Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Montague, Richard Ward February 11, 1862 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com June 23, 2007, 12:05 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     RICHARD WARD MONTAGUE.  A successful lawyer with a background of forty-
four years of professional experience, Richard Ward Montague has long been 
regarded as one of Portland’s foremost attorneys and has left the impress of 
his individuality upon the legal history of his city and state. A native of 
Charles City, Iowa, he was born February 11, 1862, his parents being John Vose 
Wood and Martha Washington (Jackson) Montague, both descendants of Continental 
soldiers who served with valor in the Revolutionary war.  Of English lineage, 
he traces his ancestry to Richard Montague, who came to America in 1637.  
Richard settled in Massachusetts and his brother Peter established his home in 
Virginia. In the maternal line Richard Ward Montague is also of colonial 
stock, being a scion of the Locksley and Rhees families. John V. W. Montague 
came to Portland in 1889 and opened a real estate office, also writing 
insurance. In the development of the city he played an important part, at the 
same time building up a large business. His demise occurred in 1903 and his 
wife passed away in 1899. 
     After the completion of his high school course Richard W. Montague 
matriculated in the University of Iowa, which awarded him the degree of Ph. B. 
in 1883, and in the following year he was graduated from the law department of 
the same institution.  He was admitted to the bar in 1884 and began his 
professional career in Mason City, Iowa, which he left in 1887, locating in 
New York city, where he remained for three years. In 1890 he came to Oregon 
and since October 8 of that year has practiced in Portland, devoting his 
attention chiefly to equity and corporation law. His prestige has steadily 
increased and his clientele is large and important. At one time he was a 
member of the faculty of the law school of the University of Oregon, 
delivering lectures upon the subject of equity, and is a recognized authority 
on matters pertaining to this and other branches of jurisprudence. Mr. 
Montague aided in framing the city charters of 1903 and 1913 and was chairman 
of the government simplification commission of 1926. Under the direction of W. 
P. Lord, code commissioner, he assisted in the task of compiling the Oregon 
codes and statutes and is the author of a Digest of Volumes 1 to 43 of the 
Oregon Reports, a work requiring arduous and protracted labor, which has been 
in constant use since its publication.
     Mr. Montague was married June 5, 1889, in Mason City, Iowa, to Miss Ellen 
Amelia Barton, whose ancestors in the paternal line were numbered among the 
colonial families of Vermont. To this union were born three children. 
Margaret, the eldest, who was graduated from Vassar College and from the 
University of California, is the wife of B. B. Payne. of Berkeley, California, 
and they now have two children, Richard and Margaret. Dr. John Richard 
Montague, a graduate of the University of Iowa and Rush Medical College, and 
now one of the prominent younger physicians of Portland, is married and has 
one child, Richard Ward. Caroline, the younger daughter, received her higher 
education in the University of Oregon, of which she is a graduate, and became 
the wife of George Beggs, by whom she has two sons: James Judson and Richard 
Montague Beggs.
     Mr. Montague is a democrat of the progressive type and champions all 
measures calculated to promote the cause of good government. His deep interest 
in Portland’s growth and advancement is indicated by his affiliation with the 
Library Association, of which he is a director and vice president, and by his 
identification with the Chamber of Commerce. He belongs to the University Club 
of which he was president in 1926-27 and for three years he was the executive 
head of the Mazamas, in which he holds a life membership. He was twice honored 
with the presidency of the Oregon Bar Association and is also a member of the 
Beta Theta Phi and Phi Beta Kappa fraternities, the Arlington Club, and the 
Multnomah Athletic Club. Mr. Montague is a distinguished representative of his 
profession and one of Portland’s valuable citizens.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 387-388

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