Robert and Mary Lowery Montgomery Heber Fort Family written by Jane Montgomery Kinsel

Throughout Scottish history, history of the Montgomery Clan has contributed much to the affairs of England and Scotland. In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, Scotland was ravaged by religious and political conflict. During these troubling times a great exodus to Ireland began. Many of the Montgomery Clan were part of this exodus, known as “Adventurers for Land in Ireland” with 111 heads of the family Montgomery settling in Antrim and Down.

In early history, families didn’t record genealogy. Many read poorly and wrote less. Usually, all that is known of family history is remembered things fathers and mothers told their children. This is true of both the Lowrey and Montgomery families

An interesting fact that has been handed down in the Montgomery family is that the Montgomery men served in the British Army as far back as is known. Robert Montgomery’s father was born in Northern Ireland in the parish of Don Donald, County Down, Ireland and had served in the British Army. His mother was Agnes Shepherd, of Scottish lineage, who was also born in Ireland.

The most current family history says James Montgomery was likely Robert and Agnes’ oldest son and served in the British Army in India. In his later years, partially blinded by the sands of India, he returned to Ireland. He was given 3 acres of land, a house and a small pension by the British government. There were two known daughters in this family, one named Margaret and the other Anne.

One of Robert and Agnes’ sons left home early in life and went in the employee of Lord Fairfax. He was extremely well treated and perhaps as far as money and things were concerned, was the most fortunate of them all. Alexander was the youngest son and was a Shoemaker by trade. Sandy, as he was called, was delicate and died before Robert left Scotland in 1861. The birth dates and places of these people are not known to us.

(When my grandfather, Livingston Montgomery, was visiting in Park City, he encountered a man who upon learning that his name was Montgomery told of working in a drugstore in Ireland for a man named Fred Montgomery. He was the son of an old blind soldier named James Montgomery. Livingston assumed that the family of James remained in Ireland.)

Robert was the seventh child of Robert Montgomery and Agnes Sheperd. He was born on January 7,1825. Little is known of his early youth. The information available says he and his younger brother, Alexander, went back to Scotland. Research by Dorothy Sevy Christiansen indicates that the more recent Montgomery men were civilians who contracted with the Army for certain services. They would contract with a group or a regiment and travel with them.

After leaving his contract work with the army, Robert returned to Scotland where he began working in the coal mines. At age 22 he married Mary Rogers Lowery on March 1,1846. Mary was 16 and was born on April 15,1830 in Whitlite, Ayreshire, Scotland. She was christened at the St Quivix Church. She and Robert were also married in that church. Robert continued working in the mines and Mary was mother to eight children. Robert followed available coal mine work all down Ayeshire County. Their eight children were born in eight different places, depending on where he was working.

Robert Booth Montgomery (son) recalled that in Scotland children started school at the age of four. The school yard at his school extended to the broad banks of the River Clyde and while playing one day he fell into the stream. The men who happened by and saved his life were Mormon missionaries. They converted the family to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.” Robert joined the church in the late winter of 1846. Mary joined 3 weeks later. He was called to preside over the Ayrshire district. Missionaries were invited to stay with them while they were on their missions.

They remained in this area for the next eight years. However, the work in the mines was destroying his health, so he decided to study mechanics, hoping to become an engineer. He ran a steam engine at the coal mines if his health would permit. The family finally decided that he would follow other saints and emigrate to “Zion.” The plan was for him to go before the family to establish a home. In 1861, he left Liverpool on the ship “Underwriter”. There were 524 saints on board under the direction of Milo Andrus, Homer Duncan, and C. N. Penrose. They arrived in New York on May 22, 1861 and in Florence, Nebraska on June 2, 1861. The company he traveled with to Utah is listed as “unknown.” He arrived in Heber City on September 21, 1861.

Robert immediately began preparing for the arrival of his family. While building his cabin in the Heber Fort, he lived for a few months with other families. A few of those families were Thomas Todd, James Laird, and Thomas Nichols. In the spring of the following year James Laird left Heber and settled in Parleys Canyon giving his city lot to Robert. Robert worked as a carpenter and was a pioneer cabinet maker. He made the tithing office desk and spoon and knife boxes with fancy scroll work on the front. He also settled the tithing books, perhaps the first time they were settled when he did it. He made furniture for Thomas Ross and received a cow in payment. The cow was wintered by Thomas Nichol.

Robert’s health failed rapidly after coming to Heber. During the summer of 1862 he had been anxiously waiting for his wife and family to come. In the spring of 1862, Mary prepared to leave Scotland to join Robert in America. Before leaving Scotland, Mary went to visit her mother and took all her children with her, but she did not tell her mother that she was coming to

America. In a letter to her mother, she told her that they would be leaving the next day, sailing from Liverpool to America. Her mother replied that if she left, they would never hear from her family again. Mary never did hear anything from her family again. She faithfully wrote to them for the rest of her life but never received any response from them.

Mary Rogers Lowery Montgomery

Mary was the daughter of John and Sarah Louri. The spelling of her last name was changed frequently. Those recording names often spelled them the way they sounded. Her christening records recorded as “Louri.” “Lowery” is the accepted spelling on her records now. She was born April 15, 1829, in the parish of St. Quivox, Ayr, Scotland. Her father was John Lowrey born in County Donegal, Ireland. Her grandfather was Andrew Lowrey and her grandmother was Mary Rogers Lowery. Her maternal grandfather was Dolphus Gould and her grandmother’s name was Mary. The name “Gould” was written and pronounced as “Gold.”

On May 2,1862, Mary and her seven children sailed on the ship “Tapscott” from Liverpool with 808 Saints aboard. Her children ranged from ages 15 to infant (they had a son, Alexander, who died at age two in Scotland). The leaders were William Gibson, John Clark and Francis Lyman, and they arrived in New York and went by train to the Missouri River. From there they traveled to Florence, Nebraska.

Mary and her seven children were in Captain Homer Duncan’s Company, and they left Florence, Nebraska on July 22, 1862, arrived in Salt Lake City, on September 24,1862. This company made the trip from the village of Florence to Salt Lake City in 130 days. This is one of the fastest trips made by oxen. Her three youngest children, Livingston, 4, Elizabeth, 2 and Christina, an infant, rode in the wagon, and the others walked the entire way. (Livingston dictated memories of the pioneer trek and other memories with his mother and family. It is in his FamilySearch record).

Robert was expecting to meet them at Park City but was too ill to make the trip. Jimmy Laird went to meet them instead and brought them on to Heber City. The children and Mary were overjoyed to be a family again after a year’s separation. Robert’s health rapidly grew worse, and he was now confined to his bed. He died on January10, 1863 at the age of 38. The snow was so deep that year and it was hard to clear the road to the cemetery, and it was hard to get the oxen-drawn sleighs to the grave site. Joseph Moulton and William Clegg dug the grave.

Robert’s personal history ends here, but Mary built on his legacy and had a prosperous family that carried on his proud name. Mary, 32 at the time of his death, and her 7 children were left in a mountain valley with a freezing winter ahead. Although Mary left very little written history, her son, Livingston, dictated a personal history to his daughter, Juventa, starting from

emigration to his later life. This history documents his memories of what life was like for them. His mother was the source of many memories from their life in Scotland and in Heber.

Robert, whose health was deteriorating while his family was enroute, was anxious to get a home built for his family before they arrived. Friends willingly helped him build, provide food, and cared for him in his failing health. After his death, the cabin became a home that would fit the needs of the family. It was built on the city lot that his friend James Laird gave him. The finished home was later enlarged. Boards on the floor were nailed down, friends built a chimney, a fireplace that was equipped with a pot and kettle hooks. The house had five bunk beds. Thomas Nichol, who wintered Robert’s cow, returned it to Mary along with a nice calf. Mary and her children tanned sheep hides and used them to make rugs and mattresses for the bunk beds. “We had a real home now with no rent to pay, plenty of wood for the fireplace, and fish to be caught in the streams” said Mary. They all worked together for a portion of the crops that they helped cultivate.

Mary sold Robert’s chest of tools to Henry McMullen Sr. for 10 head of ewes, and this laid the foundation for clothing, more sheepskins and food. Sometime after this the family needed more milk and Mary traded a Paisley shawl to John Hamilton for a cow. This shawl was passed down to other families in the valley. She often regretted seeing it worn by other women and she wished that other ways had been provided to obtain a cow except parting with her prized shawl that her brother had brought to her from India.

At the time, polygamy was being practiced in Heber Valley. In 1863, Mary became the wife of Joseph Simpson Booth, an elder she knew in Scotland, and they moved to Salt Lake City. Not much has been recorded about this union. Evidently, they divorced, and she moved back to Heber where Josephine Booth was born, April 4,1865.

On August24,1866 she married polygamist John Horrocks, a prominent man in Heber City. John Lowery Montgomery was born August 30, 1868. It was common in polygamy for a man to marry a woman to help care for her and the children. Many marriages like this have been successful.

The first wife of John Horrocks, Ann Howarth, had been the object of heartless deception when her brothers prevented her from boarding the ship to America. She was taken back to care of her ailing father and her husband and children set sail without her. She was not able to join her family until three years later. After she was united with her family in Heber, John broke off all contact with Mary and little John.

John was given the Montgomery name and sealed to Mary’s first husband Robert Montgomery. John Lowry Montgomery never spoke about the bloodline of father and apparently never had

contact with him. When John was 12 and was to be ordained a Deacon, he was asked if he wanted to go by Horrocks or Montgomery. He stated he had never had any contact with his birth father and was a Montgomery.

Mary was a very independent and had productive life after those trying years following Robert’s death and her polygamist marriages. She was a robust, healthy woman. She was a good singer and clever with doing fancy work. Her children reported that she had a cheerful disposition, was humorous and always busy. She was also very frank in her speech and everyone knew whether they were liked or not. There was nothing she would not do for those that she did like. Mary remained active in her church and she was one of the first Sunday school teachers in Heber. She also taught Primary and was very active in Relief Society.

During her last years, she lived in the same house with her son John and his wife. She died in Heber City on July 21, 1904 of heart failure and was buried beside her beloved Robert in the Heber City Cemetery.

The children of Robert and Mary Montgomery were as follows:

Agnes Shepard, born March 29,1847, Dalry, Ayr, Scotland. Married John Turner. Died October 14, 1927, and buried in Heber, Utah, 11 children.

Sarah Gold, born January 9, 1849, Irvine, Ayr, Scotland. Married Jonathan Maroni Duke, July 13, 1867. (2) Marian J. Shelton. (3) Samuel Joseph Wing. Died February 7, 1911, Taber, Alberta, Canada, 8 children.

Mary Lowery, born June 1,1851, Anoch Lodge, Ayr, Scotland. Married William Foreman, Died December 23, 1902, Heber, Utah, 14 children

Robert Booth, born September 13, 1854, Craigmark, Aye, Scotland. Married Sarah Ann Young. (2) Elizabeth Lambert. Died January 26, 1930. Heber, Utah, 12 children.

Alexander, born May 3, 1855, Waterside near Dalmelington, Ayr, Scotland. Died January 23, 1857, in Scotland.

Livingston, born March 13, 1857, Waterside near Dalmelington, Aye, Scotland. Married Amelia Ann Clegg. Died January 20, 1932, Heber, Utah, 5 children

Elizabeth, born June 4, 1859, Balaclava, Scotland. Married William Britt, died September 14, 1892, Heber, Utah, 5 children

Christina, born March 30, 1861, Johnson Renfrew, Scotland. Married Joseph H Smithies,

died April 16, 1933, Heber, Utah. 3 children

Josephine Booth Montgomery born April 4, 1865, Heber, Utah, married James Franklin Rasband, died April 29, 1958, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1 child

John Lowrey Montgomery, born August 30, 1868, Heber, Utah, married Sarah Ellen Moulton, (2) Annie Webster, died December 14, 1942, Heber, Utah. 8 children