Butte County
Biographies
GEN. JAMES WILEY BRADFORD MONTGOMERY
GEN. JAMES WILEY
BRADFORD MONTGOMERY.—With the death of General
Montgomery, one of the earliest pioneers of Butte County passed to his reward.
The knowledge of his many good qualities was not confined to Butte County, but
included all of Northern California. He had an enviable record as an officer in
the National Guard of California; an enviable record as a citizen; and a record
of personal friendship to which few men can point. The qualities of manhood
which distinguished both his public and private life were an inheritance from a
long line of Scotch ancestors. The great-grandfather Montgomery emigrated from
Edinburgh, Scotland, and located in Richmond, Va., where a son, John
Montgomery, was born. The latter grew to manhood in Virginia, served in the War
of 1812, and in 1818 moved to Tennessee, where he died. He had a son William
Montgomery, born in Richmond in 1811, and who accompanied his parents to
Tennessee. In 1841 he located in Cedar County, Mo., where he farmed and raised
stock. He became a prominent man in his county, served as sheriff and held
other offices of trust. He was a slave-owner and large planter, but the Civil
War had a disastrous effect on his fortune. He died in Cedar County, in 1866.
His widow, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Mitchell, was born in Tennessee and
also died in Missouri, at the age of seventy-eight years, in 1888.
Gen. J. W. B. Montgomery was the second child in a family of
fourteen, three of whom were girls, and all but one of the large family lived
to reach their majority. He was born in Roane County, Tenn., June 29, 1835, and
died in Butte County, Cal., December 2, 1915, when in his eighty-first year.
Between these dates were crowded many useful years given to the upbuilding of a commonwealth, and when he went to his grave
he was honored by all. Mr. Montgomery from the age of six years lived in
Missouri and was educated in the common schools of Cedar County. On April 13,
1857, in company with a cousin, Val. Mitchell, and sixteen others, he started
across the plains in an emigrant train that was bound for California, and of
which he was made captain. They had an encounter with some Indians, who had
stolen their cattle and in a battle at Gravelly Ford, where while men were
engaged with the Indians in robbing the emigrant trains, Captain Montgomery’s
men showed particular valor, killing eighteen Indians and five white men. Upon
his arrival in California, Captain Montgomery located in Butte County, where he
took up eight hundred acres of land under the California Possessory
Act, but in final settlement he secured only one hundred sixty acres. The ranch
is located three quarters of a mile east from Cana.
Here he began farming and raising stock, adding to his holdings from time to
time until he owned six hundred acres in the home place and eight hundred acres
near Gridley; part of this he operated and the balance he leased. During the
Indian troubles, while he was raising stock, he helped to exterminate the Red
Men and made Butte County a safer place in which to live. He met with good
success in his ranching operations and enjoyed life to its full.
In Butte County, General Montgomery was united in marriage
with Eunice Dorland, a native of Clay County, Mo. She crossed the plains with
her parents in 1851, in an ox team train. Her grandfather, James Dorland, was
born in Pennsylvania and crossed the plains in 1851, with ox teams and wagons,
and made settlement in Solano County, near Benicia, which was then the state
capital, and here he built an adobe house. He moved to Sacramento when that was
a city of tents and erected the first frame dwelling. During his residence in
Pennsylvania he had become the owner of about seventy five thousand dollars
worth of property, and this he traded to a party for several leagues of land in
what is now Tehama County, but he later discovered his title was not good. He
had put all his means into the deal and had nothing with which to fight the
case and lost all; this same land is included in the Stanford grant at Vina. Mr. Dorland died in Butte County where he had settled
after his loss. Mrs. Montgomery died in Chico, September 1, 1908, and is buried
in Chico Cemetery, where the General was laid beside her when he died. They had
seven children, of whom the oldest, Josephine, who married Alex McKay of San
Francisco, and the youngest, Jimmie, who married Dr C. W. Currie of Chico,
survive and inherited the large property interests left by their father.
George, Callie, Bennie, Mamie and Sadie are deceased.
Mrs. Currie retains the three hundred twenty acres of the land she inherited
from her father, which has been named the J. W. B. Montgomery Ranch, and both
Doctor and Mrs. Currie are much interested in its development. A good well has
been sunk and a modern pumping plant installed, which
furnishes nine hundred gallons per minute and gives ample water for irrigating
their alfalfa and orchards consisting of twenty acres of almonds and twenty
acres in prunes. Grain and live stock are also being raised.
In addition to the agricultural development of Butte County,
General Montgomery was an important factor in public life in Northern California.
He took a keen interest in the progress and development of the state, and gave
his best efforts to promote the welfare of the community. He was a stanch
Democrat, and though often importuned to accept public office, steadfastly
refused, even when he was tendered the nomination for governor. He attended
every Democratic state convention but two, after he settled in California, and
he served on both the county and state central committees. In 1887 he was
appointed major on General Cadwalader’s staff and
served
until 1891, when he was appointed
Brigadier General of the Fifth Brigade by Governor Bartlett; he was reappointed
by Governor Markham, being the only Democrat appointed by a Republican governor
up to that period. General Montgomery was active in securing the Chico State
Normal School for Butte County and was a member of the first board of trustees.
Although not a member of any church, he gave liberally to all denominations,
particularly to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist College
at Vacaville. Fraternally, General Montgomery was a Mason, being a member of
Chico Lodge, No. 111, F. And A. M.; Chico Chapter, No.
42, R. A. M.; Chico Commandery, No. 12, K. T., and to
Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. at San Francisco. He was also a member of
Josephine Chapter, O. E. S., the Ancient Order of
United Workmen, and Chico Lodge, No. 423, B. P. O. Elks, of which he was a
charter member. In personal appearance he was of fine physique, six feet four
inches in height and weighed two hundred forty pounds, which he carried well.
Rugged and fine looking, with his erect carriage, he looked the soldier and
gentleman.
We quote from the Chico Record of December 4, 1915:
“The death of General J. W. B. Montgomery brings a pang to
all of Chico, for he has, since pioneer days, been identified with this
community. All over Butte County and in many parts of California, will his
demise be learned of with sincere regret. In many
respects General Montgomery was Butte County’s most widely known citizen. No man
knew more people, or was known more abroad. General Montgomery’s friends were
legion. (sic)
“He was a rugged unique character; personally gifted with a
charm of manner that was irresistible, he combined with it a high sense of
honor and right. He was the friend of all; his tongue knew no venom; his heart
harbored no animosities. His was the word of cheer, the handclasp of
friendship. Identified with Butte County since he was a young man, he
participated in the changes that the years wrought; followed to the grave
hundreds of his fellow pioneers, until he stood almost alone amidst a younger
generation. And his love for the younger generation was seemingly as steadfast
as for those who endured with him the hardships incident to the dawn of
California history. Full of years, General Montgomery has laid himself down to
rest with the scores of comrades whose call came first.”
Transcribed 1-15-08
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 579-581, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
©
2008 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies