Montgomery, Melinda (Platt) 1799-1874

MONTGOMERY, PLATT, GIBBS, WELLS, SHERER, STEWART, NELSON

Posted By: William Montgomery (email)
Date: 3/30/2013 at 15:02:44

Born in Fairfield, CT, or in Greene County, NY.

Before getting married in 1819, lived with her family, father and mother Ebenezer and Abigail Platt, in the area which is today Denmark Township, Ashtabula County, OH, which was near her brother Smith Platt's family and Smith's son Thayer's family, and near the Harvey family homestead on Pymatuning Lake Road, in Richmond Twp, Ashtabula County, OH.

Some of Malinda's family, the Platts, were living in and around Penn Line, Pennsylvania, in the year 1897, as recorded in her grandson's journal (J. Ivor) during his travels in the area that year. ("Visited Maria, Eli, Bert and Ivor Platt.")

Malinda Platt Montgomery most likely acted for a short time (9 June 1850 to 24 June 1851) in the role of Mother to her Grandsons, James Ivor and William Harper Montgomery, since her daughter in-law, Luceva Ward Montgomery, died at the age of 26 (1824-1850) shortly after they had moved to Illinois in1846 with their son, John Nelson Montgomery.

Malinda lived until 1874, four (4) years after her son, John Nelson Montgomery, moved to Iowa with his second wife and family, 7 years after her husband John Harper Montgomery died. She does not appear on the Census of 1870 at the home of her son, John Nelson Montgomery, in Iowa, so it is assumed she joined her son's family between 1870-1874.

According to her obituary, Malinda died in 1874 at the home of her son, John Nelson Montgomery, "in Iowa Falls, Iowa", and is assumed to be buried there. However, at the time of her death that home was a farm about 3 miles west and 2 miles north of the town of Iowa Falls, in Lee Township, Franklin County. On an 1875 Plat Map of Lee Township, Franklin County, IA, it shows J. N. Montgomery owning 160 acres. Across the road was a Blacksmith. Shown on the farm is a cemetery, denoted with a cross on the 1875 Plat Map. Malinda Platt Montgomery may well have been buried there. The farm and the cemetery are now gone / cleared from the land, as of 2008.

When his father left for Iowa, Malinda's grandson, James Ivor Montgomery, remained in Illinois and was about 23 years of age. James Ivor Montgomery would have been 27 when his Grandmother Malinda died.

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From the Ottawa Times, Ottawa, IL, below is the Obituary for Malinda (Platt) Montgomery, born 1799 in Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut, died 3 August 1874, near Iowa Falls, IA:

Obituary (August 22 1874, from Leland, IL, written by her oldest grandchild, Attorney James Ivor Montgomery of Leland and Sandwich, Ill):

"Mrs. Malinda Montgomery, Mother of John Nelson Montgomery, and for a good many years a resident of the town of Dayton (IL), 6 miles north of Ottawa (IL), died at her son's residence at Iowa Falls, Iowa, on the 3rd inst., after a very severe illness of three weeks. Mrs. Montgomery was well known by all the early settlers of Dayton and vicinity, and died as she had lived, a kind mother and consistent Christian, and has now gone to meet her partner in life, to be with him in eternity."

And I add the following information for my 3rd Great Grandmother:

Married April 29, 1819, Denmark, Ohio. Mother of eight children:

William Harper Montgomery b 29 Dec 1819 – Madison, Ohio

Rebecca Montgomery b abt 1823 – Madison, Ohio

John Nelson Montgomery b 30 May 1827 – Crawford County, Pennsylvania

Almina Montgomery b abt 1828 – Crawford County, Pennsylvania

Charles Thomas Montgomery b 1830 – Crawford County, Pennsylvania

Benjamin F Montgomery b 1833 – Crawford County, Pennsylvania

Eliza(beth) O Montgomery b 1835 – Crawford County, Pennsylvania

Grandmother of 10 grandchildren and Great Grandmother of 1 great-grandchild at the time of her death in 1874.

I have three letters written by a grandson of Malinda’s, (Allen) Lee Montgomery, youngest son of John Nelson and Malinda Montgomery, to his 17-year-older brother James Ivor Montgomery, the Attorney in Sandwich, Illinois, regarding the last days of John Nelson while living with Lee in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. John Nelson Montgomery died while in Arkansas. In the letters are references to other siblings of Allen Lee’s and James Ivor’s.