Lot 514: Armstrong-Hornsby Family Photos + Letter Archive, KY Interest

Archive with Kentucky and Civil War interest. 1st grouping: collection of 25 CDVs and 3 tintypes from an album related to the family of Confederate Navy 1st Lt. Richard Fielder Armstrong (1842-1904), his wife Arabella Lewis Hornsby, and their son, Bennett Hornsby Armstrong, dating circa 1866-1886. The album is falling apart but the CDVs are in good condition and many subjects are identified. There are at least two photos identified as Lt. Armstrong and two photos of his wife at different ages, and several photos of Bennett Armstrong at various ages.  Most have backstamps for photo galleries in Canada, where Armstrong settled after surviving the sinking of his ship, the CSS Alabama, near the end of the Civil War. 2nd grouping: CDV album containing photos of family members of Margaret Rives Armstrong, wife of Bennett Armstrong, also circa 1866-1886. Margaret Rives was from Christian County, Kentucky, and this album includes members of the Garrott /Garrett and Rives families from that area. Identified subjects include Isaac and Molly Garrott, H.G. Rives, Bob and Helen Pendleton, and John Jerrell, some with Hopkinsville, KY photo gallery backstamps. Album is mostly intact, with some wear. 3rd grouping: Letter and ephemera archive. Includes: 3 Civil War era letters to Richard Fielder Armstrong around the time of his leaving the U.S. Naval Academy to take a commission in the Confederate Navy. Two letters are from teachers, J.H.C. Coffin and Henry Lockwood, and one is from a friend, “Cromwell”, discussing other students leaving due to the impending War. Also included are 4 Civil War era letters between Dr. Joseph Lewis Hornsby and someone named “Asbury” discussing the moral and political considerations of the Civil War; several dozen pre- and post-Civil War Hornsby and Armstrong letters from the 1840s through the 1960s; 2 silk ribbon political badges, c. 1849, depicting Henry Clay; 1897 Richard Fielder Armstrong signed land indenture; Richard Fielder Armstrong partial newspaper obituary and other news clippings; Peoples Bank of Halifax $6,000 stock certificate dated 1903; 1 circa 1900 notebook with hand drawn plats for property in Nova Scotia including land owned by Mrs. Arabella Armstrong; a circa 1900 Holman Bible with unusually large print that includes family register information for Bennett Hornsby Armstrong and Margaret Rives Armstrong; and several hundred pages of genealogical information about the Armstrong and Hornsby families. Also included with this lot are two framed photographs of a man and woman believed to be Richard Fielder Armstrong and Arabella Hornsby Armstrong in their later years, circa 1895, measuring  21 in. H x 17 in. W, framed.

PROVENANCE: The living estate of Bennett Armstrong of Alexandria, TN, a direct descendant of Lt. Richard F. Armstrong.

CONDITION: All items with general handing wear, toning. Letters with expected separations to some fold lines. One Henry Clay ribbon is in very well preserved condition, while the other is very fragile. Notebook exterior is extremely worn, with some losses to interior pages.