed assistance. She was 5 ft 8 inches tall and had the most lovely long white hair. She kept her children under a rather strict control, much to their benefit. She kept her son Herbert and daughter Eleanor at their practising until they became very good players. She never became very closely acquainted with the Japanese ladies, and never learned more than a few words of their language. In all her years in Yokohama she only returned to Chicago twice, once in 1898 and again in 1908. She went to Shanghai twice to visit her daughter, once to Nagasaki to stay with her son Herbert and once to Kobe, when he had typhoid fever. Beyond trips to Kyoto, Nikko, Myanoshita and other places in the country near Yokohama, she never travelled much in Japan. She took her children to Hakone Lake in 1889 and was in Karuizawa several summers. Her greatest musical friends in Yokohama were Hans Ramsegers, a German amateur violinist, and Prince & Princess Lobanow de Rostov: he was Russian Consul and she a Greek from Athens, a fine soprano and sister of Princess Trubetskoi. Eleanor usually attended the Presbyterian Church (in Chicago - handwritten addition) also the Episcopalian church on the Bluff. (in Yokohama) Handwritten: the Armstrongs were from the North of Irelands and were not Catholic.