Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/410

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372
MONTGOMERY
MONTIGNY

1717 to plant a colony in Georgia, between Alta- maha and Savannah rivers, and to this end pur- chased territory from the proprietors on condition that he should occupy it within three years. Con- cerning his purchase, he writes in commending it to public attention : " My design arises not from any sudden motive, but a strong bent of genius I inherit from my ancestors " ; and he then proceeds to describe how certain members of his family had been interested in colonizing Nova Scotia, and others in establishing a settlement in South Caro- lina. It was proposed to call the colony the " Mar- gravate of Azilia," and he further says that " Caro- lina, especially in its southern bounds, is the most amiable country of the universe ; that nature has not bless'd the world with any tract which can be preferable to it ; that paradise with all her virgin beauties may be modestly suppos'd at most but equal to its native excellencies." According to his proposition, the country was to be divided into dis- tricts as population increased, each district to be twenty miles in length and width, surrounded by a square of fortifications. These were to be defended by garrisons, who should maintain themselves and the margrave by the cultivation of a strip of land one mile in width running around the square with- in the wails. Inside of this another strip, two miles in width, was to be reserved to furnish the •defenders with farms of their own, rent free for life, after their term of service should be over. The remaining land was to be laid out in 116 smaller squares of one mile each, excepting for the highways that were to divide them, and in the cen- tre of each square was to be its owners' residences. In the centre of the district there was a large square for a city, and at the corners there were •others for great parks, each four miles square, in which were to be kept the cattle and game, while at the central point of all was to be the mar- grave's house. This ingenious scheme failed to ex- cite the admiration its designer hoped for, and no •emigrants appeared, in consequence of which, after the three years had elapsed, the proprietors re- sumed their ownership. See " A Discourse con- cerning the Designed Establishment of a New Colony to the South of Carolina, in the most De- lightful Country of the Universe" (London, 1717).


MONTGOMERY, William, lawyer, b. in Can- ton, Pa., 11 April, 1819 ; d. in Washington, Pa., 28 April, 1870. He was graduated at Washington college in 1839 and then studied law. In 1842 he was admitted to the bar, and settled in practice in Washington, Pa. He was elected to congress as a Democrat, and served from 7 Dec, 1857, till 3 March, 1861. He was the author of the proposed Crittenden-Montgomery amendment introduced as a measure of pacification on the slaverv question.


MONTGOMERY, William B., missionary, b. in Danville, Pa., about 1790; d. in Union Sta- tion. Kan., 17 Aug., 1834. He was a member of the first missionary family that was sent by the United foreign missionary society to the Osage In- dians of the Missouri, and left Pittsburg for his field of labor in April, 1821. After four months of tedious journeying on Ohio, Mississippi, Mis- souri, and Osage rivers, he reached his destination. He devoted his time largely to acquiring a knowl- edge of the Osage language and reducing it to writing. In the spring of 1833 he completed an elementary book that contained translations of various passages of Scripture. This was the first work written in the Osage language, and was pub- lished in Boston after his death.


MONTGOMERY, William Reading, soldier, b. in Monmouth county, N. J., 10 July, 1801 ; d. in Bristol, Pa., 31 May, 1871. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1825 and became 2d lieutenant in the 3d infantry, with which regi- ment he served until 1838 on garrison and frontier duty, also performing the duties of disbursing offi- cer during the removal of the Choctaw Indians from Mississippi to their reservation. After at- taining a captaincy on 7 July, 1838, he served on the Canadian border during the disturbances of 1838-46, in the Florida war of 1840-2, and in the occupation of Texas in 1845. He took part in the war with Mexico. He was wounded at Resaea de la Palma and brevetted major, and at Molino del Rey he was again wounded, although not until af- ter he had succeeded to the command of his regi- ment, which he led at Chapultepec and the capture of Mexico. His services again gained for him the further brevet of lieutenant-colonel, and he was promoted major in December, 1852. Meanwhile he served in garrisons, on the frontier, and on re- cruiting duty, until 1855, wJien he was removed from the army. He was stationed at Fort Riley, in Kansas, during the trouble in that territory, and there pursued a course of strict impartiality, although his personal feelings were in favor of the free-state men ; but his actions failed to meet with the approval of his superiors, and he was dismissed from the service. At the beginning of the civil war he organized the 1st New Jersey volunteers, joined the Army of the Potomac, and aided in cov- ering its retreat from Bull Run. He was commis- sioned brigadier-general of volunteers on 17 May, 1861, and appointed military governor of Alexan- dria, Va. Sulisequently he held a similar office in Annapolis, Md., and then in Philadelphia, Pa., un- til 1863, after which he served on a military com- mission in Memphis, Tenn. Failing health caused his resignation on 4 April, 1864, and, after a brief interval of mercantile occupation in Philadelphia, he retired to his home in Bristol.


MONTI, Luigi, author, b. in Palermo, Sicily, in 1830. He was educated in his native place, served in the revolutionary army in 1848-'9, and, being exiled in 1850, came to Boston, where he be- came a teacher of Italian. He was instructor in Harvard in 1854-'9, and from 1861 till 1873 was U. S. consul at Palermo, after which he devoted himself to teaching and literature at Boston. He has lectured before the Lowell institute on " Con- temporary Representative Men of Italy," and has also given courses of lectures at Wellesley, Vassar, and Peabody institute, Baltimore. Longfellow in- troduced him as the young Sicilian in his " Tales of a Wayside Inn." Besides contributions to maga- zines he has published an Italian grammar and reader (Boston, 1855) ; " The Adventures of a Con- sul Abroad " (1878) ; and " Leone," a novel, in the " Round Robin Series " (1882) ; and has translated Guerrazzi's " Beatrice Cenci " (1857) : " Manfred " (1875) : and '• Isabella Orsini " (1881).


MONTIGNY, Casimir Amable Testard de, Canadian merchant, b. in Canada, 3 June, 1787 ; d. in St. Jerome, Canada, 15 Feb., 1863. After leaving college he engaged in the fur-trade near the Lac des Deux-Montagnes and soon acquired a large fortune, part of which he employed in colonizing the country where he had settled. In a short time he cleared the. forests of what was then known as the Riviere du Nord, and founded the parish of St. Jerome. During the war of 1812 he held a command in the Canadian militia and took part in the engagements that led to the retreat oi Gen. Henry Dearborn. In 1837 he endeavored to prevent the insurrection of that year, and was taken as a prisoner to St. Eustache by the insurgents,