MONTGOMERY, Hugh*
•Born: 1727
•Marriage: CUNNINGHAM, Agnes Jane*
•Died: 1785, Lancaster County, Camden District, South Carolina, United States
Noted events in his life were:
1. Property, 10 Jan 1755, Camp Creek, Lancaster County, South Carolina, United States. 87 Hugh Montgomery purchased 302 acres in the Waxhaws from John Lynn [this land was on both sides of Camp Creek].
2. Property, 1761, Camp Creek, Lancaster County, South Carolina, United States. 88 At some time, Hugh sold 110 acres of the 302 acres to Robert Montgomery Sr. There was also the sale of 244 acres of land on Camp Creek to Robert Montgomery in 1761, this land being adjacent to that of Hugh. It would appear that Hugh and Robert were brothers.
3. Appearance in Document, 18 Jul 1793, Lancaster County, Camden District, South Carolina, United States. Deed from James, Robert, John, Hugh Montgomery, planters, and their wives and John Kirk to Jonathan Mackey, sadler, 200 acres, granted to Thomas Campbell 2 Oct 1767 and transferred to Hugh Montgomery and bequeathed to his sons James, Robert, John, and Hugh and John Kirk (Lancaster Co Deed Book B, p251).
4. Story. 89 A consideration of the origin and possible ancestry of Hugh Montgomery, Sr, of Lancaster District SC must necessarily involve a good deal of speculation, based largely upon a scattering of vague facts, family legends and traditions, and some technical assumptions which at times may be little more than educated guesses. We know that Hugh was a resident of the old Waxhaw Settlement from about the middle of the eighteenth century til his death in 1785. The dates of birth of Hugh's ten children are known to range from about 1752 or before to 1767. Based on this, we attempt our first assumption, that Hugh's birth was between 1725 and 1730.
There are three possible means by which Hugh may have arrived in the Waxhaws in 1756 or earlier. He might have come directly from Ireland to South Carolina. He may have belonged to that immense group of Scotch-Irish families which emigrated first to Pennsylvania, thence to Augusta Co., Virginia, and finally to the Carolinas. Or he might have been a descendant of those earliest settlers with the name of Montgomery, families that originally settled upon the James River, and whose descendants migrated westward toward the interior of Virginia and southward to the Carolinas.
5. Story. 88 Our knowledge of Hugh is limited. We know he arrived in the Waxhaw Settlement in 1756 or before. His land lay along Cain and Camp Creeks, and his home was around two miles north of the present city of Lancaster. Students of the history of this region believe that he came to the Waxhaws from Augusta Co., Virginia, along with the other Scotch-Irish settlers in this region, and this is possible if we think of the original Augusta Co. as embracing the entire western part of the state, including Roanoke County.
6. Story. 90 Hugh Montgomery came to Lancaster District, SC, as early as 1757. On 10 Jan 1757 he purchased land from John Linn. In his will, dated 22 Oct 1785, he bequeathed land to the following: John, Hugh, James, Robert, William, Alexander, Samuel, Joseph, and son-in-law John Kirk. In 1793 in Lancaster Co, SC, James, Robert, Hugh, and John Montgomery and John Kirk sold a tract of 200 acres of land to Jonathan Mackey, land they had inherited from their father, Hugh Montgomery.
7. Story. 91 "Genealogy of the Montgomerys", made in 1873 by A B Montgomery, identified this person (the father of John, Hugh, James, Robert, William, Alexander, Samuel, Joseph, Mary Ann, and another daughter) as William, not Hugh.
8. Story. 90 We have not been able to find the name of the wife of Hugh Montgomery, nor have we been able to prove where he lived before coming to the Waxhaw Settlement in SC. Some sources say he came from Virginia, was born in 1727 and was the son of Hugh and Caroline Anderson Montgomery of Augusta Co, VA. Others believe he came from Pennsylvania. Still others believe he may have come from Ireland or Scotland directly.
9. Story. 88 It is possible that Hugh had other relatives in the Lancaster District. Nineon Montgomery owned land on the same Camp Creek in 1771. Nineon had a son Alexander, born in 1757, and a son Nineon Jr, born 1765. We may assume Nineon Sr was born around 1730. Part of the land which Hugh sold to Robert was transferred by Robert in 1796 to Nineon Jr. From all this we may deduce the possibility of Nineon Sr having been a relative of Hugh and Hugh's brother Robert.
10. Story. 92 [The following is the reasoning provided by D C Montgomery on the relative birthdates of Hugh's children] The census of Lancaster Co SC in 1790 lists three heads of families by the name of James Montgomery. In the census listing, the James closest to the other known sons of Hugh Sr had a family of nine. This is undoubtedly the father of the Hugh that married Margaret Barkley, since he had a wife and eight living children at that time. If this James was the son of Hugh Sr, who we assume was born around 1727, then James could not have been born much earlier than 1746. Also, because James' son Hugh was born in 1767, James could not have been born much later than 1748. For practical purposes, we will then assume that James was born in 1747. John was born either in the latter four months of 1752 or the first eight months of 1753. The fact that John remained in SC does not necessarily imply that he was the eldest son. We have adequate reason to suspect that not only James but Robert as well was older than John. We know that Robert had a son Josiah born in 1772. If Robert was born after John, in 1754 or 1755, then he would have been only 17 or 18 years old when Josiah was born. So the suggested order of birth for Hugh Sr's children is James (b ca 1747), Robert (b ca 1750), John (b 1753), Hugh (b 1755), William (b ca 1757), Alexander (b ca 1760), Mary (b 1762), Samuel (b 1764), Joseph (b 1766), and Mary Ann (b 1767).
11. Story. 93 There is no evidence to support the opinion that Hugh Sr came directly to the Waxhaws from either Ireland or Scotland. In fact, very few of the settlers in this area arrived in this fashion. The remaining possibility is that Hugh Sr was the son of Hugh Montgomery and Caroline Anderson of Roanoke Co, VA. There are 10 facts in support of this theory. 1. Hugh Sr was Scotch-Irish, if we are to believe anything at all of family tradition, and history records that the vast majority of these people came to the Waxhaws from western Virginia when that state resumed collection of taxes in Augusta County in 1748. 2. There is apparently no record and no other explanation of the fate of the two oldest sons of Hugh of Roanoke County, i.e. Hugh and Robert. 3. Hugh, son of Hugh of Roanoke, was born in 1727, a date which we have shown to be quite logical for the birth of Hugh Sr. 4. Hugh Sr seems to have had a brother, Robert, who followed him to the Waxhaws, and this theory would then also account for the fate of the second son of Hugh of Roanoke. 5. Hugh, son of Hugh of Roanoke, is the only Hugh Montgomery of whom we find record in early Virginia history prior to the Revolution who might have come to South Carolina. Hugh does not seem to be quite as common a given name in the Montgomery family in the 18th century as the names Robert, James, John, etc. 6. Similarity of family names: Hugh of Roanoke and Hugh Sr both had sons by the names Hugh, Robert, Joseph, John, William, and Samuel. Each had a daughter named Mary. James, the son of Hugh Sr, might well have been named for his uncle James, the brother of Hugh of Roanoke. 7. If Nineon Sr and John of Mecklenberg Co and possibly others with the name of Montgomery were cousins of Hugh Sr, they could have easily descended from the two brothers of Hugh of Roanoke about whom we know nothing; actually, for that matter, from the uncles of Hugh of Roanoke, since we certainly have no knowledge of the descendants of the majority of the members of this family. 8. Samuel, a son of Hugh Sr, stated that his "line came through Lord Robert Montgomery, who was exiled from Scotland when Cromwell came in"; i.e. around 1653. This Robert would be the one who had a son James who had a large family (in Ireland) of whom record was lost (from the Montgomery Manuscript, by William Montgomery). This would be that same James whose sons came to Virginia in 1666. 9. The family history as given by Mrs. G Q Hall claims that our Hugh Sr was descended from William Montgomery, the emigrant of 1666 (The Montgomerys and their Descendants, by D B Montgomery. Mrs Hall was a great granddaughter of Samuel Montgomery, son of Hugh Sr). 10. A family history contributed by Mrs. Andrew T (Fannie Ray) Montgomery also claims that our Hugh Sr descended from William Montgomery, the emigrant of 1666. (Andrew T was the great great grandson of Samuel Montgomery.)
12. Story. 94 In conclusion it may be said that first we have outlined three possible origins of Hugh Montgomery Sr. While we have been unable to produce definite proof that Hugh Sr was a descendant of Hugh Montgomery and Caroline Anderson and came from Roanoke Co, VA, we have shown that such a theory now satisfies all of the known facts, whereas the remaining alternative theories satisfy none of them.
http://woodlin.net/lindley/68.htm
