Catherine had a great sense of Irish wit and humor! Usually the head of house was a man and referred to as"Himself" . The lady, especially if she was the breadwinner or even his spouse was referred o as "Herself". So she must have had a bit of money to be able to buy such a stone and to use the caption on it shows she thought a lot of herself, and it could also be that she ruled the roost and was mockingly called "Herself" by herself or the family. She showed them! I love her-don't you? Kathleen S. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alison Coleman" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 12:27 PM Subject: [NY-TROY-IRISH-GENSOC] Catherine Armstrong > Hello TIGS--I am a new member and happy to find you. I am joining on > behalf of Catherine Armstrong, born in Maguires Bridge Northern Ireland > and died in Troy, Oct. 22, 1881; buried at Mt. Ida. > > I believe "bumping into" Catherine as I was strolling through the cemetery > will lead me to an interesting story. Her gravestone is the tallest in the > cemetery and has no family on it--just her with the words "Erected by > Herself". I want to find out how and why she came to erect her own > headstone! > > I found some Armstrongs in Maguires Bridge on Facebook and am trying to > connect with them. I have seen her obit and the cemetery death record. All > this is new to me but I am compelled to learn about her. > >>From the obit, I learned that she died at the home of an unnamed niece who >>lived at 71 Thirteenth St. in Troy. > > Any ideas about how I can learn more? > > Thanks, Alison > ===NY-IRISH-GENSOC Mailing List=== > Time for Society Members to pay up their **2012 Dues**. See the Website > for details: > Troy Irish Genealogy Society > www.rootsweb.com/~nytigs/ > Click ON - "JOIN TIGS NOW!" to get form. > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

This is what genealogy is all about. The stories - the personalities! Thank you for sharing. On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 8:27 AM, Kathleen Secker <[email protected]>wrote: > Catherine had a great sense of Irish wit and humor! Usually the head of > house was a man and referred to as"Himself" . The lady, especially if she > was the breadwinner or even his spouse was referred o as "Herself". So she > must have had a bit of money to be able to buy such a stone and to use > the > caption on it shows she thought a lot of herself, and it could also be that > she ruled the roost and was mockingly called "Herself" by herself or the > family. She showed them! I love her-don't you? Kathleen S. > > > >

I agree. I was taken by the story too. I grew up in Albany and my mom was from Troy but I've lived in Alexandria, VA for many years. In the summers, I'm a "host dad" for interns from Northern Ireland and the Republic as part of something called the Washington Ireland Program---it's related to Project Children. One of the interns who stayed with me came from nearby Maguires' Bridge in Fermanagh which in turn is not far from where I determined my Troy great grandmother, Rebecca Dolan O'Neil, was originally from. I forwarded Catherine's story to him. We'll see if he knows some Armstrongs. Thanks for sharing this. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Kevina Munnich Sent: Friday, May 18, 2012 9:43 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [NY-TROY-IRISH-GENSOC] Catherine Armstrong This is what genealogy is all about. The stories - the personalities! Thank you for sharing. On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 8:27 AM, Kathleen Secker <[email protected]>wrote: > Catherine had a great sense of Irish wit and humor! Usually the head of > house was a man and referred to as"Himself" . The lady, especially if she > was the breadwinner or even his spouse was referred o as "Herself". So she > must have had a bit of money to be able to buy such a stone and to use > the > caption on it shows she thought a lot of herself, and it could also be that > she ruled the roost and was mockingly called "Herself" by herself or the > family. She showed them! I love her-don't you? Kathleen S. > > > > ===NY-IRISH-GENSOC Mailing List=== Time for Society Members to pay up their **2012 Dues**. See the Website for details: Troy Irish Genealogy Society www.rootsweb.com/~nytigs/ Click ON - "JOIN TIGS NOW!" to get form. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message