Armstrong, George Eldridge, 1874-1968

Businessman and sports guide, George Elbridge Armstrong, the son of Celia E. Cronk and Theodore Harding Armstrong, was born 14 February 1874 at Perth, Victoria County, New Brunswick. On 1 February 1905 he married Emma B. Bishop (1877-1950) of Victoria County, New Brunswick, and they had at least three children: Edith Ann (Kenyon), Greta, and Gordon. In his youth, George Armstrong worked in Maine first as a potato-picker, then as a lumberman, and, during the summers of 1895 and 1896, as a hunting and fishing guide.

By the late 1890s, he was taking sportsmen fishing and moose hunting in the Nictau, Bathurst Lakes, Trousers Lake, and Gulquac areas of New Brunswick. He built his first permanent or home hunting and fishing camp, Wapske, near the village of Wapske in the Plaster Rock area. Guests of Camp Wapske hunted moose, caribou, deer, bear, and partridge. Armstrong eventually owned a dozen camps along a 40-mile trail. In connection with his business, he built canoes and was involved in the New Brunswick Guides Association, serving as vice-president in 1903.

George E. Armstrong was involved in a number of other business enterprises. He prepared survey sketches or maps of land in the Miramichi, Plaster Rock, and Bathurst Lakes areas for himself and others. In 1904, Mr. Armstrong brought the first motorcycle in Perth, a Thomas Model 36 for $210.00. Beginning about 1910, he owned and operated a public garage at Perth where he sold cars and automotive supplies. This business was destroyed by fire in May 1934, but was soon rebuilt. In November 1942 he sold Armstrong's Garage to J. E. Armstrong. In addition, George Armstrong served as general manager of the Perth Milling Company Limited, incorporated in 1906 for the purpose of operating lumber and grist mills, which produced laths, clapboards, siding, sheathing, and other wood products. George E. Armstrong died in 1968.