WARREN COUNTY
MISSISSIPPI
GENWEB PROJECT
Isaiah T.
Montgomery
Isaiah
T. Montgomery was born on May 21, 1847, on Hurricane Plantation, Davis Island, Warren
County, Mississippi. He was a slave of Joseph E. Davis, the elder brother of
Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Isaiah's father, Ben Montgomery, was
afforded the opportunity to educate himself at the Davis plantation, and he
made sure that each of his children had the same opportunity, including Isaiah.
In his youth, Isaiah T.
Montgomery served Joseph E. Davis as a valet and also as a private secretary,
copying correspondence and recording plantation accounts. During the Civil War,
when the Union began its final attack on Vicksburg, Montgomery was employed by
Admiral David Porter as a Union gunboat porter. He was also present at the
battle of Grand Gulf and the surrender of Vicksburg.
As an adult, Isaiah T. Montgomery worked for his father at
the cotton mill, Montgomery and Sons. Although the cotton mill experienced
early success, it was later plagued by financial problems and eventually
closed. Isaiah T. Montgomery later owned and operated his own cotton mill and
manufacturing company.
Montgomery was the only black delegate to the Mississippi
Constitutional Convention of 1890. He was appointed receiver of public money
for the United States Land Office, Mississippi Division, in 1892; however,
Montgomery later resigned due to allegations of financial mismanagement. He
served as a commissioner of the Atlanta Exposition in 1895. Montgomery and
Booker T. Washington organized the National Negro Business League in 1900. He
was also a land agent for the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad. Montgomery
established the town of Mound Bayou in Bolivar County, Mississippi. He died on
March 7, 1924.
Bio courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives &
History
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