MRS. JULIA ARMSTRONG

Sacramento County

Biographies

MRS. JULIA ARMSTRONG

Mrs. Julia Armstrong, ranch-owner of Cosumnes Township, residing about twenty-four miles from Sacramento, was born in Ireland, January 19, 1836, her parents being Michael and Mary (Maher) Doheny. The mother died in 1857, aged sixty-two, and the father, January 24, 1866, aged eighty-nine years and eight months. The parents emigrated to America in 1847, accompanied by their four daughters: Julia, the subject of this sketch; Nellie by marriage Mrs. Patrick Cahill, deceased in San Francisco, in November, 1884; and Annie, now Mrs. James J. De Bony, now living in Baltimore, Maryland. Miss Julia Doheny was married October 30, 1862, to Mr. William Armstrong, born in Ireland in 1828, son of John and Nora Lawlor Armstrong. The father died while William was quite young, and several years later, in 1849, the mother came to America with her two children, Mary Ann, afterward Mrs. Patrick Murphy, and William, and settled at Waukegan, Illinois. William came to California in 1852, and went into business as a butcher at Placerville, which he carried on for several years. About 1854 he began to pasture cattle on the open lands, where he afterward located, and in 1863 he quit butchering and settled near where his family now resides, buying some from the Government and still more from individuals, until he owned 1,060 acres in one body. Since his death, May 1, 1873, Mrs. Armstrong has bought 120 acres adjoining. The whole ranch is adapted to cattle-raising and general farming. Mrs. Nora Armstrong, for many years a resident of this township, survived her son, dying in December, 1886, aged ninety-two. The children of William and Julia Armstrong were seven, four dying young, one before the father and three since. The three living are—Jefferson, born April 14, 1864, was elected justice of the peace November 6, 1888; James, born August 28, 1865; Mary Agnes, born February 9, 1867. Miss Armstrong has received an academic education in San Francisco. The three children live with their mother in a neat and pleasant home recently erected.

Transcribed by Karen Pratt.

Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 537-538. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.

Sacramento County Biographies