Meanwhile, I want to share a set of essays I’ve compiled in recent months to assist researchers of American Montgomery families who are combining DNA findings with traditional genealogical research to try to figure out the back-in-time origins of some US Montgomery families, and whether some of these families are genetically connected to each other or not. I’ve been asked to contribute to this venture by researching certain American Montgomery lines that, according to DNA findings, appear to be connected to other Montgomery lines, with a sparsity of good, documented information hindering the attempt to figure out why these families seem to be related to each other.
I’ve posted previously on my own Montgomery line, which runs from Catherine Montgomery, wife of Patrick Calhoun (1684-1760) of County Donegal, Ireland, and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. And I’ve posted a series of postings about a James Montgomery (abt. 1690 – 1756) of County Donegal, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Augusta County, Virginia, who appears to have been a brother of Catherine. Information about James is in the posting I’ve just linked.
A Montgomery DNA project at FTDNA contains valuable information about various Montgomery family lines and their genetic connections. The genealogical mini-essays I’ve done to aid those working with that project to figure out how and why some lines may connect are what I’d call “soundings”: that is, I’m starting cold with the Montgomery families whom I’ve been assigned to research. I’ve never worked on these folks before. My research on these lines is far from exhaustive. It’s aimed at taking what seems to be known about their earliest US progenitors, and doing preliminay research to verify or disprove information that has been disseminated about those progenitors. In what follows, I’m sharing one of these “soundings” focusing on a David Montgomery whose descendants have a DNA profile that appears to connect them to known descendants of James Montgomery mentioned above.
The following notes focus on a David Montgomery said to have been born about 1714, perhaps in Northern Ireland, who died between 21 July and 20 August 1791 in Wilkes County, Georgia.[1] My primary goal here is to see if there’s documentary evidence of his connection to a number of other colonial American Montgomery families including the family of James Montgomery (abt. 1690-1756) of Northern Ireland, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Augusta County, Virginia, which was in Virginia in the same period in which David Montgomery’s family is found there. As noted above, proven descendants of David and James appear to be a DNA match.
Albemarle County, Virginia, Records
A Montgomery family or several Montgomery families had settled in the Rockfish Valley of Albemarle (later Amherst) County, Virginia, by 30 July 1750, when Parson Robert Rose wrote in his diary that he and John Chiswell rode horseback into the valley.[2] Rose stated in his diary,
Went with Mr. Chizwel thro Verdiman’s pass by Wright’s & Montgomerie’s Settiement to the Meeting House at Rockfish, then by Martin’s Mill to Mr. Chizwel’s Quarter near to Rockfish Gap. Viewd the Crop, rain at Night
This passage of the diary is transcribed in Catherine Hawes Seaman’s book Tuckahoes and Cohees.[3]
So by July 1750, a settlement in the Rockfish valley of Albemarle (later Amherst) County, Virginia, had the name Montgomery’s settlement. By March 1754 (see below), David Montgomery was living in this settlement. Seaman provides a helpful history of the early period of the Montgomery settlement, noting that Alexander Montgomery Sr. had bought land from Chiswell by 1745 or earlier, and settled there with his sons Michael, Thomas, James, and John, and daughters Abigail, Elizabeth, and Sarah, named in his 1764 will in Amherst.[4] Alexander had bought 260 acres near the “Blew Mountains” from Chiswell in 1745.[5]
Those buying land in the Montgomery settlement not long after Alexander Montgomery settled there included Michael Montgomery Sr., who purchased 500 acres in Albemarle County on the north side of Davies (now Davis) Creek of Rockfish River from John Chiswell of Hanover County on 20 February 1752. As we’ll see in a moment, they also included David Montgomery, who had a plat for 270 acres on Davis Creek in Albemarle on 26 March 1754, with John Chiswell as his neighbor.
I think, but may be wrong about this, that the Michael Montgomery buying land on Davis Creek from Chiswell in February 1752 is not Alexander Montgomery’s son Michael, but an older Michael Montgomery. If so, the fact that Alexander named a son Michael and the fact that the Michael Montgomery I take to be older than Alexander’s son settled in the Montgomery settlement close in time to each other make me think that Alexander and Michael were likely closely related.
Michael Montgomery was father of Thomas Montgomery (bef. 1740 – bef. 1790), whose son Robert married Esther Montgomery, daughter of David Montgomery and wife Elizabeth.[6] With Michael settling on Davis Creek around the same time David settled there, and with Michael’s grandson Thomas Montgomery marrying David’s daughter Esther Montgomery, you’d think that David and Michael were closely related. But apparently the DNA profile of males who claim descent from each of these men shows them in entirely different haplogroups.
So the DNA findings seem to suggest that unrelated Montgomerys gathered in the Montgomery settlement of Albemarle (later Amherst) County, Virginia, in the 1740s and 1750s. A Scottish clan mentality that caused people of Scottish descent with the same surname to congregate together in colonial America, as if they were related…?
As Seaman notes, both Parson Robert Rose and John Chiswell were of Scottish descent, as were the Montgomerys of the Montgomery settlement, by way of Ulster prior to their emigration to America.[7] The Cohees referenced in Seaman’s title were Scots Irish inhabitants of the back parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia; Cohee was a colloquial name applied to this group of people in those areas in the colonial period.
Seaman notes that John Chiswell was seated in Hanover County in the 1740s and took up large land patents in Albemarle including 30,000 acres on the Rockfish by 1739.[8] He then began selling parcels of this land to settlers wanting to farm this land on the western frontier of Virginia by the 1740s.[9]
Seaman’s account of the foundational period of the Montgomery settlement doesn’t indicate where those who settled this area of the Rockfish Valley were living prior to their arrival in the Montgomery settlement in the 1740s and 1750s. I haven’t spotted information in early Albemarle and Amherst records that provides clear information about this, either.
Michael Montgomery was in Albemarle by 8 May 1750, when he witnessed a deed by James Woods to Robert Anderson.[10] He died testate in 1768 in Amherst with a will dated written 3 February 1764.[11] It has been suggested that the Michael Montgomery found in Albemarle by May 1750 is perhaps a man of the same name living in Donegal township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1743-4.[12] Writs of capias and alias capias were issued by Lancaster County court for Michael Montgomery at courts held in May 1745-6. It has not been definitively proven that the Michael Montgomery in Lancaster County records in the 1740s is the man in Albemarle (later Amherst) County, Virginia, by 1750, though some researchers have concluded that this is likely.
A claim has been made that David Montgomery married his wife Elizabeth, said to be née Scott, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1739.[13] I have not found documentation of that claim.
On 26 March 1754, David Montgomery had a plat for 270 acres on Davis Creek, Dutch path, with John Chiswell owning neighboring land.[14] A plat for William Cabell Jr. on Davis Creek the same day for 326 acres shows his neighbors as Lee Harris, Col. John Chiswell, and David Montgomery.[15] On 28 March and 16 April 1754, a John Montgomery had plats of 150 acres and 98 acres, the first on Buck Creek neighboring Alexander Montgomery and Colonel John Chiswell, the second on branches of the Rockfish neighboring Colonel John Chiswell and William Wright.[16]
As Seaman explains, Davis Creek is a long creek that flows down from the mountains to join the Rockfish in the Rockfish Valley. Buck Creek enters the Rockfish further downstream.[17] Seaman notes that early settlers on Davis Creek included the Wrights, Montgomerys, and Harrises, with some of their descendants living there in the 1990s when she published her book.
On 3 July 1754, a David Montgomery thought to be the David who settled on Davis Creek in Albemarle (later Amherst) appears on the pay and muster rolls of those who took part in the Battle of the Meadows (Battle of Fort Necessity) under George Washington’s command.[18] The return rolls cited by the sources named in the preceding footnote show David Montgomery serving in Captain George Mercer’s company on 9 July 1754.[19] Mercer (1733-1784) was a Virginia native who was a land surveyor of the Virginia backcountry and of lands west to Ohio. David Montgomery was paid £2 8d on 29 July 1754 for service in Mercer’s company from 29 May-29 July 1754, and was paid the same amount again on 29 September 1754.[20] The list of those who joined at Wills Creek compiled on 3 July 1754 shows David joining his company on 7 March 1754.[21]
On 26 May 1758, David and Thomas Montgomery witnessed the deed of John Montgomery to Alex Reid of 100 acres in Albemarle on branches of the Rockfish. William Wright was another witness.[22]
A 4 August 1759 deed of Alexander Montgomery of Orange County, North Carolina, to Robert Barnet of St. Ann’s parish, Albemarle, for 260 acres on the Rockfish near the Blue Mountains in Albemarle shows this tract bordering William Montgomery, John Wright, and John Small and says that the land was out of a patent to John Chiswell 26 March 1739, with Chiswell deeding to Alexander Montgomery 25 April 1745. Alexander signed, with witnesses Joseph Barnet, William Montgomery, and John Montgomery.[23] Alexander Montgomery moved from Amherst County, Virginia, to Orange County, North Carolina, at some point prior to June 1757.[24]
On 3 April 1760, a deed of Joseph Cabell to Gregory Matthews for land on Davis Creek says that the tract he was selling joined Lee Harris, David Montgomery, and Colonel John Chiswell.[25]
Amherst County, Virginia, Records
On 1 August 1763, David Montgomery witnessed a deed of Richard Nally to Peter Field Trent for 80 acres in Amherst County adjoining Meriwether. Other witnesses were George Seaton and Henry Trent.[26] Amherst was formed from Albemarle in 1761.
On 20 August 1763, David Montgomery had four land patents in Amherst – 270 acres on Davis Creek; 300 acres both sides of north fork of Stovall’s Creek; 361 acres both sides of middle fork of Stovall’s Creek; and 950 acres both sides of north fork of Stovall’s Creek.[27]
On 26 July 1765, David Montgomery had a patent for 22 acres in the Dutch Thoroughfare in Amherst.[28] On the same day, Matthew Montgomery had a patent for 172 acres on the side of a mountain on the south side of the Rockfish.[29]
On 5 April 1770, David and John Montgomery witnessed the deed of Lunsford Lomax Jr. to James Stevens for two tracts on Rucker’s Run in Amherst. Other witnesses were Zachariah Taliaferro and Thomas Wortham.[30] On 4 December 1769, John Montgomery sold two tracts on branches of Rockfish to Matthew Harris.[31]
On 1 January 1774, Thomas Mann Randolph and wife Ann of Goochland County sold David Montgomery Jr. of Amherst 226 acres on branch of Nassau Creek, with David Montgomery (Sr.) as a witness along with William Wright and James Montgomery.[32]
On 2 March 1778: David and Thomas Montgomery witnessed a deed by John and Elizabeth Wright to James Halley Burton (Haliburton) for land on Davis Creek of Rockfish.[33] Since David Montgomery’s son named David was of age by this point, this David could possibly be Jr.
On 4 May 1778, Matthew and Else Montgomery of Albemarle sold William Hitchcock of Amherst land on the south side of a mountain south side of the Rockfish on lines of David Montgomery and William Bell.[34]
On 5 March 1781, David Montgomery deeded David and James Montgomery, his sons (the deed states this) 22 acres in Amherst on the lines of Colonel Lomax; the land was patented to David on 6 July 1765.[35]
On the same day, David Montgomery and wife Elizabeth sold James Montgomery 155 acres on Davis Creek patented to David 30 August 1763, with 40 acres of it granted to David by the Commonwealth on 12 July 1780. The land was on lines of David Montgomery Jr.[36]
On 7 April 1782, David Montgomery (the name appears twice here, possibly father and son or two entries for the same David) received payment for public service during the Revolution, per Amherst County Publick Claims court. One claim was for 275 pounds of beef, for which David was paid £2 5s 10d. The other was for a powdering tub, 5d. Thomas and James Montgomery were paid at the same court session for public claims.[37]
On 22 April 1784, William Hitchcock and wife Mary sold James Turner 172 acres on the north side of Davis Creek in Amherst joining David Montgomery, Matthew Harris, and James Turner. David and James Montgomery witnessed with Thomas Matthews and Matthew Phillips.[38]
A 4 December 1784 deed of Henry Sorry to John Casterson for 74 acres on Nassau Creek in Amherst says that part of the tract was in the possession of David Montgomery.[39]
On 6 April 1788, James Montgomery and wife Rebecca sold John Thomas 115 acres on which James and Rebecca lived on Davis Creek in Amherst on land patented to David Montgomery. The land was on lines of Zachariah Phillips, the gap of the thoroughfare, David Montgomery, and another tract joining David Montgomery Jr. Witnesses were Matthew Phillips, William Nalley, and John Kesterson.[40] Order was given by Amherst court on 21 September 1790 to William Terrell, Henry Mounger, and Richard Worsham in Wilkes County, Georgia, to receive Rebecca’s relinquishment of dower. The renunciation of dower was recorded in Amherst on 9 November 1790.
On 15 April 1788, David Montgomery and wife Elizabeth sold Matthew Harris 195 acres in Amherst on Davis Creek, south branch of Rockfish and west end of Marrowbone Mountain, on lines of David Phillips, John Matthews, Matthew Harris, David and James Montgomery, David Montgomery Jr., Zachariah Phillips, John Chiswell, and James Turner. Witnesses were Benjamin Powell, James Turner, William Wright, Andrew Wright, and William Tiller.[41]
On 6 October 1788, David and Elizabeth’s son David and wife Mary sold Daniel Mosby 641 acres in Amherst, five surveys joining on Nassau or Dutch.[42]
On 21 September 1790, an order was given by Amherst court to William Terrell and Henry Mounger, justices of Wilkes County, Georgia, to receive Elizabeth’s relinquishment of dower for the 15 April 1788 deed. The relinquishment was recorded in Amherst on 7 December 1790.[43]
Wilkes County, Georgia, Records
As the preceding deeds show, David and his family members were selling out in Amherst County in 1788 to move to Wilkes County, Georgia, where they relocated by 1790.
In 1791, David Montgomery Sr. and Jr. were taxed in Captain William Hurley’s company, Wilkes County with David Sr. taxed for 500 acres of 2nd-class land lying in Franklin County and two enslaved persons. David Jr. was taxed for 334 acres of 3rd-class land in Wilkes.[44]
David Montgomery died testate in Wilkes County, Georgia, with a will dated 21 July 1791.[45] The original will is on file in the Georgia Department of Archives and History.[46] I have a digital copy of the original (see the head of this posting). The will reads,
In The Name of God Amen Know all Men by these presents That I David Montgomery Cooper weak in Body but Sound In Judgment Do bequath to My wife Elizabeth all my Parsonry property During her Naterl life after her Decese to be Equely Devided amoungst our children the Negros to be valued David and James Montgomery & Charles Tuggle to Draw for Milley Jack & Sall John Herd to have Nelson whosoever shall Draw the loest priste Negros shall be made Equel with those of the higest out of other property and the balance of all My other property to be equly Devided amoungst the above mentioned Children David Montgomery John Herd & James Montgomery Executors As Witness My hand and Seal this 21 Day of July 1791
David Mountgomry
James X Roberson
Wilkes County]
Appeared before me Robert Morrow and James Robertson the two subscribing witnesses who by me being severally sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God do depose and say that they seen the above named David Montgomery sign seal publish and declare the above instrument of writing to be his last Will and Testament and that at the time of this doing the same he was of sound dis- posing mind memory and understanding to the best of their Knowledge and that this request in his presence and in the presence of each other the subscribed their names as Witnesses to the same – Proved and approved
Before me the 20th Augt. 1791 Edward Jones R.P.W.C.
On 20 August 1791, James Montgomery and John Heard gave bond in the amount of $250 for David Montgomery’s execution of the will of his father David.
As noted above, David Montgomery’s daughter Esther married Robert Montgomery, son of Thomas Montgomery, whose father was Michael Montgomery of Amherst County, Virginia. Records of Thomas in Amherst County seemingly end in August 1771, suggesting that he left Amherst County by that point, evidently to settle on the Holston River in what was then Botetourt County, Virginia.[47] It has been claimed that Esther Montgomery was born in Wythe County, Virginia, on 4 February 1755.[48]
Wythe County was not formed until 1790, when it was created from Montgomery County, whose parent county was Fincastle, which was taken from Botetourt County in 1777. The parent county of Botetourt, created in 1770, was Augusta County. If Esther Montgomery was born in 1755 in what later became Wythe County, she’d have been born in Augusta County, Virginia.
I find no evidence, however, that Esther’s father David Montgomery was in Augusta County in 1755 or at any other point. He’s consistently in Albemarle and then Amherst records from 1754 up to 1788, when he and wife Elizabeth sold their homeplace in Amherst and moved to Wilkes County, Georgia, where he died three years later.
[1] See “David A Montgomery, Sr” at Keith Montgomery’s Montgomery and Rowntree Families and Genealogy site; and “David A Montgomery (abt. 1714 – bef. 1791)” at WikiTree (managed by Carrier Barker).
[2] For some historical notes on Albemarle’s Rockfish region, see this previous posting about Thomas Whitlock (abt. 1745-1830). Information about John Chiswell (1710-1768) is in this previous posting about Thomas Whitlock, as well as in this posting and this one. Thomas Whitlock is one of my ancestors, as is Thomas Brooks (abt. 1747-1805), who married Thomas Whitlock’s daughter Sarah; this posting about Thomas Brooks has information about John Chiswell as well.
[3] Catherine Hawes Seaman, Tuckahoes and Cohees: The Settlers and Cultures of Amherst and Nelson Counties, 1607-1807 (Sweet Briar College: Sweet Briar Printing Press, 1992), p. 116.
[4] Ibid., p. 119. Seaman incorrectly cites the will of Michael Montgomery in Amherst County, Virginia (Will Bk. 1, pp. 115-7), instead of Alexander Montgomery’s will in Orange County, North Carolina (Will Bk. A, p. 81).
[5] Amherst County, Virginia, Deed Bk. A, p. 50, cited by Seaman, Tuckahoes and Cohees, p. 119.
[6] See “Thomas Montgomery (bef. 1740 – abt. 1803)” at WikiTree (managed by Chrissy Locke and Suzanne Laurence); and “Thomas Montgomery, Abt 1735 – Bef 1790” and “Esther Montgomery, 1755-” at Clan Montgomery Society International Database.
[7] Seaman, Tuckahoes and Cohees, p. 116.
[8] Ibid., p. 117.
[9] Ibid., p. 118.
[10] Albemarle County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 1, pp. 185-7.
[11] Amherst County, Virginia, Will Bk. 1, pp. 115-7.
[12] See “Michael Montgomery Sr. (bef. 1720 – bef. 1768)” at WikiTree (managed by David Moore).
[13] See “Esther Montgomery, 1755-,” cited in n. 6, supra.
[14] Albemarle County, Virginia, Plat Bk. 1, p. 265.
[15] Ibid., p. 262.
[16] Ibid., p. 265.
[17] Seaman, Tuckahoes and Cohees, p. 182.
[18] See “Virginia Troops in French and Indian Wars,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 1,3 (January 1894), p. 281, transcribing names on the roll of officers and soldiers serving in this battle from returns made at Wills Creek on 9 July 1754; the roll was supplied to Virginia Magazine by Mr. A.C. Quisenberry of the Inspector General’s Office, War Department. See also “Roster of Virginia Regiment” at the page for Fort Necessity, Pennsylvania, at the National Parks Service website.
[19] See Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck, Virginia’s Colonial Soldiers (Baltimore: Genealogical Publ. Co., 1988), p. 46.
[20] Ibid., pp. 47-8, 132.
[21] Ibid., p. 129.
[22] Albemarle County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 2, p. 287.
[23] Ibid., pp. 173-4.
[24] See “Alexander Montgomery Sr. (abt. 1705 – abt. 1768)” at WikiTree (managed by Clark H. Montgomery, Richard Sears, and Kenneth Montgomery).
[25] Albemarle County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 2, p. 222.
[26] Amherst County Deed Bk. B, p. 136.
[27] Virginia Patent Bk. 35, pp. 332-4.
[28] Ibid., Bk. 36, p. 818.
[29] Ibid., p. 768.
[30] Amherst County, Virginia, Deed Bk. C, p. 57.
[31] Ibid., Bk. B, pp. 51-2; John Montgomery had patents for this land on 25 September 1762 and 10 September 1767: Virginia Patent Bk. 35, p. 40, and Bk. 37, p. 99.
[32] Amherst County, Virginia, Deed Bk. D, p. 133.
[33] Ibid., p. 502.
[34] Ibid., p. 522.
[35] Ibid., Bk. E, p. 285.
[36] Ibid., p. 286.
[37] Janice L. Abercrombie and Richard Slatten, Virginia Revolutionary Publick Claims, vol. 1(Athens, Georgia: Iberian, 1992), p. 71, transcribing court record apparently in county court order book.
[38] Amherst County, Virginia, Deed Bk. E, p. 480.
[39] Ibid., p. 623.
[40] Ibid., Bk. F, p. 506.
[41] Ibid., p. 268.
[42] Ibid., p. 270.
[43] Ibid., p. 590.
[44] See Frank Parker Hudson, Wilkes County, Georgia, Tax Records, 1785-1805, vol. 1 (Atlanta, 1996), p. 300, transcribing the original tax list.
[45] Wilkes County, Georgia, Will Bk. C, p. 3.
[46] Record group 257, subgroup 2, series 2, box 3, folder no. 430A, “David Montgomery.”
[47] See “Thomas Montgomery (bef. 1740 – abt. 1803),” cited in n. 6, supra.
[48] See“Esther Montgomery, 1755-,” cited in n. 6, supra.
BEGATS AND BEQUEATHALS 
3 thoughts on “Notes about David Montgomery (1714-1791) of Albemarle and Amherst Counties, Virginia, and Wilkes County, Georgia”