James R. Armstrong

James R. Armstrong was born in Jackson County, Alabama and attended Ouachita Baptist College, Southern Normal University, and Southwestern University. He was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1901 and moved to Hugo, Oklahoma (then-Indian Territory) in 1904. He supported the admission of one state instead of two during statehood talks. He was appointed to the Sixth Judicial District covering Choctaw County in 1910 and later that year was elected to the first Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. He served on the court until 1920.^[2]

After retirement, he served as the vice president of Middle States Oil Corporation and president of the Columbia Petroleum Corporation. In the 1920s he was an adviser to Governor Henry S. Johnston. He was Baptist, a Freemason, member of the Elks Club, and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He married Bertha Scott Armstrong and they had two children: William Jefferson Armstrong and Jasper Armstrong.^[2] Armstrong died in Oceanside, California, at the age of 80, from injuries received in an automobile accident there two weeks before his death.^[1]