"Samuel Montague, son of Deacon Samuel (27), b. June 30 1720, at Sunderland, Mass., … He resided in Sunderland many years, and there his children were born. He early united with the church, but was one of a number of Separatists, who were excommunicated from the Sunderland church Aug. 21, 1753. In 1761 he removed to Bennington, Vt., where he was the moderator of the first town meeting, and one of the first board of selectmen. The church at Bennington was a Congregational church founded by Separatists. In 1773-4 he removed to Pittsford, Vt., but returned to Bennington, where he died of small-pox, Jan. 17, 1777. … The history of Pittsford, Vt., (pub. 1872) has the following account of him: 'In Sunderland he followed the occupation of weaving. He was of a religious turn of mind, united with the Sunderland church, and was very strict in the observance of all his religious obligations. But certain troubles which had sprung up in the church began about this time to assume a serious aspect. Some members of the original church believed that it had departed from its original faith and order, and on that account refused to commune with it, and established a separate church. The old church excommunicated these separating members, and refused to recognize the new organization as a church of Christ. Samuel Montague was one of these separating members or 'new lights.' The religious troubles in that town caused him with several of his associates to remove to Bennington in 1761. He was moderator of the first town meeting held there in 1762, and a member of the first church at the time of its organization the same year. We are unable to learn when he purchased an interest in the township of Pittsford, but it appears from the records that he bought the right of John Loomis, one of the original proprietors, and 'pitched' (located) fifty-five acres of the same in the north part of the township. … His house having been completed, he removed his family from Bennington to Pittsford, in the summer of 1774.' Here he resided, probably, for more than two years, or until after the breaking out of the war of 1776, when the exposed condition of the (then) frontier was the cause of his return to Bennington. His sons, however, after the war, returned to the homestead of their father at Pittsford."
