William Montgomery

Birth: Dec. 10, 1779 Amherst County Virginia, USA Death: Oct. 21, 1856 Lizton Hendricks County Indiana, USA

William was born in Virginia the son of Alexander Montgomery II and Martha Walker and the grandson of Alexander and Anna (Sutherland) Montgomery I of Albemarle County Virginia, and John and Ann (Houston) Walker. In 1800 he married Sarah Gibson. Their children are; Mary (Montgomery) Howard, Elizaberth O. (Montgomery) Leach, Margaret (Montgomery) O'Hair, Matilda (Montgomery) Leach, James Montgomery, Eliza (Montgomery) Johnson, Sarah Montgomery-1818/1819, and Malinda (Montgomery) Scott. The Lizton M.E. Church was organized at the home of William Montgomery in 1833. The old church was built on the Montgomery Farm and called "Montgomery Chapel" In the cemetery near the chapel William and Sarah and most of their children are buried.

According to notes in Luella King's papers William and Sarah Gipson had been rocked in the same cradle. Their fathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary War.

J. M. AND ELIZABETH LEACH MARRIED MORE THAN 65 YEARS

Both Born in Union Township Where They Live

"This week, new candidates for the distinction of being the oldest native-born married couple in the county appear. They are James Montgomery Leach, born in Union township, Feb. 9, 1834, and Elizabeth Hamilton Leach born in Union township, June 13, 1841. On March 17, 1859, James M. Leach and Elizabeth Hamilton were married. He is now ninety years old and she nearly 83 and their married life covers more than 65 years. It is also worthy of note that Mr. Leach has been a subscriber to this paper since 1860--64 years. He is probably the oldest subscriber.

But the story, tracing the families, is told in the following interesting article written by Roscoe Leak, of Union township:

'Looking backward ninety years in the history of Union Township we can bring some very interesting pictures before our minds. In the fall of 1830 we would find the north part of Hendricks county very thinly settled. One of these interesting scenes is the coming of Wm. Montgomery and family to this wilderness country.

William and Sarah Gibson Montgomery were nearing the half century mark in age at this time. They were the parents of six daughters and one son. These people had lived in Mason county, Kentucky, for a number of years. The two older daughters were living there at this time. Mary had married a Howard and Elizabeth had married Enos Leach, of Bath county, Apr 1, 1823, but they lived in Morgan county. James Montgomery, a brother of William, had married a sister of Sarah. As they had no children they had partly reared Margaret, the third child and Eliza, the sixth. Margaret had married James O'Hair and all these had gone to Putnam county, Ind., and settled north of Greencastle.

Matilda, the fourth child and James the fifth, aged 20 and 17, and Matilda [sic], aged eight are the children who made the trip to Indiana with their parents. They made the trip in a typical immigrant wagon, drawn by a horse and a cow. They surely made a good team to make the trip of some 250 or 300 miles in safety. Matilda rode a horse and it is quitely like James did too.

If we could take a peep into the wagon to see what they brought with them we would see their clothing, bedding and cooking utensils, consisting of iron, skillets, oven and a kettle or two, bags filled with dried apples, peaches and beans. Then they had their seed corn and garden seed for the next year. Also peach seeds to plant and probably a few young apple trees and a rose bush or two. In the way of furniture they had an Eli Terry clock and a high poster bed made of cherry. And last but not least they had two Bibles for they were devout Methodists.

Indianapolis at the time they passed through it was a town about as large as Danville is now. White river had to be forded then. Would it not have been interesting to see Indianapolis then and the "New" State road out to the land office at Crawfordsville, and to know why they stopped just where they did? William Montgomery entered the east half of the northeast quarter of section 32, township 17, range 1 west, on October 21, 1830.

The first winter they lived in their wagon and a half faced hut made of poles and bark. This first winter must have been filled with hardships and home sickness. The next spring they built a round log cabin. But these first two summers must have been fairly prosperous, because during the latter part of the second summer, Mr. Montgomery took an ox team and returned to Kentucky and brought Elizabeth and Enos Leach and their four little girls to make their home in the wilderness. On September 21, 1832, Enos Leach filed on two hundred acres joining Mr. Montgomery, and the same day Matilda filed on the eighty lying along side the Montgomery eighty on the west.

Enos built a round log cabin near a little spring on his land. This cabin did not have any floor, had a stick fire place and chimney. Their first bedstead was made of poles in the corner of the cabin.

In September 1833, Anderson Leach, a brother of Enos, came and entered the eight next west of that of Matilda. Anderson Leach and Matilda Montgomery were married January 9, 1834. This was the first wedding in the township.

In this same log cabin spoken of above was born to Enos and Elizabeth Leach a son, on February 9, 1834. He was named James Montgomery. A few years later, probably about 1840 or 1842 a new house was built. This was a hewn log house with a log kitchen, back, and the main part had an upper half story, with a real stairway leading to it, one of the first in the settlement. Two or three more of the brothers of Enos Leach came to Hendricks county and in 1836 his father and mother, John and Mary Hall Leach came. John died in the fall of 1837 and was the first settler to die in the township.

- The Republican, Danville, IN, May 1, 1924.

Spouse:
Sarah Montgomery (1780 - 1859)

Children

• Mary Montgomery Howard (1803 - 1892)
• Elizabeth Gibson Montgomery Leach (1805 - 1891)
• Margaret Montgomery O'Hair (1807 - 1849)
• Matilda Montgomery Leach (1810 - 1878)
• James Ellington Montgomery (1813 - 1890)
• Sarah Montgomery (1818 - 1819)
• Malinda Montgomery Scott (1822 - 1863)

Bold = DNA Confirmed Descendants

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Nov 19 2017, 22:24:37 UTC
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Nov 19 2017, 22:48:06 UTC