Montgomery, Phineas J. (1841-1916)

MONTGOMERY

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 1/7/2009 at 13:30:41

Phineas J. Montgomery
Dec 1, 1841 - June 2, 1916

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.37, Council Bluffs)
P. J. Montgomery, physician, Council Bluffs; though a resident of this place but a little over two years, the Doctor has already established himself in the practice of medicine in a very satisfactory manner. He is a native of Delaware County, N. Y., and on his father's side is a lineal descendant of Gen. Montgomery, while by his mother, who was a Abbott, he traces the genealogy of his family to the Abbots of England, and to the Mayflower pilgrims of that name. When he was eleven years of age, the Doctor's parents moved to Wisconsin; his education was receivd principally at the Albion Academy of Dane County, Wis.; he studied medicine with Dr. D. L. Davis, of Waterloo, Iowa, an allopathic physician, and also with Dr. L. N. Squire of the same place, who was a homeopathic physician. In 1866, he graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago; he also attended the Chicago Medical College, an allopathic institution, and, in addition to this, he took a course of lectures at the Homiston Institute College of Cleveland, Ohio. During the last two years of the war, he served in the Nashville City Hospital, or what was better known as the College Bluff Hospital. In May, 1880, he was appointed Surgeon of the Wabash Railroad at this point. He is a member of the Northwestern Academy of Medicine, and was President of the State Homeopathic Medical Society, and is now holding the position of Chairman of the Bureau of Surgery in that society. His success in practice and the honorable position he has held in the medical societies is due to his extensive study of the science of medicine, and to the honorable course he has pursued since he became a resident of the Bluffs City.

(From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.372)
PHINEAS J. MONTGOMERY, M.D., homeopathic physician and surgeon, is one of the leading physicians of his school in western Iowa. Dr. MONTGOMERY was born in Delaware County, New York, December 1, 1841. His father is Charles Fowler MONTGOMERY. The family was originally from Vermont and of Scotch ancestry. The mother of the subject of this sketch was formerly Emeline E. ST. JOHN and descended directly from the ST. JOHNS and ABBOTTS of England, her mother having been an ABBOTT. Her family were early settlers of Connecticut. The parents of Dr. MONTGOMERY emigrated from the state of New York to Wisconsin in 1852 and settled in Rock County, and later removed to Jefferson County, and are still residents of Waterloo in that county. The Doctor is the third in order of birth of six sons. There were also three daughters in the family.
The subject of this sketch was educated at Albion Academy, Wisconsin, and was for two years engaged in teaching, and for a time had charge of Waterloo Academy. He had contemplated from early life fitting himself for the medical profession, and entered upon a regular course of medical study in 1862, at which he continued until 1864, when he entered the army as assistant physician and surgeon in the hospital of the quartermaster's department. He continued in the Army until after the destruction of the Confederate General Hood's army by the army under General Thomas; his field of service being with the Army of the Tennessee. On his return from the army, he entered the Hahnemann Medical College at Chicago, at which he graduated in 1866. After his graduation, he located in Medina County, Ohio, where he remained three years, when he returned to Wisconsin and located at Watertown. There he continued in the practice of his profession until 1872, when he came to Iowa and located at Osage, where he practiced until 1879. In the winter of that year, he took a special course of lectures at Hahnemann College, Chicago, and also in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in that city. In 1880, he came to Council Bluffs, where he has built up a large practice and is one of the leading physicians of the city.
Dr. MONTGOMERY was married in Wisconsin in 1864, to Miss Helen A. CASTLE, a native of Ohio. They have two children: Charles Frederick, born in Ohio in 1869, and now a student of Grinnell College, and a daughter, Ruth Evangeline, born in Council Bluffs in 1881.