James McConnell Montgomery (1770 - 1842)

Born 19 May 1770 in Waxhaw, Lancaster, South Carolina

Ancestors

Husband of Nancy (Farlow) Montgomery — married 14 Nov 1797 in Hancock Co, Georgia

Descendants

Died 6 Oct 1842 at age 72 in Standing Peachtree, De Kalb, Georgia, USA

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Biography

Major James McConnell Montgomery was born in the Lancaster District of South Carolina on May 19, 1770, the son of Captain James Montgomery and Nancy Farlow. As a boy, during the latter days of the American Revolution, he accompanied his father into battle in Burke County, GA, near Augusta. He was commissioned a major when he served in the War of 1812 at Fort Peachtree, in the Indian town of Standing Peachtree, on the Chattahoochee River. After the war, Montgomery and his wife, the former Nancy Farlow, moved their family of 14 children to Standing Peachtree from Jackson County, GA. Standing Peachtree, later the Bolton Community, was then deep in Georgia frontier territory, on the western edge of what was to become DeKalb County. The Montgomery’s were the first residents of what is now Atlanta. The city of Atlanta, which was incorporated in 1853, was first located in DeKalb County. Fulton County was created a year later. Montgomery held many positions in the local government, including election superintendent, road commissioner, Clerk of the Court of Ordinary, state senator, poor school commissioner, postmaster, census taker, justice of the peace, and tax collector. He was a farmer, as well as sawmill and gristmill operator, trading post proprietor, and ferryman. Montgomery Ferry Road is named for him. He also served as a federal Indian Agent whose job it was to keep white trespassers fromencroaching upon Cherokee lands across the Chattahoochee River from Standing Peachtree. Later, he was the enrolling agent, signing up Cherokees to move voluntarily from north Georgia. Both James and Nancy Montgomery died in 1842, and are buried in the Montgomery family cemetery near their Standing Peachtree home place. A number of Montgomery descendents still live in the Atlanta area and attended the service held on April 14, 2001.^[1]

Birth

May 19, 1770

Marriage

Married in Hancock Co, GA, Nov 14 1797 to Nancy Farlow (born in Maryland 7 Oct 1781, d 27 July 1842)

Children

Children of James and Nancy were:

• Ardesea F (b 4 Apr 1799, m1 Samuel Pruitt Jr 10 Sept 1816, m2 unknown Wyatt),
• Lucinda McConnell (b 28 Oct 1800, m Dempsey J Connaly 13 Dec 1821),
• Amelia S (b 19 Apr 1802, m Joseph D Shumate 22 Dec 1819),
• Sophronia P (b 24 Oct 1803, m John Franklin Oct 1819),
• Ulysses McConnell (b 15 Dec 1805, m Elizabeth Humber Mar 1826),
• Rev Telemachus Farlow (b 13 Jan 1808, m1 Emily Felder Dec 1839, m2 Mary Turner),
• Rev Rhadamanthus J Farlow (b 29 Nov 1811, m Harriet H Bogle 26 May 1835),
• James Floyd (b 10 Sep 1813, m Elizabeth Young 12 Jan 1837),
• Nunan Tarpley (b 8 Aug 1815),
• William Farlow (b 16 Dec 1816),
• Colonel Joseph Terrell (b 23 May 1819, m Julia Cameron 13 Dec 1842),
• Rhoda Narcissa (b 22 Mar 1822, m1 Alfred B Brown 17 Apr 1839, m2 Henry Dean),
• Hugh Brown Troup (b 17 Apr 1824, m Mary Broughton 24 Apr 1849).^[2][3][4]

Siblings

• David Montgomery (1764 - 1831)
• Hugh Lawson Montgomery (1767 - 1852)
• Virginia Jane Montgomery Appleby (1781 - 1875)
• William Montgomery (1783 - 1877)
• Margaret Montgomery Niblack (1785 - 1860)
• Sarah "Sallie" Montgomery Venable (1789 - 1864) ^[5]

Census

James McConnell is living in DeKalb County, Georgia. ^[6]

Property Purchased

James, in 1822, purchased 1000 acres of recently ceded Indian land around the village of Standing Peach Tree. He paid a sizeable sum of $3600 dollars.^[7]

Historical Acknowledgements

Major James McConnell Montgomery first came to Buckhead towards the end of the War of 1812 – really the Red Stick War – when he was charged with building boats to ship supplies down the Chattahoochee to Fort Mitchell in Columbus. A small band of soldiers under the leadership of Lieutenant George Gilmer – a future governor – stationed at Fort Peachtree protected him. He returned around 1820, and raised his family around what had the Creek village of Standing Peachtree. The United States employed him and his brother to keep white settlers from encroaching on the Cherokee Nation, which was on the other side of the river. He also served as a road commissioner, kept the records for the Court of the Ordinary, was a commissioner for the “poor school,” a mail carrier, a census taker, a justice of the peace, a tax receiver and a tax collector. He also operated the ferry, a saw mill and a grist mill. The first post office in the area is said to have been in his house. He died on Oct. 6, 1842 and is buried in the Montgomery Family Cemetery, one of the most significant historic sites in Atlanta. This obelisk marks his final resting place, which is just off of Marietta Boulevard north of Bolton Road. In 1853, the Montgomery family sold what had been Standing Peachtree to Martin DeFoor, who took over the ferry operations. Those names – Montgomery Ferry and Defoors Ferry – remain to this day, know best for the roads bearing their names.^[8]

Served in the War of 1812 as a wagonmaster of Floyd's Brigade, Georgia Militia. ^[9]His service began 9 Oct 1813, and he resigned 31 Oct 1813. He also served with rank of special commissary in said organization from 31 Oct 1813 to 1 March 1814. Fort Peachtree, one of a line of forts hastily constructed during the War of 1812 to control the Creek Indians who were in alliance with the British. Fort Peachtree occupied the summit northeast of the confluence of the Chattahoochee River and Peachtree Creek, and overlooked the Creek trading post town of Standing Peachtree. First Lt. George Rockingham Gilmer (Governor of Georgia, 1829-31, 1837-39) erected the fort in 1814. He later said he had “never seen a fort” up until that time, but as far as anyone knows, his construction was successful, since the strength of the fort was never tested. Sgt James McConnell Montgomery, one of Gilmer’s command of twenty-two wrote Gen. Andrew Jackson (March 20, 1814) that the site, “on a commanding eminence,” provided a “romantic” view of the river, both up stream and down. In July he described the fort as being “two large hew’d logg block houses, six dwelling houses, and one fram’d store house, one Bridge .. . and five boats” which cost “the Governor not less than five thousand dollars”. (Montgomery later returned to live here. He became postmaster of Standing Peachtree^[10] and established Montgomery’s Ferry near the fort site.) After the War of 1812, Fort Peachtree was apparently abandoned. No trace of the fort remains atop the hill.^[11]

Montgomery Ferry: James McConnell Montgomery acquired 1000 acres in this vicinity about 1821. Owning land on both sides of the river, he had a private ferry until granted a State franchise, Dec. 25, 1837, signed by his friend, Gov. Geo. Gilmer. It was located where the Seaboard bridge now spans the river & it remained the only traffic crossing on main rd. from Atlanta to Marietta until 1872, except the war-years, 1864-1865, in which the boats disappeared. Refugees returning, post-war, to N. Ga. & Tenn., had no means of crossing until Thomas Moore & volunteer helpers, after 72 hrs. of incredible effort, constructed an emergency flat.^[12]

Montgomery Family Cemetery of Major James McConnell Montgomery (1770-1842) probably the first white man to settle permanently in what is now Fulton County. A soldier in the War of 1812, Montgomery served under Lt. George R. Gilmer (later Congressman and Governor of Georgia) during 1813-14 at Fort Gilmer, at the Standing Peachtree, adjacent to the mouth of Peachtree Creek. Settling here about 1820. In addition to his activities as a solder and farmer, Montgomery served subsequently as Justice of the Peace, Postmaster, Census Taker, Presbyterian Church Trustee, Tax Collector, Tax Receiver, Sheriff, Indian Agent and Legislator. On Dec. 25, 1837, he was authorized to establish a ferry across the Chattahoochee River at the Standing Peachtree (Bolton). Montgomery’s (later DeFoor’s) Ferry at the site of the Seaboard Air Line RR Bridge became “noted crossing place over the Chattahoochee” and the name persists in Montgomery Ferry Drive in Atlanta. The Montgomery family cemetery is one of the oldest authentic landmarks In this area.^[13]

Death

6 Oct 1842, Fulton County, Georgia. ^[14][15][16]

Burial

Montgomery Family Cemetery, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia.^[17]

Sources

1. ↑ https://gasocietysar.org/gravesregistry/showmedia.php?mediaID=258&medialinkID=259
2. ↑ http://woodlin.net/lindley/3969.htm
3. ↑ A South Carolina-George Family (The Montgomery Family Magazine, January 1916), p33-35.
4. ↑ http://www.montyhistnotes.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I7173&tree=MontyHistNotes_III
5. ↑ Find A Grave, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=59117557
6. ↑ 1840 US Federal Census; Census Place: District 469, De Kalb, Georgia; Roll: 40; Page: 54; Image: 114; Family History Library Film: 0007043
7. ↑ https://www.google.com/books/edition/Peachtree_Creek/Yyawrddy2wcC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=james+mcconnell+montgomery+purchased+1000+acres&pg=PA172&printsec=frontcover
8. ↑ https://atk2.wordpress.com/2021/09/28/major-james-mcconnell-montgomery/
9. ↑ Direct Data Capture, comp. U.S., War of 1812 Service Records, 1812-1815 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999, http://ancestry.com
10. ↑ Ancestry.com. U.S., Appointments of U. S. Postmasters, 1832-1971 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010
11. ↑ Georgia Historical Society, http://georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/fort-peachtree-war-of-1812/
12. ↑ Georgia Historical Society, http://georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/montgomerys-ferry/
13. ↑ http://georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/montgomery-cemetery/
14. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial# 59117557, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=59117557
15. ↑ http://woodlin.net/lindley/3969.htm
16. ↑ A South Carolina-George Family (The Montgomery Family Magazine, January 1916), p33-35.
17. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial# 59117557, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=59117557