William MONTGOMERY
(1751 - December 1825)

GENETIC PARENTS

Father: Thomas (William) MONTGOMERY (1712/15 - 1799)
Mother: Mary Nevins or Evans

SPOUSE

GENETIC CHILDREN

OTHER RELATIONS

 

BASIC DATA

Names: William Montgomery
Born: 1751 in Mill Creek 100, New Castle County, Pennsylvania
Resided: Pennsylvania
Married: Nancy Nichols (1754 - 1820-22) 1766 in Wilmington, Delaware
Occupation:
Died: 1825 in Wolf Creek Twsp., Mercer, Pennsylvania
Buried:
Relation to Chris STEFANOVICH:

NOTES

William Montgomery (father) was a native of Scotland, and his wife Mary Evans, claimed Wales as her birthplace. He brought his family to Delaware in 1750 and settled in the neighborhood of Wilmington where he owned a large farm and tannery: he also held slaves, but these he afterward freed.

There were eleven sons and two daughters in the family of William Montgomery and during the Revolutionary War ten of the sons - the youngest being too young for service, enlisted in the Continental Army and engaged in the battles for liberty until peace was declared. Not one of this gallant band of brothers received a wound although the Delaware regiment in which they served suffered severe diminution in numbers from the disease and bullets.

The family home was in such proximity to the scene of action that its members witnessed all the horrors of the struggle.

A force of 5,000 British encamped on the farm and established their winter quarters. They slaughtered the cattle for beef and did not hesitate to appropriate anything they wished for their use. They took possession of the house, a large stone structure and used it for a hospital.

They had seized all the linen of the household for dressing wounds and on one occasion a soldier rudely tore off a linen neckchief worn by the lady of the house, but the natural gallantry of the English officer asserted itself and he reproved the soldier and offered the lady, in compensation, his own silk scarf.

One of the eleven sons was named William, who was the grandfather of Isabel Coleman. Soon after the beginning of the Revolution he married Mary Nichols and several years after the establishment of peace, in 1791 he brought his family and household goods in a four-horse wagon to a point on Chartiers Creek 7 miles below Pittsburgh where he remained for 6 years. In March 1797, having purchased a land right for 2 tracts of 426 acres each, he came to Wolf Creek (now Wolf Creek Township, Mercer County, Pa.) bringing with him his 2 oldest sons William and Thomas, boys of 15 & 11 years of age. They established a settlement and built a cabin what is now Robert Thompson's orchards (1888), and they also built on the other tract within the boundaries of what is now the Coulter Farm. (All about 5 miles north of Grove City)

The father left the sons to keep possession of the new settlement and he returned to his former home, or the old settlement as it was familiarly called, for provisions and other supplies among other articles, kettles for making maple sugar. On the way back, he broke his arm and was compelled to return to the old settlement and remain there 6 weeks - long, lonely and anxious weeks, we may imagine they were for the boys in their lodge in the wilderness with only the red man for neighbors. During all this time they saw only 2 white men, but were never molested although they could hear the Indians shooting in the forest every day. On one occasion hearing a commotion at the hen roost and thinking it was caused by Indians they prepared as best they could for defense, but were much relieved on finding the cause of their alarm to be wolves.

They were almost out of provisions when their father returned, but they had cleared a field for corn and after a summer spent in taking care of the corn crop they went back to the old settlement and in the following spring the entire family moved to the new abode.

There were 4 sons and 6 daughters in this household:

Elizabeth married John Miller,
Margaret, the next in order of birth became the wife of Andrew Irwin,
William married Sarah Barnes,
Mary married Joshua Coleman and
they were the maternal parents of Isabelle Coleman Patterson.
Thomas married Margaret Waldron,
John was the husband of Elizabeth Barnes,
Alexander married Nancy Cassidy,
Mancy married Matthew Irwin,
Ann was the wife of Samuel Vaughn and
Isabelle married Thomas Leisure.

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 Chris Stefanovich
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Last updated May 2000 by Web Genealogist Chris Stefanovich.