Real estate and financial agent.
Born in Adelaide Township, Middlesex County, Ontario on 8 April 1851, son of Joseph Isaac Montague (1818-1865) and Rhoda Humphries (1824-1905), brother of Walter Humphries Montague, he was educated in the public schools of Adelaide. After travelling over Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and Dakota came to Winnipeg in May 1877, and resided in Manitoba continuously since that time except for six years during which he was resided at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. There, he was the first engineer on the erection of the electrical and machinery plant on the Sault Ste. Marie Canal and occupied the same position with the Sault Ste. Marie Pulp and Paper Company.
In southern Manitoba, he was the first settler in what is now the Rural Municipality of Argyle, where he farmed and later milled grain. He was instrumental in inducing a number of settlers to come to that district. He travelled three times to the Rocky Mountains before the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was one of the Canadian representatives at the World’s Columbia Exhibition at Chicago in 1893, and for a time was in connection with the Canadian-American immigration staff. Around 1911, he engaged in real estate of farm land as proprietor of the Montague Land and Securities Company at Winnipeg.
He was married to Janet McKenzie (1848-1928) of Broemer, Ontario.
He died at Winnipeg on 3 March 1918 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, edited by C. W. Parker, Vancouver: Canadian Press Association, 1911.
Death registration [John Wesley Montague], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“John W. Montague dies in hospital,” Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 4 March 1918, page 5.
Janet McKenzie Montague, FindAGrave.
We thank Darryl Toews for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 31 October 2008
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