Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/408

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MONTGOMERY
MONTGOMERY

commissioners to conclude a treaty with the western Indians at Fort Pitt. He commanded one of the Pennsylvania regiments that joined Washington on Long Island in 1776, and was taken prisoner at Fort Washington, but was soon exchanged, and then served as colonel of a battalion of associators during the campaign of New Jersey in 1777. Col. Montgomery was elected by the general assembly to the Continental congress in 1782-'3, was one of the burgesses of Carlisle in 1787, and was commissioned an associate judge of Cumberland county in 1794. He was a public-spirited citizen and active in the founding of Dickinson college, being a trustee from its foundation until his death. — His son, John, was mayor of Baltimore, attorney-general of Maryland, and a member of congress in 1807-'ll.


MONTGOMERY, John Berrien, naval officer, b. in Allentown, N. J., 17 Nov., 1794; d. in Carlisle, Pa., 25 March, 1873. He entered the navy as a midshipman in June, 1813, and participated in the attack on Kingston, Canada, and the capture of Little York, Fort George, and Newark. In August, 1813, he volunteered for service on Lake Erie, where he took part in Com. Oliver H. Perry's capture of the British fleet on 10 Sept., 1813. Mont- gomery received a sword and the thanks of congress for his services in that action, and later was present during the blockade and attack on Mackinaw in August, 1814. He tlien was transferred to the " Ontario," under Com. Stephen Decatur, with whom he took part in the Algerine war of 1815. In February, 1818, he was promoted lieutenant. In 1833-'5 he was on recruiting service in Philadelphia and New York, after which he was executive officer of the '" Constitution," when that vessel was sent to convey Edward Livingston from France to the United States. He was promoted commander in 1839, and during the war with Mexico he permanently established the authority of the United States at various places along the coast of California, and also participated in the blockade of Mazatlan, Mexico, and the bombard- ment and capture of Guaymas on the Gulf of California. In April, 1849, he was made executive officer of the Washington navy-yard, where he remained until 1851. He was commissioned captain in January, 1853, and in April, 1857, placed in command of the "Roanoke." in which he sailed to Aspinwall, and returned to New York in August with 250 of William Walker's filibusters. During the following two years he served on shore duty, and in 1859-"62 had command of the Pacific squadron, with the "Lancaster" as his flag-ship. On his return to New York he was placed on waiting orders until May, 1862, when he was given the command of various navy-yards. He was made commodore on the retired list in July, 1862, and rear-admiral, 25 July, 1866. See*' A Genealogical History of the Family of Montgomery," compiled by Thomas Harrison Montgomery (printed privately, Philadelphia, 1863).


MONTGOMERY, Joseph, clergyman, b. in Paxtang township. Dauphin co., Pa., 3 Oct.. 1733 ; d. in Harrisburgh, Pa., 14 Oct., 1794. He was graduated at Princeton in 1755, and then became master of the grammar-school connected with that college. Meanwhile he studied theology, and was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Philadelphia about 1760. He held various pastorates in Pennsylvania until 1769, and was then installed over the congregations of Christiana Bridge and New Castle, Del., where he remained until 1777. Subsequently he held a commission of chaplain in Col. William Small wood's Maryland regiment of the Continental line. In 1780 he was chosen by the general assembly of Pennsylvania as one of its delegates to congress, and served during two terms. He was elected to the state assembly in 1782, and chosen by that body in 1783 to be one of the commissioners to settle the difficulty between the state and the Connecticut settlers in Wyoming. In 1785, when the county of Dauphin was founded, Mr. Montgomery was appointed recorder of deeds and register of wills for the county, which office he held until his death. In 1760 he received the degree of A. M. from Yale and the College of Philadelphia (now University of Pennsvlvania).


MONTGOMERY, Martin Van Buren, lawyer, b. in Eaton Rapids, Mich., 20 Oct., 1840. He received a common-school education, became a teacher at the age of seventeen, and about 1861 began the study of law. After serving for some time during the civil war in the 2d Michigan cavalry, he was admitted to the bar in 1865, and practised at Eaton Rapids, Jackson, and Lansing. During 1871-'2 he was a member of the Michigan legislature, and was candidate for the office of attorney-general of Michigan in 1874. He was appointed commissioner of patents on 17 March, 1885, and on 1 April, 1887, was made associate justice of the supreme court of the District of Columbia.


MONTGOMERY, Richard, soldier, b. in Swords, near Feltrim, Ireland, 2 Dec., 1736; d. in Quebec, Canada, 31 Dec., 1775. He was the son of Thomas Montgomery, a member of the British parliament for Lifford, and was educated at Trinity college, Dublin. He entered the English army at the age of eighteen as an ensign in the 17th infantry, and in 1757 was ordered to Halifax, N. S. Soon after he participated in the siege of Louisburg under James Wolfe, where he was promoted lieutenant, also taking part in the expedition that was sent under Sir Jeffrey Amherst in 1759 to reduce the French forts on Lake Champlain. In 1760 he became adjutant of his regiment and served in the army that marched on Montreal under Col. William Haviland, becoming captain in 1762. He was then ordered to the West Indies, and fought in the campaigns against Martinique and Havana. In 1763 he returned to New York, after which he spent some time in Great Britain, where he became intimate with many of the liberal members of parliament, numbering among his friends Isaac Barre, Edmund Burke, and Charles James Fox. His claims for advancement being neglected, he sold his commission in 1772 and returned to this country early in 1773, purchasing a farm of sixty-seven acres at King's Bridge (now part of New York city), where soon afterward he married Janet, daughter of Judge Robert R Livingston (q. v.). He purchased a handsome estate on the banks of Hudson river, but spent the few years of his married life in his wife's residence of Grassmere, near Rhinebeck. In May, 1775, he was sent as a delegate to the 1st Provincial congress in New York city, and in June of the same year was made a brigadier-