R352
Husband: John M. Armentrout
Father: George Armentrout
Mother: Mary Armentrout
Born: Rockbridge County Va., in 1818 [S056] or 1821 [S059]
Died: 11/23/1871, aged 53, of heart disease. Buried in Stonewall
Jackson Cemetery, Lexington Va.
Wife: Elvira Emmaline (Wood) Armentrout
Father: Edward Wood [R003]
Mother: Sarah (Gilliland) Wood [R003]
Born: 11/24/1824
Died: 3/1909, 85 years old. Probably buried in the Indian Hill Cemetery,
Bath County
Married: 5/2/1846, in Bath County. Surety, James W. Wood. Edward
Wood consented for daughter, Elvira Wood. Witnesses, James W.
Wood and John C. Wood [S002]
Children:
Sally E. Armentrout, b. ~1851, m. 3/3/1874 to James A. Crizer, ch.
Jasper (m. Gertrude Venable; ch. Charles, Rodney, Marjorie,
Dorothy, Leta, Emma), Hampton, Ernest. James Crizer was Lewis E.
Wood’s [R005] partner in buying the property now referred to as the
“Crizer Place.”
3 Children who died young
Stonewall Jackson Armentrout [R358], 2/16/1862-1/1923
Hannah Armentrout, b. ~1865, m. Frank Crizer, moved to Roswell
N.M., ch. Mamie Lee, Dillard Ancel, Mary Louise
Fitzhugh Lee Armentrout [R357], 3/23/1867-11/5/1928
(1996) Elvira and her husband, along with her brother Francis Marion Wood [R004], remained in Bath County when all their brothers and sisters settled in Randolph County W.Va. (and elsewhere). I am unclear on when John and Elvira acquired their land in Bath County, which was NE of the White House where Edward Wood [R003] had lived. The 1850 census of Bath County lists the following members of their household, all born in Bath County:
John Armentrout, farmer, age 29
Elvira Armentrout, age 24
Francis Wood, age 20
John Wood, age 22
Thomas Pleasant, blacksmith age 20
Joseph Pleasant, apprentice age 17
Francis [R004] and John [R362] Wood were brothers of Elvira.
When Edward’s land holdings were deeded to his son Francis in 1854 [R904], they were already diminished in size; in particular, an 83-acre bite had been taken out of the NE side of tract A of Fig. R003a, Edward’s first land purchase. This subtraction was in the area where the Armentrouts lived, and it was probably ceded to them, though I have not seen a deed. The position of their home, outside the land they acquired from Elvira’s father, is shown in Fig. R003a. At some date the original building burned and was rebuilt. It is used today (1994) by the Fitzgerald family, who purchased it and neighboring land from Herman Armentrout, a grandson of Elvira.
In 1857, John Armentrout and the Edward Wood estate sold tract J of Fig. R003a to John Kesterson of Mercer County WV (DB11-573). This appears to have been a deed in trust to secure a loan; in 1869 Armentrout bought the property back from Kesterson for $500 (DB12-288).
By the time of the Civil War the Armentrouts had four children. While John was serving in the Confederate Army, the children contracted diphtheria. Three died and are buried in the Indian Hill cemetery. The fourth child, Sally, who was sent to Rockbridge County, survived. Three more children were born to John and Elvira after this tragedy.
Janis LaRue [S007] remembers of her great-grandmother, “Elvira was a small lady, only about five foot tall, with a happy disposition—she worked hard & did beautiful needlework—(a quilt she made that is now the property of her great-great-granddaughter Mary Shawn LaRue is evidence of this). She was a Christian lady and taught her children as such. My Mother remembered her with much love.” Elvira lived at her home place until her death. Her son Lee [R357] and his wife Mamie (Van Lear) lived for 14 years with Elvira until her death.
