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James Montgomery (212) was born in 1780 in Sadsbury Township,
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He is a son of Archibald
Montgomery (216) and Martha
Campbell (217). The family later moved to Mt Pleasant
Township in Westmoreland County, where Archibald died in 1791.
After Archibald's death, James and three of his brothers, John,
Joseph and William came to Allegheny County, which from 1790
until 1800 extended almost to Lake Erie. James found land along
Sandy Creek in Irwin Township. On 7 October 1796, he signed an
agreement with Dr. Thomas R. Kennedy for 200 acres of land for
which he would pay, on 7 October 1801, $100 plus interest from
7 October 1798. A document in the Mercer County archives reads:
Oct 7, 1796. Agreement. Between
Dr Thomas R. KENNEDY and James MONTGOMERY, of Allegheny County,
as follows, MONTGOMERY agrees to continue his improvement already
began (sic) on a tract on the waters of Sandy Creek, in Allegheny
County, adjoining land settled by Robert MORGAN, Thomas ROBB,
and others. Tract #13. To settle for a term of 5 years from this
day, cultivate and settle. MONTGOMERY will pay KENNEDY $100,
Oct 7, 1801, with interest from Oct 7, 1798. MONTGOMERY will
get 200 acres. Bond of $1000. Signed: Oct 1, 1796, by both parties.
[Ed: italics mine]
James's mother, Martha, and two
brothers, Charles (708) and
Archibald (703) and sister,
Martha (706), joined him once the land was acquired. The
agreement shows that James had located and settled on the land
and begun farming it prior to October 1796, when he was 16 years
old.
Mercer County was erected from Allegheny County 12 March 1800,
but was administered by Crawford County until 1803. In 1800,
the area where James had settled became known as Sandy Lake Township.
In 1851, it became New Vernon Township.
According to old tax records, James, along with his brothers
John (704) and William
(707) paid taxes in Sandy Creek (Sandy Lake?) Township, Mercer
County in 1801 and 1802.
James married Sarah Fulton (213) around 1803 in Mercer
County. Sarah was born in 1775. Sarah is a daughter of James
Fulton (1019) and Isabella ? (1020). James and Sarah
were members of the United Presbyterian Church. Together, James
and Sarah had ten children: Isabella
(700), born about 1803, married George
Carringer (744); Archibald
(695), born in 1804, married Margaret
G. (746); Martha (696), born in 1806, married Allison
DeFrance (745); Sarah (84),
born in 1809, married Timothy Hill
(83); Margaret (697), born and died in 1810; James (701), born about 1813, married
Mary Bromley (1102); Margaret P. (378), born
in 1816, married Samuel Hill
(374), brother of Timothy Hill; Eliza
J. (698), born in 1817, married John Barnes (752); Mary (699), born 22 Oct 1818, married
James McCutcheon (712); and
John (702), nothing further
known.
James Montgomery was a member of the first grand jury assembled
in Mercer County. In 1807, James was Lieutenant Colonel of the
134th Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia. On 3 August 1811, the organization
of the 134th had Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Hosack as the regimental
commander with James being a Captain. In this capacity, he served
at Erie during the War of 1812. He was a member of the Pennsylvania
Legislature in 1813 and 1842. James is said to have been the
champion distiller in New Vernon Township, having built a distillery
there in 1828 when the area was still part of Sandy Creek Township.
In 1837, a convention was held in Harrisburg, and later in Philadelphia,
for the purpose of amending the Pennsylvania constitution. James
was a member of that convention. It is said that he was also,
for a number of years, Justice of the Peace in Sandy Creek Township.
Sarah died in 1847 in New Vernon Township. The 1850 census shows
daughter Mary, her husband, James McCutcheon, and her children
living in the house with James. James died in 1860, also in New
Vernon Township. Both Sarah and James are buried in Fairfield
Cemetery, behind the Fairfield Presbyterian Church, in New
Vernon Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania.
[MONTGOME: FairfieldCemRecs,
HistCumberland, HistMercer1888, LeisleCompilat, MercerCtyArchiv]
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