Armstrong – Table of Contents

Armstrong described the home as far from the quiet work-a-day farm home. The dwelling
was an ample, nine-room, brick house in a pleasant location, surrounded by trees and
with three large barns nearby.
Dr. Armstrong did not elaborate at length about his mother; he described
her as a hard-working woman, and, like his father, she was a good disciplinarian who
maintained a congenial atmosphere about the home and whose first consideration was
always her family.
The family background described established Charles Armstrong as a
representative descendant of the pioneering farming stock that settled northeast Ohio in
the early 19th century.
In an oral interview (1), he described his early education. He did not start
public school till he was eight years old. His birth was difficult; he suspected that he
might have had a mild arrested hydrocephalus (delayed closure of the bony suture lines of
the skull due to cerebrospinal fluid accumulation). He felt that his head was
disproportionately larger than the rest of his body when he was born and continued so for
the next several years. His father was dubious about whether Charles would be normal or
not, and Father Armstrong kept him from going to school until he was eight. By law,
Charles should have started school when he was six but his father happened to be on the
local Board of Education, and he exerted his influence to delay Charles’ registration in
school. Dr. Armstrong always felt cheated and somewhat resentful for having to delay the
start of his education for two years. He started grammar school in an old-fashioned, not a
one room, but a four-room schoolhouse; however, each room hosted two or three classes.
He learned his subjects quickly and readily. It helped that his first teacher was his aunt,