Silas Armstrong (January 3, 1810 — December 14, 1865) was an American

Wyandot Wyandot may refer to: Native American ethnography * Wyandot people, who have been called Wyandotte, Huron, Wendat and Quendat * Wyandot language, an Iroquoian language * Wyandot Nation of Kansas, an unrecognized tribe and nonprofit organization ...

merchant and politician.

Biography

Armstrong was born on January 3, 1810, near

Upper Sandusky, Ohio Upper Sandusky is a city in and the county seat of Wyandot County, Ohio, United States, along the upper Sandusky River. The city lies approximately south of Toledo and north of Columbus. The population was 6,698 at the 2020 census. The city ...

, and was raised in a Bear Clan community. In 1832, he married Sarah Preston. His family's farm, known as the "Armstrong Bottom", was run by Armstrong. In 1843, Armstrong and his family moved to the

Town of Kansas The history of the Kansas City metropolitan area relates to the area around the confluence of the Kansas River, Kansas and Missouri River, Missouri Rivers and the modern-day city of Kansas City, Missouri. Before the arrival of European expl ...

. There, Armstrong began trading in a rented building in modern-day Westport. He worked as a merchant, sawmill operator, land speculator, and farmer, later forming a partnership with Hiram Northup. He also worked as an interpreter for Nathan Scarritt. He was president of the Wyandott Town Company. The town of Armstrong, Kansas was

named after A namesake is a person, place, or thing bearing the name of another. Most commonly, it refers to an individual who is purposely named after another (e.g. John F. Kennedy Jr would be the namesake of John F. Kennedy). In common parlance, it may mea ...

him. It later merged with

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City (commonly known as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As ...

. Armstrong served as Head Chief of the Wyandot Nation from 1858, until he fell ill and

died in office A death in office is the death of a person who was incumbent of an office-position until the time of death. Such deaths have been usually due to natural causes, but they are also caused by accidents, suicides, disease and assassinations. The deat ...

on December 14, 1865. Over 1000 people attended his funeral at Huron Cemetery.

References

{{Reflist 1810 births People from Upper Sandusky, Ohio Businesspeople from Kansas City, Missouri Wyandotte Nation people 1865 deaths