The Legacy of Theodore Montgomery

Welcome back, cousins!

Now that we have finished tracing the numerous descendants of his pioneer sister, we go nearly all the way back to the top of the Family Tree - the eldest son, and the third child of Caleb and Elizabeth (Callin) Montgomery, Theodore.

I found it fascinating that there was so much to say about this branch of the family. While there isn't a large number of people represented in this branch, I was able to find a lot of interesting material about them.

As with other branches, we'll start with Theodore and his eldest son, and continue with the rest of his descendants next week.

Theodore Montgomery (1826-1904)

Born on 12 September 1826 in Richland County, Ohio, Theodore was eight years old when his mother, Elizabeth, died. His father, Caleb, remarried two years later, and in 1837 moved with his new wife and children to Fulton County, Indiana. Caleb chose a location in a heavy wooded district six miles east of Rochester and built a farm there. He lived to see the town grow from a mere trading post into a flourishing town of over two thousand people.

As a boy, Theodore helped his father clearing and cultivating fields of grain. His education was very limited, as the school facilities were very meager, and his time was significantly spent in hard manual labor. However, at the age of twenty, he enlisted as a volunteer and served one year in the Mexican-American War with the first regiment Indiana ever produced. Theodore sustained an injury when a cannon exploded during a celebration of Washington's birthday in the city of Matamoras, Mexico, and he suffered from deafness for the rest of his life. After returning from Mexico, he engaged in cabinet-making for several years. 

Theodore married Margaret Wilson (1831–1916) on 11 March 1849 in Fulton County. Margaret was born in Henry County, Indiana, on 14 November 1831, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Wilson. (Her obituary names her father as Isaac; Theodore's biographical sketch named her parents as Matthew and Margaret Wilson, "who were natives of Kentucky.")

In 1852, the young couple took their little son, Frank, on a six-month journey westward to California. After two years of "adventure and hardship" mining gold, Theodore had amassed enough of a fortune to set out for home.

To quote from another story in the Fulton County Handbook:

Accompanied  by  a  party  of  about  50  people  from  Fulton  County,  organized  and  led  by  Hulings  Miller,  they  went  to  California  for  gold.  Others  in  the  party  included  John  Trimble,  William  Trimble,  Peter  King,  John  Irvin,  five  Kennedy  boys,  Aley  Putterbaugh,  Horace  Wilson,  George Surguy and his father, James Edwards and Theodore Montgomery.

It  cost  each  family  about  $150  to  go. They  had  to  buy  a  yoke  of  oxen  for  $30  and  a  wagon which cost about $35. They were five months on the road. Most of the party returned to Indiana later, with the exception of Horace Wilson, who was killed by Indians. Only one or two men from this county returned home with any large amount of money. A few  came  back  with  $300  or  $400  but  many  came  back  with  nothing.  Theodore  Montgomery  is  reported  to  have  returned  with  $5,000,  the  largest  amount.  Many  formed  bad  habits,  returning worse than penniless.
[Fulton Co’s Famous Poet, Shirley Willard, Fulton Co Folks, Vol. 2, Willard]

The Montgomery family booked a steamship from San Francisco and took a 21-day journey by way of the Isthmus of Panama to New York City, then took an overland route to Indianapolis and a stagecoach to Rochester, where Theodore bought a farm adjoining the corporate limits of the town. There, they raised their four sons and daughter:

1. Francis Caleb "Frank" Montgomery (1850–1925)
2. Commodore Wilson Montgomery (1854–1904)
3. Orbra Fitch Montgomery (1858–1918)
4. Clara Elizabeth Montgomery (1859–1872)
5. Owen Lee Montgomery (1868–1945)

Later in their lives, Theodore and Margaret made a tour through all the Western States and Territories, spending the summer of 1882 on the Pacific Coast, visiting points of interest, and renewing old memories of early struggles in the Golden State. Theodore died on 1 April 1904 at his home after several months of illness.

Margaret went to live in the home of her youngest son, Lee. Her granddaughter, Clara Montgomery Murphy, died in a fire in 1908 while building a bonfire of leaves, and for years after, Margaret would warn the family of the dangers of fire. Yet, despite her caution, Marget was kindling a fire at 5:30 p.m. on a Friday night, while she was alone in the house, and her clothing caught fire. The family suspected that since she avoided using kerosene, she may have been using a lit piece of paper, which caught on her dress.

No one heard her cry out, but Margaret ran to an adjoining pump house and jumped into a tub of water, where she was found later by her granddaughter, Freda, who had been in the barn. Freda called for Lee, who was also at the barn, and they assisted Margaret to bed and called Rochester physicians. Margaret's entire body, with the exception of the instep of one foot, and around one eye, was badly burned, the only part of her clothing left was what was bunched around her waist.

Margaret retained consciousness until about an hour before her death, when she became delirious. Immediately following the accident, Lee summoned the members of the family, practically all of whom arrived before Margaret passed away at 10:40. The date was 7 July 1916.

Theodore and Margaret are buried in the Rochester I.O.O.F. Cemetery, Fulton County, Indiana.

I. Francis Caleb "Frank" Montgomery (1850–1925)

Frank was born on 14 October 1850 in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana, and joined his parents on their journey to the California gold fields as a small boy. After his father returned and purchased his farm near Rochester, Frank grew up there and became a farmer, too.

Frank married Elizabeth "Bessie" Ellis (1857–1937) on 16 March 1876 in her parents' home in Fulton County. She was born on 30 November 1857 on a farm near Leiters Ford, Fulton County, to John Ellis (1820–1875) and Letta King (1826–1900) and grew up in Aubbeenaubbee. They settled in Newcastle Township where they raised their four children. They resided there until 1920 when they moved to Rochester where Frank got into the insurance business. He was treasurer of the Mutual Insurance company for 18 years, and for several years president of the county Horse-thief Association.

Frank died on 15 July 1925 in Rochester, after suffering a concussion resulting from a fall down a stairway on June 24. Bessie died on 28 October 1937 after suffering for several months from an unspecified illness. They are buried in the Rochester I.O.O.F. Cemetery.

     A. John Theodore Montgomery (1878–1950) was born on 26 February 1878 in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana. He received his degree from Purdue University in 1896, and he was a school teacher at first, but later he spent most of his professional life in the U.S. Indian Agency.

In 1898, John married Colleen "Collie" Urmston (1876–1960) in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana. Collie was born on 28 June 1876 in Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana, the youngest daughter of Rev. Joseph Urmston (1820-1884) and only daughter of his third wife, Elmira Sarver (1838–1920). Collie attended the Western Illinois State Teachers College at Macomb. She taught school at Brookville, Indiana, and at Cambridge, Moline, and Maple Grove, Illinois, and retired when she was more than 70 years old.

John and Collie had three children together, two of whom survived to adulthood. Collie's mother came to stay in their home, where she died in 1920. After that, judging by their appearances in the census records, John's career took him away from home. Since their children were grown, I suspect they were divorced by 1930, as John was in Boise and Collie remained in Cambridge. After her retirement, she resided near their surviving daughter in Wakefield, Michigan, from 1949 to the end of her life.

 John married his second wife, Hattie Ida Wilson, on 3 July 1935. She was the daughter of John Davis Wilson (1864–1915) and Florence Bell Turnbull (1871–1912), both of whom were members of the Choctaw Nation. She was born on 1 January 1897 in Paris, Texas, and grew up in Fort Towson. She attended Oklahoma Presbyterian College at Durant and later graduated from Draughon's Business College in Muskogee.

Hattie had a son, John Davis Dale, from a prior marriage. Sadly, he died at 11 years of age in 1935 in Hugo and is also buried at Fort Towson. After she married John Montgomery, they adopted Hattie's biological nephew, Charles E. (Wilson) Montgomery (1927-1996). He was a graduate of Oklahoma University, and he taught English at Conners State College, retiring in 1986.

Like John, Hattie served in the Bureau of Indian Affairs for more than a quarter of a century. John retired in 1948 following 28 years of service in Oklahoma, he was superintendent of the consolidated Indian Agency at Anadarko. He and Hattie had also lived in Salt Lake City and in Phoenix in the late 1930s and early 1940s, later returning to Oklahoma.

John died on 9 January 1950 at his home in Stilwell, Adair County, Oklahoma, after suffering from a heart ailment and is buried in Stilwell Cemetery. Hattie lived in Muskogee from the early 1950s and retired from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1962 as a field clerk for Pushmataha and Choctaw counties. She died in Muskogee on 25 June 1980 and is buried in Fort Towson Cemetery.

     1. Margaret Ruth Montgomery (1900–1904) was born in Indiana in April 1900 and lived with her parents in Rochester. She died on 10 June 1904 in Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana, after contracting a pernicious malarial form of rheumatic fever, and she was buried in the Rochester I.O.O.F. Cemetery.

     2. Kathryn Elizabeth Montgomery (1905–1996) was born on 27 July 1905 in Bloomingham, Monroe County, Indiana. She married Francis Wilson "Fred" Duffin (1901–1974) on 23 April 1927 in De Witt, Clinton County, Iowa. they soon moved to Wakefield, Gogebic County, Michigan. He was the son of James Franklyn Duffin (1874–1910) and Nellie E Burch (1873–1950), born on 28 October 1901 in Peoria County, Illinois.

Kathryn was a school teacher, starting out at the junior high school in Genesio, and later teaching in the Ironwood Township schools. Fred attended Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, graduated from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and received his master's degree at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. He taught at Harlem, Montana, and Geneseo, Illinois, before settling in Wakefield, Michigan, where he taught from 1928 until retiring June 30, 1964. During his teaching career at Wakefield High School, he taught mathematics, was a student council advisor, served as the acting high school principal during World War II and later was assistant principal. He also coached football from 1928 until 1939 and produced the school's first undefeated grid team in 1929. He played a leading role in the establishment of tennis as a high school sport in the area and coached the local tennis team from 1939 until 1956, during which time his teams won nine Michigan-Wisconsin Conference championships. He coached the baseball team from 1946 until 1949 and produced one Michigan-Wisconsin champion.

Fred died on 12 November 1974 at Divine Infant Hospital in Wakefield. Kathryn died on 11 October 1996 in Oak Harbor, Island County, Washington, at 91 years of age. They are survived by their daughter and three grandchildren.

     3. John Frank Montgomery (1907–1954) was born on 22 July 1907 in Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky. He graduated as salutatorian of the class of 1924 from Cambridge High School. He attended Lombard college at Galesburg for two years, then went to Idaho where he graduated from the University of Idaho in 1929.

John married Janet A Hawkins (1906–1950), the daughter of Daniel A Hawkins (1863–1915) and Maria Elizabeth Whittemore (1866–1934). She was born on and graduated from the University of Idaho in 1928, later teaching Girls Health and World History at Moscow High School.

In his senior year of college, John worked as an advertising manager of the Star-Mirror paper in Moscow, Idaho, and later as the advertising director of the Daily Idahonian and secretary-treasurer of the News-Review Publishing company, Inc.

Janet suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at the end of March 1950 and died in a Spokane hospital on 9 April 1950. John, who suffered for 12 years from a rare form of cancer that attacks bone marrow, died on 27 September 1954 in Spokane, Spokane County, Washington.


     B. Belle Ethel Montgomery (1880–1961) was born on 12 January 1880 in Newcastle township, Fulton County, and she moved to Rochester in 1921. She was a treasurer of the Farmers and Mutual Insurance Co. and served for two terms as deputy Fulton county treasurer.

She had been ill for one year when she was admitted to the Woodlawn hospital on 25 April. She died at 12:45 a.m. Friday, 5 May 1961 and was buried in Rochester I.O.O.F. Cemetery.

     C. Maud Letta Montgomery (1881–1971) was born on 11 December 1881 at her family's farm in Newcastle township, Fulton County, Indiana. She graduated from Rochester Normal college in 1902 and then taught school at Argos, Richland Center, and Darlington, afterward returning to Rochester.

On 22 April 1911, she married Charles E Emmons (1878–1940), who became a prominent attorney and a political leader in Fulton county. He was born on 24 December 1878 in Tiosa, Richland Township, Fulton County, Indiana, to Orlando Emmons (1848–1928) and Harriet "Hattie" Hayes (1855–1920).

Charles was a graduate of the Tiosa high school, the Rochester Normal college and the Valparaiso Law school of Valparaiso, Indiana. He started his law practice in the offices of Agnew and Crumpacker of Valparaiso, and in 1906, he purchased the law business of the late Michael Essick, of Rochester. Soon afterward he became a partner of Orbra Fitch Montgomery (1858–1918), Maud's uncle, and after Orbra's death in 1918, he entered into a partnership with Enoch Myers. After Mr. Myers's death, Charles conducted his own offices in the First National Bank building. He was well known throughout the northern Indiana court districts and was a prominent worker in the interests of the Democratic party. He was chairman of the Fulton county Democrats in 1912.

Maud was active in many civic, social and political organizations during her life. She helped organize the Northern Indiana Cancer Society during World War I and afterward was a leading worker over Indiana for women's suffrage, which ended with Congress acting to give women the right to vote. She also was a worker in the Democratic party in numberless campaigns and was well known throughout the state.

Starting in 1939, Charles suffered an unspecified illness for several months. He was admitted to the Methodist hospital at Indianapolis for several weeks, returning on 29 June in a somewhat improved condition. On Wednesday, 7 August, however, his condition became more critical and he was removed to Woodlawn hospital for treatment. He died there at 7:40 a.m., Saturday, 10 August 1940.

On 2 July 1970, Maud suffered a fall while she was visiting family in Auburn, Indiana, and she sustained a broken hip. She entered the Canterbury nursing home in Fulton County, where she died on 20 January 1971. She and Charles are buried in the Rochester I.O.O.F. Cemetery.


     D. Frances M Montgomery (1886–1970) was born on 13 July 1886 in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana, and grew up in Newcastle Township. She married Marion B Clark (1887–1968) on 14 November 1913. He was born on 9 December 1887 in Waterloo, De Kalb County, Indiana to John C Clark (1857–1932), an immigrant from what is now Germany, and Nancy J "Nannie" Bemenderfer (1861–1940), whose niece, Bertha, married another Callin descendant: William Hurben Ettinger (1879-1933).

Marion was a farmer and served as a county commissioner during the 1920s and a county highway superintendent. Later, he became secretary-treasurer of the Production Credit Corporation, and he and Frances lived for a time in Fort Wayne, and in Marion, Ohio, before to the Auburn area. Marion died in Auburn on 22 June 1968 and was buried in the Waterloo Cemetery, De Kalb County, Indiana. Frances died on 7 February 1970 in Auburn and was buried with her husband. They were survived by their daughter and two of their three grand-daughters.

     1. Dorothy Marion Clark (1916–1996) was born on 12 April 1916 in Ashley, De Kalb County, Indiana. She grew up on her father's farm in Smithfield Township and married Wiley John Phillips (1916–2002) in Garrett, De Kalb County, Indiana, on Christmas Day, 1927. Wiley was born on 9 March 1916 in Billings, Yellowstone County, Montana, to Levi Nathan Phillips (1886–1974) and Clidie E Severt (1895–1943).

Dorothy took a business course at Angola and worked for the Federal Housing administration in Indianapolis when she married Wiley. He was a graduate of the International Business college of Fort Wayne and was employed by International Harvester in Fort Wayne. The couple had three daughters, who they raised in the Ashley-Hudson area in Steuben County. In 1970, Wiley and Dorothy moved to Auburn, where he owned Phillips Buildings.

Dorothy died on 27 June 1996 in Auburn and was buried in Waterloo Cemetery. Wiley married Lurah Jeanette (Putt) DeVoe (1916–2017) on 19 July 1997, and he died on 16 November 2002 in Auburn. He was buried with Dorothy, and they are survived by two of their three daughters, four grandsons, and five great-grandchildren.

     Dixie Ann Phillips (1940–1961) was born on 17 December 1940 in Kendallville, Noble County, Indiana. She was studying at Valparaiso University when she became ill with melanoma. She was ill for a year and was finally admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston where, after six weeks, she died on 5 May 1961. She was brought back to Indian and buried in Waterloo Cemetery.

     2. Robert Montgomery Clark (1919–1930) was born on 21 June 1919 in Auburn, De Kalb, Indiana. He contracted tetanus after "running a stick in his hand" (that's how the newspaper phrased it), and he died on 22 September 1930 from lockjaw. He was eleven years old.

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I always feel bad when we end on a sad or tragic story, and this week, we ended with two. It does seem to be inevitable when you're writing a series of life stories, and you don't write about people who are still alive, but it can still be difficult. At least we can share their stories and remember them, even if it is from a distance.


As always, if you've found one or more of your relatives mentioned in this blog, please get in touch. You can comment below (anonymous comments are usually not as helpful), or email "mightieracorns" at Gmail.com.

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Until next time... Happy Hunting!