His birthplace was Dublin, Ireland; and at Dublin College he was educated, afterwards entering the British army. When his regiment, the 17th, was ordered for service in enforcing the Stamp Act in America, Montgomery, among others, resigned his commission. In 1772, or the early part of 1773, he came to New York, purchasing a farm near Kingsbridge, but that same year he married a daughter of Judge Livingston and removed to Rhinebeck. The letters which passed between Montgomery and his prosiiective father-in-law are in the stilted st\-le of a bygone day. Among other delightful bits of rhetoric the suitor w^'ites : I have ventured at last to request, Sir. that you will consent to a union which to me has the most ])romising appearance of happiness, from the lady's uncommon merit and amiable worth. Nor will it be an inconsiderable addition to be favoured by such respectable characters with the title of son, should I be so fortunate as to deserve it. And if to contribute to the happiness of a beloved daughter can claim any share with tender parents, I hope hereafter to have some title to your esteem.

The answer was propitious and, it may be said, equally elegant in diction, and the marriage between the future General and his beloved Janet took place in Julv, 1773. In 1775, he was chosen one of the Council

48o The Hudson River

of Fifty from Dutchess County, and afterwards, upon the appointment of PhiHp Schuyler as Major-General, he was tendered the rank of Brigadier-General. His young wife was nearly overcome with emotion when he brought her the news of this appointment, but, quickly recovering herself, she with her own hands placed a ribbon cockade upon his hat and gave him such encouragement as a brave wife, who loves her husband's honour more than her own hapi^iness, may give.