John W. Montgomery
As a business man John W. Montgomery is one of the best known in Fairmount. He is a skillful worker in marble and granite, and does a large business as a dealer in monuments at that city. His family record connects him with some of the oldest names in the history of Grant County.
The monument business of which Mr. Montgomery is now at the head was established at Fairmount in 1868 by Mr. J. B. Hollingsworth, who retired in 1891, and this is one of the oldest concerns with a continuous history in the town. Mr. Hollingsworth was succeeded by Kelsay Brothers, who conducted the business from 1893 to 1902. In the latter year Mr. Montgomery and William Dye bought the good will and stock and the one important change occurred in 1910, and when J. H. Buchannan bought the interests of Mr. Buchanan, and they have the best plant of its kind in this part of the State. Their stock comprises the finest grade of American granite, selected chiefly from the quarries at Quincy, Massachusetts, and Barre, Vermont. They also have different kinds of foreign granite and marble. Mr. Buchanan attends to the selling end of the business, while Mr. Montgomery is the expert in the cutting department. He learned his trade both in the cutting of granite and marble when a young man, and developed special skill in lettering and scroll work. He was employed by Mr. Hollingsworth, the founder of the business, and after a three years' apprenticeship continued with his employer and later with the Kelsay Brothers until he and his associate bought out the establishment on January 1, 1902.
John W. Montgomery was born in Fairmount, December 4, 1859, and has always live din this part of the county, having received his education in the public schools, and going from school almost immediately into the trade in which he has been so successful. Mr. Montgomery is the son of Dennis and Maria (Hollingsworth) Montgomery. Dennis Montgomery was born in Grant County, January 31, 1836, and now lives with his son John at the advanced age of seventy-seven years, though he is still a hale and hearty man. He took up during his youth the trade of carpenter, and throughout his active career followed that vocation and from his work was enabled to provide liberally for his children. At the present time he finds attractive employment for his aged years in growing and developing all kinds of flowers about the home. The mother died in October, 1888. She was born in 1840. Her religious connection was with the United brethren Church, while the father was a Congregationalist, while in politics he was a Prohibitionist.
The family history goes back to the great-grandfather, John Montgomery, who was a native of North Carolina, from which State early in the nineteenth century he moved to Indiana, being an old man at the time. He died when past eighty years of age in Vigo County;. He was of Scotch parents and ancestry. The father, James Montgomery, a native of Randolph County, North Carolina, where he was born in 1809, was a boy when the family moved to Vigo County, Indiana. There he grew to manhood, and soon afterward moved to Grant County, among the pioneers. In Grant County he married Hannah, a daughter of Solomon and Anna (Morris) Thomas. The Thomas's were among the very first pioneers of Grant County, entered their land from the government and lived here until their death, Solomon Thomas when past eighty years of age, while his wife died in middle life.
James Montgomery and wife after their marriage found a tract of new and unimproved land and cut out a home for themselves from the greenwoods. There James Montgomery died at the early age of thirty-five years, leaving five children. His widow married for her second husband John Moore, and when they died there were two sons by the second marriage. The Montgomery's through three generations of residence in Grant County have always been recognized as among the very best people.
Dennis Montgomery, father of John W., was the first son and second child in the father's family of five children, and the only one still living. Two of his brothers, John and Solomon Montgomery, enlisted in the One Hundred and First Indiana Regiment of Infantry as Privates in Fred Cartwright's Company, and both died of the measles at Murfreesboro in 1862. Their bodies now are buried side by side in the National Cemetery at Murfreesboro. In the family of Dennis Montgomery and wife were four sons and three daughters. Of these Leora died in 1865, Estella in 1871, Elmer in 1887, at the age of twenty and one infant died in 1887. Ella died after her marriage to R. A. McCoy. Her death occurred in Pennsylvania in October, 1912, and her husband lives in that State with two daughters, Belma and Laura. A Brother of John W. Montgomery is George W. Montgomery, a glass worker at Bellaire, Ohio, where he has his home and is married.
John W. Montgomery was married in Fairmount, December 26, 1886 to Ida Hall. She was born in Madison County, Indiana, December 29, 1867. Her parents died at their old home in Madison County. They were Thomas and Elizabeth (Hopes) Hall, and left five children at their death. Mrs. Montgomery's brother John is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery became the parents of one child, Leonard E., who was born December 28, 1888, was educated in the city high schools, and is now in the jewelry business at Summittville in Madison County. Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery and son are all active members of the congregational Church and the father served for a number of years as Trustee and the son as Church Clerk.
Source: Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914, page 702.