Diana Armstrong was born about 1844 and first appears in the 1850 U.S. Federal Census in Plattsburgh, New York. At only six years old, she was living in the household of Nathan and Polly Averill, who were elderly at the time, along with their young granddaughter Ann Averill and another child, Mary Armstrong, a white girl about eight years old. Diana and Mary may have served as companions or playmates for Ann in the Averill household.
By the 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Diana was no longer in Plattsburgh and instead appeared in New York City living with individuals who were likely her family. The household included John Armstrong, a coachman, and his wife Diana, a laundress, along with children Thomas, Jane, Value, and fourteen-year-old Diana. Her presence there suggests she may have been named after her mother. The census also recorded that she attended school. This was the only census in which the Armstrong family appeared together, and Diana did not appear in later census records.
After 1860, Diana’s life becomes difficult to trace. One possible clue is a burial record for a Diana Armstrong in Warwick Cemetery in Orange County, New York. The headstone, marked with a toy sheep, suggests the grave of a child, raising the possibility that Diana died young after her family moved from New York City to Warwick. Though the details of her life remain limited, Diana Armstrong’s story offers a small but meaningful glimpse into the lives of children whose histories are preserved only briefly in the historical record.