James was born in 1808. He was the son of James Montgomery and Sara Varner (according to FS) or Susannah Johnson (according to Wagenseller).
He was orphaned at a young age, and apprenticed to a harnessmaker, Alexander Marshall.
He married Margaret Wagenseller and they had two children, Hannah Ann who died in infancy (elsewhere listed as Retta) and John.
James purchased a farm in Letterkenny twp, Franklin Co. in 1837, later changing to a location in Upper Strasburg, Franklin, which he sold in 1844, staying 6 months in Shippensburg and then moving to Chambersburg, the Montgomery House. This house was destroyed in 1864 during the burning of Chambersburg, but a house was rebuilt by the family on that spot.
He passed away in 1858.
James Montgomery (father) emigrated from Ballymena County, Antrim, Ireland in 1798 and married Susannah Johnson in Chester Co PA, 22 Dec 1801. His ancestors were from Scotland. He became a naturalized citizen in 1804, and died in 1810; Susannah died in 1818, both buried at Brandywine Manor. They left two young children, James of this profile and Nancy (m. Moses Miller of Chester). This is from p. 155 of Wagenseller, and conflicts with the parentage and details given on FS.
Wagenseller goes into detail of the ancient Norman ancestry going back to Roger de Montgomery of Normandy, about 900. This can be found on p 156.
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