Robert W. Armstrong collection

Robert W. Armstrong was born in 1828 in Baltimore, Maryland. His parents, Rebecca C. Armstrong (1802-1833) and William A. Armstrong (1796-1844), both died before Robert reached adulthood. William Armstrong owned a dry goods business at 41 Baltimore Street and the family lived at a house on the corner of Lexington and Charles Streets.

An early introduction to alcohol led Robert Armstrong to develop alcoholism, which he struggled with throughout the rest of his life. He developed a powerful dedication to his faith as a member of the Charles Street Episcopal Church and worked in missionary efforts along Baltimore’s Light and Pratt Streets wharves. Armstrong’s uncles, Robert G. and Thomas Armstrong (1779-1868), encouraged him to gain skillful employment so he spent two years studying for a degree in dentistry from The Baltimore College of Dental Surgery.

After receiving his dental degree, he moved to Paris, Kentucky to assist in a friend’s dental practice. However, his alcoholism caused him to voluntarily leave the practice when he determined he was harming his friend’s business. While he did take another position in Winnsboro, South Carolina, his addiction once again led him to leave his job. He moved to New York where he used all of his money to purchase alcohol. This led to him selling most of his possessions and eventually himself into a whaling contract.

Armstrong began sailing on the ship “Smyrna” under Captain Rodolphus H. Tobey to the South Pacific on December 27, 1849. His sailing took him to locations such as Peru, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, and many other islands throughout the South Pacific. When he left the “Smyrna,” he settled in Auckland, New Zealand where he lived from 1853 to 1858 working as a lumberman in the Kauri forests. During this period, Armstrong also took on various other jobs including shipping and other ship-related work. In 1859, after a whaling journey to gain money for his return trip, he sailed back to America where he returned once again to Baltimore.

Upon Armstrong’s return to Baltimore, he reconnected with his childhood church, as his faith had been important to him throughout his life. He first worked in the grocery store J.O. Dagan’s but quickly moved to work as a store clerk in his uncle Thomas Armstrong’s millinery company Armstrong, Cator & Co.

On November 28, 1865, Armstrong married Eudocia Elizabeth Muller. Eudocia Muller was born in Baltimore in 1847 to Louis and Eudocia Muller. Robert and Eudocia Armstrong opened their own millinery company on 128 and then later 209 Lexington Street. Together they had seven children who survived to adulthood: Minnie Eudocia Armstrong, Adelaide Rebecca Armstrong, William Robert Armstrong, Louis William Armstrong, Jane (Jennie) L. Armstrong, Harry James Armstrong, and Robert Gelston Hills Armstrong. They had one child, Robert Edwin Armstrong, who died at age five on November 2, 1884 due to brain fever.

Active in his church, Armstrong also taught in its Sunday school. He was known for his charitable efforts as well, and became the overseer of the Maryland Industrial Home for Colored Girls in 1898. In the early 1890s, he began writing his autobiographical memoir of his experience working as a whaler and traveling throughout the South Pacific. An excerpt of the autobiography was published in the January 1895 copy of “The Sailors’ Magazine.” He also studied Hebrew and Greek and translated his own copy of the Bible.

Eudocia Armstrong died from appendicitis in 1899, predating her husband Robert by around three years. Robert W. Armstrong died on December 12, 1902 at the age of 75 from heart disease. His Will exemplified his charitable nature as he gave 1/10th of his estate, which he asked to be called “The Eudocia Fund,” to various charities upon his death. These charities included religious organizations, aid associations, and homes for people such as those who were disabled or otherwise unable to work. The Will distributed his remaining money to his children and Eudocia’s mother. Upon his death, he maintained around a dozen properties throughout Baltimore and broader Maryland. He was buried next to his wife at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Baltimore.