James Dillon Armstrong

James Dillon Armstrong was born on September 23, 1821, in Frankfort, Virginia.[3][lower-alpha 2] He was the son of politician William Armstrong and his wife Elizabeth Ann McCarty Armstrong.[5] Armstrong's family was Presbyterian and of Scotch-Irish descent.[5][6] Through his father, Armstrong was a direct descendant of James Armstrong, who participated in the rising of the Covenanters at the Battle of Pentland Hills, forfeited his estate in 1666, and escaped from Annandale, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, to County Down.[5] Armstrong's mother was the daughter of Col. Edward McCarty, a Continental Army officer who served under George Washington and was present at the Siege of Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War.[5]

At the time of Armstrong's birth in 1821, his father was operating a hotel in Frankfort,[3] and in 1823, his father relocated Armstrong and his family to Romney.[3] Armstrong's father had represented Hampshire County in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1818 to 1820,[7] and represented Virginia's 16th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1825 to 1833.[5]

Armstrong studied law under Hampshire County Clerk of Court John Baker White in Romney,[8] and under Judge Lucas P. Thompson at Staunton Law School in Staunton, Virginia.[9] Armstrong was admitted to the bar in Hampshire County,[3][5] and in 1844, he began practicing law in Romney.[3][5] Armstrong continued the practice of law in Romney until he was appointed to the bench in 1875.[3][5] He was a law partner of John B. White, son of his law teacher John Baker White,[10] and later had a law practice with Robert Wood Dailey Jr. until Armstrong took the bench in 1875.[11]

The old Hampshire County Courthouse was in use during Armstrong's tenures as the county's prosecuting attorney and as a circuit court judge

In 1852, Armstrong was elected as Hampshire County Prosecuting Attorney, winning against A. P. White.[3] In April of that year, Armstrong was appointed by the Virginia Whig state convention to represent Virginia's 10th congressional district as a county elector for Hampshire County.[12][13]

In 1855, John C. B. Mullin resigned his seat in the Virginia Senate representing Hampshire, Hardy, and Morgan counties, and Armstrong became a candidate for this seat as a Whig.[14] Armstrong served in this Virginia Senate seat from the session beginning on December 3, 1855, until the session ending on March 10, 1864.[15] In May 1857, Armstrong was elected to the senate as a Whig,[16] and in May 1859, he was reelected to the senate as a Democrat.[17]

Following the onset of the American Civil War, Armstrong began serving on Hampshire County's "committee for safety".[18] He served on the "committee for safety" alongside Isaac Parsons and Angus William McDonald.[18] The "committee for safety" continued to meet until May 29, 1861.[18] Armstrong and Parsons were also permitted by the Hampshire County Court to execute bonds for and on behalf of the county to raise money to fund "war purposes".[18]

In early 1862, Stonewall Jackson appointed Armstrong as his chief of staff in the Confederate States Army.[5] He accepted this position; however, Virginia governor John Letcher and others persuaded Armstrong to reconsider and decline Jackson's appointment, because his services were required in the Virginia Senate.[5] Following the close of the American Civil War, Armstrong applied for a special pardon and received it from President Andrew Johnson.[19]

In May 1866, during the post-war Reconstruction era, Armstrong, Robert White, J. W. F. Allen, A. W. Kercheval, and Alexander W. Monroe refused to take the test oath before the Hampshire County Court,[20][21][22] and Armstrong was therefore denied the right to practice law.[21] He was further denied the right to vote by the Romney township registrar and the Hampshire County board of registration.[22][23][24][25] On September 14, 1866, the circuit court at Romney awarded a peremptory writ of mandate, requiring the board to register Armstrong without taking the oath.[22][23][24][25]

On February 23, 1871, the West Virginia Legislature passed an act calling for an election of delegates to a constitutional convention to update the state's 1863 constitution.[26][27] The election for delegates was held on October 26, 1871, and Armstrong was elected to represent West Virginia's 10th Senate district alongside John T. Peerce, and Alexander W. Monroe was elected to represent Hampshire County.[26][27][28] Armstrong participated in the constitutional convention, which assembled in Charleston from January 16, 1872, until April 9, 1872.[26][27][28]

Armstrong, Robert White, and J. W. F. Allen were candidates for the position of Judge of the 4th West Virginia Judicial Circuit;[lower-alpha 1] however, Armstrong and White withdrew in favor of Allen.[6] On December 24, 1875, Armstrong was appointed to serve as Judge of the 4th judicial circuit following the death of Allen.[3][5][29] In October 1876, Armstrong was elected to serve for the remainder of Allen's unexpired term.[29] In 1880, Armstrong was elected to an eight-year term on the bench beginning on January 1, 1881, and at the onset of this term, the 4th judicial circuit was renumbered as the 12th judicial circuit.[30] He ran for reelection against William C. Clayton and he won reelection on November 6, 1888 with 6,203 votes for an eight-year term starting January 1, 1889.[31] He became ill in Keyser as a result of Bright's disease in September 1891,[3][32] and he resigned from the bench as a result of his illness in April 1892.[3][6][33] Armstrong cited his health as the reason for his resignation in a letter dated April 4, 1892, which was published in the Hampshire Review.[34] At that time, he was the longest-serving judge to have presided over Hampshire County.[35] Armstrong was succeeded on the bench by Robert Wood Dailey Jr.[3][11][36]

Armstrong's burial monument in Indian Mound Cemetery

Armstrong became seriously ill on August 27, 1893,[37] and he died at his Romney home the night of September 4, 1893.[3] Armstrong was survived by his wife, who was also in ill health at the time of his death.[3][6] His funeral was held at Romney Presbyterian Church on September 7, 1893, and he was interred at Indian Mound Cemetery in Romney.[3][50] Armstrong's obituary in the Hampshire Review described him as, "an able lawyer", "an enterprising, liberal citizen, and above all, a high minded Christian gentleman."[3] Armstrong's wife Anne died on December 26, 1908, in Romney,[47][51] and she was interred with her husband in Indian Mound Cemetery on December 29, 1908.[50][51]

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