My Genealogy Hound

Samuel Benson Montgomery, physician and surgeon of Cynthiana, Ind., is a member of a family which has figured prominently in the history of the world since 944, the death of Yves de Bellesme, Count of Alencon, in Normandy, the first person recorded as bearing the name of Montgomery, occurring in that year. Since that time the Montgomerys have been heard of in France, England, Holland, Scotland, Ireland and America, his descendants having located in all those countries. It is from those that lived in Scotland and Ireland that we have the American line, and the antecedents of our subject. In 1605 Hugh Montgomery, of Braidstane, Scotland, was given title to one-third of the Con Oneil estate of Ireland for services rendered in Oneil’s behalf in securing his pardon from King James. Mr. Montgomery at once set about to place a desirable class of emigrants on the large possessions he had secured. Of the first fifty-one families he brought there six families bore the name Montgomery, and within five years his colonization was so successful that he was able to report 1,000 men at his Majesty’s service. Out of the amalgamation of the thousands of Scotch emigrants brought into Ireland by Hugh Montgomery and other knights, with the native Irish, came the Scotch-Irish family, many of whom have come to America, settling at first in Virginia and finally scattering in every State in the Union. Samuel Montgomery, Sr., a direct descendant of Hugh Montgomery, was born in Virginia about 1740, and served in the Revolutionary war. He was quiet, peace-loving, industrious and religious, and was highly esteemed by his neighbors. He was an elder in the old Presbyterian church in Kentucky, and in 1814, three years after coming to Indiana, he consented to assist in the organization of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. This he did at the earliest solicitation of Rev. William Barnett, and with them in the project was James Knowles, an elder in the Old School Presbyterian church. These three men formed the basis for the first Cumberland Presbyterian church of Indiana, and they formed the new organization without reordination or relinquishing any part of their former faith, and for the sole purpose of advancing the cause of Christ. Samuel Montgomery, Sr., married Polly McFarland, in Virginia, and later removed to Perryville, Ky. In 1811 he came with most of his family to Indiana and settled in Gibson county. The father of Samuel Montgomery, Sr., had slaves, and the son, being a religious man, did not believe it was right, and for that reason left home with his belongings and came to Indiana, where he set his negroes free at Evansville, which at that time consisted of two log houses and a cornfield. He bought his land at $1.50 per acre. It is now worth $200 per acre. Samuel Montgomery, Jr., was born in Kentucky in 1794, the ninth and youngest child of Samuel Montgomery, Sr. At the age of seventeen years he belonged to the State militia, and at the time of the call of General Harrison for help at the battle of Tippecanoe, he was absent on a visit. Upon returning and learning that his company had joined General Harrison, he hastily followed on horseback, but met his company at Vincennes, on their return. He married Sarah Montgomery on November 15, 1814. She was born in 1793, and died in August, 1829. This was the thirty-eighth marriage license issued in Gibson county. Five children were born to this union. He was married the second time in 1833, when Nancy Robb, nee Davis, became his wife. Five children were born to this second marriage. Mr. Montgomery was drawn on the first jury in the county. Court was held in a small log cabin southwest of Princeton, on the McCurdy farm. Jesse M. Montgomery, the tenth and youngest child of Samuel Montgomery, Jr., was born May 5, 1845, in Gibson county, Indiana. He is a farmer by occupation, and a staunch Republican in politics, having represented Gibson county in the legislature in 1887. He now lives one mile north of Cynthiana, where he has one of the finest farms in the county. On November 22, 1866, he married Lemira Benson, a daughter of William Benson, of Montgomery township, Gibson county, and they became the parents of three children all of whom received college educations. Samuel B. Montgomery, the youngest child of Jesse M. and Lemira (Benson) Montgomery, was born on his father’s farm in Gibson county, one mile north of Cynthiana, July 6, 1874. He was raised on the farm, completed the common schools and graduated from the Owensville High School in 1892. He attended Wabash College one year and then entered the medical department of the University of Louisville, where he graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, in 1898. He located at Poseyville, Ind., for practice, remaining there one year. He then went to St. Wendel, where he remained three years, and although successful in both these places he decided to locate in Cynthiana, and came here in 1902. He enjoys a large and lucrative practice, and is a member of the Posey County and Indiana State Medical societies, and the American Medical Association. He belongs to the Christian church, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Court of Honor. Politically, he is a Progressive. On September 15, 1898, Dr. Montgomery married Miss Eva L. Boyle, daughter of Henry and Matilda (McReynolds) Boyle, both natives of Indiana, the father of Vanderburg county, and the mother of Posey county. Her parents are now retired, living in Cynthiana in the summer and in Florida in the winter. Mrs. Montgomery was born in Vanderburg county, July 17, 1879, and was educated in the common and high schools of Cynthiana, and at Owensboro College, Owensboro, Ky. They are the parents of two children: Mary Leona, born March 5, 1901, and Dorothy Mae, born March 16, 1905. Mrs. Montgomery is a member of the Presbyterian church, and active in its charities.