Entering this world as Roxelena Hovey—as per the early birth records of Norwich, Windsor County, Vermont—she was the fifth child and second daughter born to the former Lucinda Downer and her husband William Hovey, a Revolutionary War veteran and yeoman (a man holding and cultivating a small landed estate; a freeholder).

Birth and land records of Norwich indicate that in about 1793 the Hoveys moved 12 miles NNE to Thetford, Orange County, Vermont. They were there at the time of the 1800 census, but subsequently relocated about 140 miles southwest to the town of Ballston, Saratoga County, New York. It was there that Roxalana met Isaac Armstrong, and they were married shortly before her seventeenth birthday, on August 15, 1805, per the family Bible.

The Armstrongs began their married life in Saratoga County where their eldest children were born, and then moved almost 200 miles west to the farming community of Benton, New York (then in Ontario County; now within Yates County), where Roxalana's older brothers William Jr. and James Hovey had temporarily settled by 1810. The Armstrongs raised a family of 10 known children: Daniel H., Mervil, Lewis, Lucinda, Philander, James M., Alfred B., Melissa, Martha Malinda, and Andrew W.

The 1820s brought about another relocation for the Armstrong family when they moved 30 miles southwest to the rural community of Wheeler, Steuben County, New York. The land on which they settled became part of the newly-formed town of Avoca in 1843, and it was there that Roxalana and Isaac were enumerated with some of their adult children and families in 1850.

Isaac passed away in 1855 (location undetermined), just two weeks after he and Roxalana had observed their 50th wedding anniversary. In 1860—widowed and now in her early seventies—she was residing with sons Lewis and Philander and families way out in Essex Township, Stark County, Illinois. The Armstrong family Bible and her headstone in Wellsville, Allegany County, New York, verify that Roxalana died on August 26, 1868 … however no death record has been found, whereby rendering her place of death a mystery. She does rest beside her beloved husband.

Throughout her lifetime, Roxalana apparently preferred to be known by the more familiar name Roxy or Roxie, as noted respectively on the death records of her son Alfred and daughter Martha. Unfortunately, the name "Roxa Caner" has been mistakenly associated with her and perpetuated in multiple online family trees, due to the unique scrawl of the 1850 census enumerator at Avoca, New York: a space between the "a" and the lower case "l" in her name—which was misinterpreted as an uppercase "C"—has led to a large recurrence of this error.

Three known granddaughters were named Roxalana, in accordance with the traditional "Old Jones" naming pattern (second daughter named after the father's mother) … and no doubt also reflects the high esteem in which this matriarch was held.

Rest in peace Grandmother.

Wife of Isaac Armstrong.

Daughter of William and Lucinda (née Downer) Hovey.

Granddaughter of Edmund and Anne (née Huntington) Hovey, and William Downer.

Great-granddaughter of James and Deborah (née Barlow) Hovey, and Thomas and Elizabeth (née Arnold) Huntington.

Great-great-granddaughter of James and Priscilla (née Warner) Hovey; Edmund and Mary (née Pemberton) Barlow; Capt. Thomas and Elizabeth (née Backus) Huntington; and John (aka William Ramsden) and Mary Arnold.