Butte County
Biographies
JOHN NEWTON MONTGOMERY
JOHN NEWTON MONTGOMERY.—John N. Montgomery, a native son, is one of Butte
County’s enterprising and successful business men. He was born in Tehama
County, between Orland and Kirkwood, April 14, 1865, and was eleven
years old when his father died. His father, John N. Montgomery, was born
in Tennessee. Grandfather William Montgomery moved from Tennessee to Missouri,
where he was a farmer. He was the father of fourteen children, six of whom came
to California. Of these, his son, John N. Montgomery, Sr., was the
first to make the trip, crossing the plains in 1853 with ox teams, and bringing
a band of cattle. They had considerable trouble with the Indians, but managed
to get through without serious loss. Mr. Montgomery located in Butte
County and purchased a farm near Cana. Afterwards he bought the Capay grant of ten thousand acres, in Tehama and Colusa
Counties, and engaged in raising grain and sheep on a very large scale, having
as many as thirty-five thousand head of sheep. He was a Mason, a Knight Templar
and a Shriner, and was well and widely known. For
some time he was a supervisor of Tehama County. His death occurred on
June 2, 1876, at the age of only forty-two. He was married in Colusa
County to Melvina Rhoda Rountree,
a native of Tennessee, who came across the plains with her brothers about 1857.
They found on the way a woman who had been with a train in advance of them, and
had been scalped by the Indians and left behind. They brought her to
California, where she recovered. Mrs. John N. Montgomery, Sr., now
makes her home in Red Bluff. They had two children, Will T., of Idaho, and
John N.
John Newton Montgomery was educated in the
grammar and high schools of Oakland. In 1881 he returned to Tehama County, and
was employed in the general merchandise store of Charles Harvey, in Tehama, as
bookkeeper and clerk for four years. Then, in company with his brother,
Will T., he went to Texas, where they bought horses and mules, which they
shipped to Northern, Southern and Eastern markets. They remained there four
years, after which Will T. Montgomery went to Idaho, where he now resides,
at Mountain Home, and is engaged in sheep-raising and the general merchandise
business. John N. Montgomery returned to California, and in 1888
bought two hundred acres near Cana. Forty-two acres of the tract he set to
almonds of eight different varieties, and the remainder is devoted largely to
raising grain. He has erected suitable buildings on the place, including an
almond house with an almond huller operated by a gas engine. After starting the
ranch, he rented it and went to Mountain Home, Idaho, and engaged in raising
sheep with his brother, continuing with him for five years, when he sold his
interests to him and came back to Butte County.
Mr. Montgomery was married in Sacramento,
on October 3, 1892, to Miss Ellen J. Sessions. She was
born at Cana, a daughter of Moses C. and Nancy (Fox) Sessions, natives of
Connecticut and Missouri respectively. Mr. Sessions was a pioneer of
California, having crossed the plains in 1863 and bought land at Cana, where he
and his wife both died. Mr. Montgomery served as a member of the school
board of Rock Creek school district, and was clerk of the board. He is a member
of Great Oak Camp, No. 136, W. O. W., at Chico. Politically he
is independent, but favors the principles of the Republican party.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
19 August 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1237-1238, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies