J. T. Montgomery, physician, P. O. Charleston; born in Cedar Co., Mo., Oct. 18, 1852. He emigrated with his parents and located in Alton, Ill., in 1861, for about six months, then Windsor for three years, where his father was located as minister of the C. P. Church. He located in Oakland, Coles Co., in March, 1867, when he attended school until 1871, where he worked as farm laborer during the summer and fall, in which way he obtained the means to attend the Mt. Zion Academy until he had exhausted the proceeds of his summer’s labor, when he engaged as clerk in the dry goods store of Wilcox & Burroughs, at Fairmount, Ill., where he remained until winter, when he taught school for six months, and having laid up sufficient means to defray his expenses in further educating himself, he went to the Normal School, at Normal Ill., for six months; he continued in this manner, teaching, then expending his savings in schooling himself until he received his education, graduating from the Chicago Medical College in the Centennial Class of 1876, having devoted four years to the study of medicine; he then engaged in partnership with Dr. W. J. Peak, at Oakland, under the firm name of Peak & Montgomery. He located upon his present place in August, 1876, since which time he has successfully followed the practice of medicine, having a large and extensive practice, which is yearly increasing. He married Oct. 12, 1876, to Mary A. Gerard, daughter of Jackson Gerard, whose biography appears in this work; she was born in Butler Co., Ohio, Feb. 18, 1856. They have one child by this union-Sarah Emily, born July 8, 1877.
