Old Missoula

Experiences of 95 Years Told By Local Woman

Mrs. Hugh Montgomery, who today celebrates her ninety-fifth birthday, will attend a luncheon this afternoon at a friend’s home and this evening will be guest of honor at an open house from 6 to 9 o’clock at 431 South Second street, where she lives with her son, F. D. Montgomery.

Spry and with good hearing, she said, “I never miss a meal,” while talking about her health. Standout experiences in her life include an incident in Arkansas with Jesse James, notorious Midwest outlaw of the late eighties, and activities in the Civil war.

Born near Nashville, Tenn., April 1, 1844, Mrs. Montgomery lived there until she was about 10, moving to Arkansas where she remained until 1889. In that year she and her husband went to Sacramento, Cal., stayed there about a year, then moved to LaGrande, Ore., where they spent the next 30 years. After intervals in Washington and Idaho, she came to Missoula to live, more than 11 years ago.

It was in 1880 at Huntsville, Ark., while she and Mr. Montgomery were operating a hotel there, that Jesse James, his wife and four of his men stopped with them for a noon-day meal. Mrs. Montgomery said that while they were there she did not know who the strangers were, learning later from her husband that it was the famed outlaw and party.

She said, “He was a fine-looking man, very handsome. He was very attentive to his wife, who seemed ill at the time.” The four guards took turns guarding the back and front porches during the stay. Mr. Montgomery told her that the stagecoach driver had said there were four suitcases full of guns on the coach, she said.

Active in Civil War.

During the Civil war, she helped to nurse wounded Confederate soldiers, and to protect home property from the Jayhawkers. Once, protecting a horse from a Jayhawker, she was knocked down and her life was threatened.

Twice she journeyed on a jenny 20 miles from Huntsville to Kingston, Ark., in the night to deliver messages to a Confederate army major. The trips were dangerous due to the proximity of battlefields and because a river had to be crossed en route.

Mrs. Montgomery’s father was in the Confederate militia, and Hugh Montgomery, whom she married about a year and a half after the war, was a Confederate for four years. He died in 1921.

Mrs. Montgomery has two granddaughters living in Missoula, and a great-granddaughter and two great-great-grandchildren living in Seattle.

At 1:30 o’clock this afternoon, Mrs. George D. Keating will have friends of the elderly woman for a luncheon at 518 Tremont street. This evening, friends, including the Rebekah lodge sisters, and relatives will be received at the family home.

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on April 1, 1939.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/352125274/

Mrs. Hugh Matilda Montgomery died in Missoula on April 16, 1941. She was buried at the Missoula City Cemetery.

Her son, Fred D. Montgomery, died in Missoula in October of 1942. He was an executive with the Sugar Beet company in Missoula. With his wife, Mrs. Flossie Bailly Montgomery, they were parents of Mrs. Marvin R. ‘Jesse’ Gratiot, who lived in Missoula while her husband served overseas in the Navy during WW2.