THE subject of this sketch, though the last to be dealt with, is by no means the least prominent of the old pioneers of Blanshard. He, unlike several whom we have already had occasion to mention in this work, took but little part in those political questions which seem to affect and arouse the ambitions of so many men. His mind appears to have been strongly permeated with the principles of a living Christianity from a very early period of his life. Placing politics, therefore, in a subordinate position, he devoted his thoughts, his energy, and his influence to the introduction and the spread of that spiritual life the tendencies of which are for the good of mankind. Mr. Armstrong was of a sanguine temperament, and untiring in his efforts to accomplish what he believed to be in the line of duty. When the township was almost an unbroken wilderness, with here and there little patches hewed out of the woods by the hardy and adventurous settler, he toiled long distances through the forest to be present at those pleasant revivals held in the shanty of the hardy pioneer. Churches there were none for several years. That peace, however, which arises from an abiding faith in the promises of a merciful heaven, was found in the huts of the settlers as pure and as free as if they had worshipped under the dome of St. Paul’s.

JOHNSTON ARMSTRONG

It may be said, in these sketches we are endeavoring to throw a glamor over the lives and elevate to prominence men whose characters had no distinctive features to distinguish them from the great herd of mankind. How many men have been born whose minds an empire might have swayed, and have gone leaving no trace. Fame, like fortune, is fickle, and often denies her favors to her most assiduous and persevering wooers. If brave and intrepid conduct, if energy, determination, and enterprise, if a fearless and courageous heart to surmount difficulties and inconveniences, and an abiding faith in the final results constitute the elements of greatness, very many of the old pioneers possessed these qualities in an eminent degree. Pioneer life in Canada is now, and will be forevermore, a thing of the past. New settlements there will be, but the means of communication are now so great that the privations and difficulties of sixty years ago can never reach the new settler. Railway facilities follow close in his wake, and in many instances precede his onward march, bringing to his door many of the comforts of life and the supplies necessary to the prosecution of his calling. In this township nearly the whole of the old settlers are gone, and the history of their lives are buried with them in the grave. To the wilds of western Canada they came buoyant with hope and hewed out a spot where civilization has planted her foot and laid the foundations of what will one day become a great and glorious nation. If the old adage is true that “the man who makes two blades of grass grow where only one grew before is a benefactor to 16 his race,” then all honor to the old pioneers who transformed the pathless woods of this country into fertile fields, and made her dreary places bud and blossom like the rose.

Johnston Armstrong was born at Clewes, in the county of Fermanagh, in June, 1819. As the name indicates, the family was undoubtedly of Scottish origin. In personal appearance he was typical of a borderer. The residence of the family in the north of Ireland had not in any perceptible degree altered their appearance as being the descendants of the courageous border clan. He was rather above the middle height and well proportioned, and appeared like a person who would be able to bear a great amount of hardship. His complexion was very fair, indicating a Danish ancestry—a distinguishing characteristic of many of the Lowland people of Scotland. In manner he was grave and thoughtful, reticent rather than loquacious. He was utterly destitute of that brusque, hail-fellow well-met conduct that usually marked the old pioneer. He was somewhat clerical and dignified in his communications. In his habits he was methodical and temperate, and always acted with an apparent deliberation, as if he fully calculated the consequences of his actions. He was not demonstrative either to his friends or to his opponents, and as a matter of course he was often misunderstood. Such a character was the very opposite of that which meets the approval of the great crowd and merits the thoughtless applause of the multitude. For the course he had marked out for himself, however, it was exactly suitable. To minister at the altar, and assist in the dissemination of the principles of Methodism among the early settlers, these qualities were essential to success. His grave and thoughtful aspect forbade all that gross familiarity which was part of the every-day life of the early settler, and gave him an influence in spiritual affairs which appeared to be the goal of his highest aspirations. From his earliest days in Blanshard he had associated himself with the Rev. Ephraim Evans (the great apostle of the church founded by John Wesley) whose voice in the township was like the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “ Prepare ye the way.” In the shanty Mr. Armstrong had erected on the Mitchell road in 1843, Mr. Evans was a constant visitor, and ministered to the spiritual wants of the old pioneers, some of whom came many miles through the forest to the place of meeting. These to many were happy reunions, and the glorious old songs of Zion, as they rose from the lonely hut, floated away in the distant woods like the diminished tones of a distant echo. At the close of the service, when goodbyes had been spoken and the good old minister had blessed them, all took their dreary way through the woods, feeling that surely this must have been the house of God and none other than the gate of heaven. He had joined the Orange order, but was a strong Reformer in politics.

Mr. Armstrong was the son of a farmer, and apparently one of the highest class. His manner and personal appearance indicated a careful and comfortable bringing up. The education attained in Ireland seventy years ago in the ordinary school was not of a very high order, but such as it was he received a full share. He spoke English well, and took pride int he use of the most appropriate and eloquent language to express his ideas. After leaving school he worked on the farm till lie readied the age of twenty-one years. At this age, with most of young men their natural characteristics begin to assert themselves and give tone and color to their lives. He therefore formed the design to abandon farm life in Ireland and mark out for himself a new career in the land being opened up in the west. The possibilities in Canada were much greater for a young, energetic man without much capital than they could have been in his native country. In the spring of 1840 we find him at Quebec, and preparing for further journeying on to Niagara. That terrible excitement which had almost paralyzed the progress of Upper Canada, arising out of the Rebellion of 1837, had not yet subsided. It did not take long on his arrival at Niagara to decide as to his future conduct in the struggle, the effects of which were still felt. His loyalty to the Crown and Government of Great Britain was then and continued during his life to be one of the prominent elements in his character. He accordingly joined the volunteers, clothed himself with the Queen’s livery, and was prepared for any emergency in the defence of the authority of Britain. With the volunteers he served for twenty-two months, when they were disbanded, some going to their homes, and he to the then almost unbroken wilderness of the township of Blanshard. In April of 1843 he came to the woods and located on lots 7 and 8, in the East Mitchell road concession. On lot 8 he made his home for forty years. Lot 7 he afterwards sold to his brother Thomas, and on which he lived, it may almost be said, his whole life. It may be mentioned here that no two men could be more alike than the two brothers. In personal appearance, in manner, in that dignity which appears to be peculiar to the taste of Irish people of the better class, in his actions, in his style !of expressing himself in conversation, the one appears to be an almost exact counterpart of the other.

The Mitchell road concession, in 1843, was all woods, at least in the northern part of it, and Mr. Armstrong’s first work was to erect a shanty in which he could live until better days should come. In this shanty he resided, and here he kept the travelling ministers, here made welcome the poor land hunter and his family as they pursued their weary journey away to some lonely spot in the forest, there to make a home, and here, in 1844, he brought his young wife. The young ladies of those days must have had leal hearts and boundless faith in those to whom they were united, when they left home and became the mistress of a rude log shanty, with its roof of troughs and clay-plastered walls.

In July, 1844, Mr. Armstrong married Miss Clarinda Sparling, daughter of C. Gr. Sparling, who resided on the West Mitchell road concession. Mrs. Armstrong was a good and kind woman, and assisted her husband to the utmost in his efforts to secure a home for their family. The result of their labors on the old farm, we are pleased to say, was one of success. In the course of years the old shanty disappeared and a commodious new dwelling occupied its place. Barns were built and the whole farm improved, indicative of comfort and that ease in circumstances which is sure to follow well-directed effort. There was born to Mrs. Armstrong a family of thirteen children—six sons and seven daughters—Maxwell, who died in infancy; Claudius B. D. Armstrong, of London; T. S. Armstrong, of St. Marys; C. G. Armstrong, of New Brunswick; Adam Clark, died in infancy; Johnston, died at nineteen years of age; Mary Ann (Mrs. Reuben Shier), Blanshard; Sarah Jane (Mrs. Byfield), dead; Lucy (Mrs. Peane), of the township of Delaware; Elizabeth (Mrs. Wood-bridge), of London ; Clarinda (Mrs. McKay), of Manitoba; Margaret Eleanor, dead; and Edith, of Boston, U.S. It may seem to Mrs. Armstrong somewhat melancholy to reflect, as it will be to thousands of mothers in this land, that those whom they had around their hearths a few short years ago are all gone, and they are left alone, it may be to drop a tear as they reflect on the years that were spent in the old shanty in the woods, and which can come back no more. The hand of fate and circumstances seems to be inexorable, and families are separated far from each other, never, it may be, to meet again on this side of eternity.

As we have stated elsewhere in this sketch, Mr. Armstrong, on his arrival in Canada, had joined the volunteers and served for some time in the corps at Niagara. After settling in Blanshard he attended the military school for a period, learning the form of drill and the tactics in connection with the service. He was appointed captain in the sedentary forces in Blanshard, the militia system in vogue in Canada at that time. This position he held for several years, and with that of the office of treasurer of the municipality in 1855, were the only public offices he ever held in the township.

As we have stated elsewhere, politics never attracted Mr. Armstrong. His thought and the trend of his mind was in an entirely different groove. He had early identified himself with the Methodist body, and all his energies were spent in the spread and support of its teachings. Previous to his marriage his shanty was open to the clergy of that denomination at all times, as well as having an open door to the poor emigrant in search of a home. He was not of those to whom the Master spoke in the market-place: “Why stand ye here idle? Go, work in my vineyard.” Neither was he like him who, having received his talents, tied them in a handkerchief. The ability he had was given for a purpose, and he used it as he thought best in the cause of Him who is everlasting life to all men. He was a local preacher, recording steward, class-leader, and superintendent of the Sabbath-school. He laid the foundations of the now prosperous congregation of Zion Church on the Mitchell road. The good seed sowed fifty years ago in the old log cabin, on lot 8, has grown up abundantly, and the temple raised to the worship of God is to-day amongst the finest in the township.

His life on the farm was such as was common to all the old pioneers. After long years of labor and waiting, came success. At the end of forty years from the time he entered the woods, he was able to retire to St. Marys, where he might rest and live the balance of his allotted span in comfort. After residing some time in St. Marys he became quite infirm, and the strong constitution seemed to be giving way to the inevitable. In 1891 his infirmities were such that it was evident he could not hold out much longer, and on the 19tli day of October he breathed his last. Verily it is true that “man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.”

So Mr. Armstrong had accomplished the work set apart for him to do, and if it be true, as the poet says, that “an honest man is the noblest work of God,” then we say this old pioneer died an honest man.