Montague, Elzy J.

Born: 1831 Kentucky

Died: 1910-04-07 Leavenworth, Kansas

Flourished: Chester, Illinois

Elzy J. Montague was a lawyer, newspaper editor and publisher, and army soldier. Montague became editor of the Chester Herald in 1856, serving in that capacity until around 1860, when he left Chester and moved to Belleville, Illinois to become proprietor of the Belleville Advocate. In 1860, Montague owned real property valued at $3,000. Montague married Mary E. Edwards in November 1860 and had a son named Walter. He enlisted in the military in April 1861, joining Company B of the Ninth Illinois Infantry as a quartermaster sergeant. He was discharged not long after, in August 1861, on account of his asthma. In 1864, Montague moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he edited and published the Union.

Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814-1879, vol. 6 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 20-21, 51; Combined History of Randolph, Monroe and Perry Counties, Illinois (Philadelphia: J. L. McDonough, 1883), 196; U.S., National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2007); U.S., Burial Registers, Military Posts and National Cemeteries, 1862-1960 (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2012); Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, St. Clair County, 3 November 1860, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), St. Clair County, IL, 344; U.S. Census Office, Ninth Census of the United States (1870), Ward 2, St. Joseph, Buchanan County, MO, 47; Richard B. Servant to Abraham Lincoln; The Daily News' History of Buchanan County and St. Joseph, Mo. (St. Joseph, MO: St. Joseph, 1899), 315; Gravestone, Leavenworth National Cemetery, Leavenworth, KS.