Saturday, August 25, 2012

Neil Armstrong - Rest in Peace, Son of America

A great man died today - a hero in every sense of the word, at least to Americans who grew up at the beginning of the Space Age.  




You can read the biography of Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_armstrong).  That describes his life and accomplishments, and provides his parents names, and a mention that he was of Scottish and German descent.

There are no Kings or Queens, no famous persons, in Armstrong's ancestry.  Just immigrants who left their home country to come to the promise of land in America, worked hard and made successful lives.  And a world-famous descendant has highlighted these facts.

You can see Neil Aemstrong's family tree in 33 Ancestry Member Trees and on several trees in the Rootsweb WorldConnect collection.  Here is one of the best trees I found on Ancestry (it's already been modified to add his name and death date):


The best tree I found on Rootsweb WorldConnect was probably this one:


If you click the link above, and select the "Ahnentafel" link, you can see the known 6-generation ancestry of Neil Armstrong (1930-2012).

Thank you, Neil, for your contribution to United States history and world history.  Well done.  Rest in peace.

My hope is that the next Space Station, or interplanetary craft, will be called Armstrong Station in honor of this son of America.

A parting quote, which I lived and fits me to a T (wearing my white socks every day!):

“I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer, born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace and propelled by compressible flow.” — Neil Armstrong, 2000.

He forgot slide rules!

The URL for this  post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/08/neil-armstrongs-rest-in-peace-son-of.html

copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

6 comments:

mbm1311 said...

My grand father had family in Wapakoneta, Ohio and when they would go from Chicago to Ohio in the 1930s my grand mother said more than once --"No one famous ever came from Wapakoneta, Ohio."

Shayari said...

He had set an example of courage and guts to take the first leap and put his step on moon that made him immortal .....

Dr. Bill (William L.) Smith said...

I wear the white sock and had the dreams of space travel in the 1950s - but otherwise, I am just in awe of what Neil Armstrong and his fellows accomplished... great post, Randy. Thanks! ;-)

family tree designs said...

Rest in Peace and Thank you!

Anonymous said...

I am from France and now live in the US. The landing on the moon was a big deal for us too. We didn't have many television sets in our little village, but those who had one invited us kids to watch at their house. Every one knew it was a momentous event and we were all in owe.
Just found your blog (I am a new addict of the science of genealogy!) Enjoying what I see and read. Thanks,
Annick

Anonymous said...

Armstrong is a hero to me because he was so brave and no one knew if this landing would work. Also landing on the moon is epic.