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Rev. Thomas Benjamin Montanye - Biographical Sketch

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Introduction

This page includes biographical Information on Thomas Montagne (1691-1761) which was published in the book: History and Genealogy of the Earles of Secaucus, with an account of other English and American Branches by Isaac Newton Earle. History and Genealogy of the Earles of Secaucus, with an account of other English and American Branches, Marquette, Michigan: Guelff Printing Co., 1925. This is a "secondary" source and is provided for background information only.

CHAPTER SEVEN. THE MONTAGNE FAMILY.
Begins with this introduction on pg 361.

On Feb. 8, 1755, Morris married Anna de la Montanye, a lady of Huguenot extraction, of noble descent, and a member of one of the oldest and most prominent families in the early history of New York. The record of this marriage is on the register of the Old Dutch Church, New York, as follows: “Morris Earle and Johanna Moun- tany, Feb. 8th, 1755.”
As all the Earles of Marmaduke’s (Father of Morris) line known to us today, one of the most numerous branches of the Secaucus family, are descended from Anna de la Montanye, it will be of interest to a large number of our readers to know something of her ancestry.
We shall therefore pause to trace the rise of this stream, which had its fountainhead in hranee and which, in the person of our revered ancestress, is now about to unite with the English stream whose course we have been following.

The information on the Montanye Family is quite large so it has been divided up by person.

  1. Dr. Jean Mousnier de la Montagne - Biographical Sketch Settled in New Amsterdam in 1637 (pg. 362). Wikitree: Jean (Mousnier) de la Montagne Sr (bef.1595-abt.1670)

  2. Jesse De Forest - Biographical Sketch - Came to America with the colony of Walloons, and Dr. Montagne accompanied them (pg. 364). WikiTree: Jesse (Desforetz) De Forest (1576-1624)

  3. Jean de la Montagne Jr - Biographical Sketch The third son of Dr. Montagne and Rachel de Forest (pg. 378). Wikitree: Jean (Mousnier) de la Montagne Jr (1633-1672)

  4. Vincent de la Montagne - Biographical Sketch, the second son of Jean de la Montagne, Jr., and Peternella Pikes (pg. 380). Wikitree: Vincent de la Montagne Sr (bef.1657-1735)

  5. Thomas Montagne - Biographical Sketch A Son of Vincent de la Montagne born Feb. 15, 1691, Anglicized Surame: Montanye (pg. 381). Wikitree: Thomas Montagne (1691-1761)

  6. Rebecca Bruen - Biographical Sketch The wife of Thomas de la Montagne (pg. 382). Wikitree: Rebecca (Bruen) Montagne (1691-1775)

  7. Nelly Montanye - Biographical Sketch A daughter of Thomas Montagne, married Isaac Vredenburgh (pg. 388).

  8. Rev. Benjamin Montanye - Biographical Sketch Another child of Thomas Montanye (pg. 388). Wikitree: Benjamin Montayne (1745-1825)

  9. Rev. Thomas Benjamin Montanye - Biographical Sketch Son of Rev. Benjamin Montanye (pg. 391).

Rev. Thomas Benjamin Montanye - Biographical Sketch

Thomas B. Montanye, the son of Benjamin and the grandson of Thomas Montanye, was born in the city of New York, Jan. 29, 1769.

“Though brought up in a Reformed Dutch congregation, he was led under the preaching of Rev. John Gano, an able and celebrated Baptist minister of New York, to abandon the faith in which he had been educated, so far as baptism was concerned, and become a member of the First Baptist Church in that city, in 1786, when he was seventeen years old.

He displayed such native talents that he was licensed to preach at eighteen years of age, though he had not enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education, and in the following year, Nov. 20, 1788, when he was less than twenty years old, he was ordained by Revs. Waldo, Gano, Jayne and Southard, and became pastor of the church in Warwick, Orange County, N. Y.

At the ordination Elder Waldo preached the sermon, and Elder Gano gave the charge. He remained twelve years and a half at Warwick, laboring with zeal, industry and success.

During one year of his residence there more than one hundred and fifty were added to the church, as the fruits of a powerful work of grace. His influence and reputation spread into the surrounding region. He was regarded as an able and eloquent preacher of the Word, and his presence and assistance were sought at meetings of associations, ordinations, and religious conventions, at which a prominent part was usually assigned him.

In 1800 he visited the Association in Philadelphia, and was invited to preach at the church in Southampton, Bucks County, Pa., which was then without a pastor. His services were so agreeable to the people that he soon received a call to be their spiritual guide, and the indications of Providence seemed to point it out as his duty to accept it, which he did in May, 1801.

When the war of 1812 arose between Great Britain and this country, and 14,000 men were drafted from Pennsylvania into the service of the United States, Mr. Montanye was appointed, Sept. 25, 1814, one of the five chaolains from this state. He was stationed with the Second Division, commanded by General Smith, at Marcus Hook. He was a warm patriot, and entered upon the duties of his position in the army with alacrity and a desire to benefit the men individually, as well as the cause.

In an article upon the events of that period, published in the Union Star and Chronicle of December 5, 1859, occurs the following passage:

‘Of that sweet Boanerges, Thomas B. Montanye, an incident is related illustrating his supreme devotion to the King of Kings. His life was so pure, and such his personal majesty, grace and earnestness of address, that officers and soldiers were alike swayed by his magic will.

Having-received a chaplain’s commission, he sallied forth to the camp on the banks of the Delaware. His clerical labors there proved highly acceptable and salutary. On one occasion, particularly, he had an opportunity of exhibiting his fortitude and conscientiousness, in a way that attracted special notice. A general drill and review of the army had been ordered for the morning of the Sabbath, at the same hour when preaching had hitherto been the order of the day. He told his friends that this military exercise must not take place at the hour of public worship. He then proceeded to the quarters of the General in command, and stated to him, in a dignified and courteous manner, that he held a commission from his country, and also from his God; that by virtue of this latter commission, he was superior in command on the Sabbath to any of the military; that the general order for a review would interfere with orders from a higher source; and that, consequently, the review could not and must not take place. The General heard the chaplain with surprise, but with respectful attention; and the result was that “after orders” were issued, and the review was postponed.

Mr. Montanye’s pastorate at Southampton extended through a period of twenty-eight years and a half, and was eminently successful. It is looked back upon as the golden age of the church. His memory is held in the highest respect and affection.

He died on Sabbath morning, Sept. 27, 1829, aged sixty years, seven months, and twenty-six days. His funeral was attended by twelve ministers of the gospel, and an immense assemblage of parishioners, neighbors and friends.

The following testimony in regard to him is from the pen of Rev. Horatio Gates Jones, D. D., his intimate friend:

‘Under his ministry many were translated from the state of nature to the state of grace, and many were advanced to a higher state of holiness. The bad were made good and the good were made better. In his sermons there was a rare union of argument and persuasion to convince the mind and gain the heart. In speaking he possessed an admirable felicity and copiousness. In his style there was a noble negligence, his great mind not deigning to stoop to the affected eloquence of words. In the social circle all who knew him were delighted with his urbanity. His natural abilities and endowments invariably commanded respect; his reasoning faculty was prompt and acute; his memory uncommonly tenacious, and his conversation highly agreeable"

Before he was twenty-one years old he married his cousin, Ann Edmunds, born January 27, 1771. She was the daughter of a prominent merchant of New York, in prosperous business before the Revolution, but during that struggle deprived of his property by the British.

She remembered distinctly seeing the English army coming into the city, when she was a girl of only five years, while, with her father’s family, she was carried away in a boat, which contained all the goods they contrived to save from the hands of the spoilers.

She survived her husband thirty-two years, dying in 1861, aged ninety. They were the parents of eleven children. Mrs. Sarah Ann Conard, Mrs. Eliza W. Addis, Mrs. Rebecca M. Dungan, and Mrs. Amy Hart Yerkes, were daughters. The latter was the wife of Stephen Yerkes and the mother of Hon. Herman Yerkes, judge of the courts of Bucks County.”

Mrs. Ann Montanye used to visit the writer’s mother, Mrs. Priscilla Earle, and take her out riding in her gig, years before he was born. The writer's father, Rev. Alfred Earle, M. D., was at one time pastor of the church at Southampton.





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