Thomas J. Montgomery Dead. A Hartford Man
Who Introduced the Wilsbach[sic] Light in
This Country

Taken from: New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Volume: LVII Issue: 48 Page: 3
Date: Saturday, February 24, 1900


"Thomas J. Montgomery, of Hartford, and
known as a successful promoter, died Tuesday,
February 20 at the Hotel Metropole, New York,
of pneumonia and was buried Thursday in
Shelburne Falls, Mass. Mr. Montgomery
was born in Hartford 55 years ago. He was
educated at the South School and after
graduation was for a time a clerk in the
office of the New Haven, Hartford &
Springfield Railroad. He enlisted in
Company F. Fifth Regiment, Connecticut
Volunteers from the town of Rocky Hill,
where his father had a farm, June 21, 1861.
He re-enlisted as a veteran December 21, 1863,
was promoted to corporal July 20, 1864 and was
mustered out July 10, 1865. After the war he
settled down on his father's farm in Burnside
for a time and then left these parts for several
years, during which time not much was known as
to his whereabouts or business. He brought the
first Welsbach light to this country. He was
interested with Brush in forming electrical
companies. Mr. Montgomery leaves a wife,
who was Miss Hattie Johnson, a niece of the
late Hon. Elisha Johnson of Hartford, and a
sister of Uriah Case. They have two children,
Mrs. Carrie Hall and Robert H. Montgomery,
who is a student at Oxford University, England.
Mrs. Montgomery and the children have made
their home in England for many years.

Many stories of Mr. Montgomery's generosity are told.
At one time he found that a relative had lost his
home by the foreclosure of a mortgage and had also
been compelled to sacrifice many of his household
goods. When he was that way again, he bought back
the house, replaced every article of furniture which
had disappeared, ordered the house completely renovated from cellar to garret and then gave it to his relative.
He gave a farm and a large sum of money to another
relative and in addition to gifts almost innumerable
to relatives and intimate friends, was very generous
in relieving distress and donating money to charitable purposes. He delighted in well doing and while his money lasted gave away a very large portion of his income and probably considerable of the principal. Many persons throughout the State who knew "Tom" Montgomery and has enjoyed his hospitality or been befriended by him, will regret to learn of his death. Although he had not been riding on a tidal wave of prosperity for the past
few years, such was his ambition and enterprise, coupled with a good knowledge of human nature and keen business foresight, that in all probability if he had lived
he would have regained in some degree his former prosperity."

The Welsbach Incandescent Gas Mantel made
its inventor, Carl Auer Freiherr von Welsbach--
a leading alchemist--very wealthy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Auer_von_Welsbach

Photos of these antique gas lamps can be seen here:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Lamps-Lighting-/1404/i.html?_nkw=welsbach+light

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(The following research has been provided
by Dean Merrill)

Thomas J. Montgomery (1844-1900) came to
Shelburne Falls from Boston about 1882
along with his wife, Harriet L. (Johnson) Montgomery. Thomas apparently fell in love with Shelburne Falls,
for after buying the spacious Joseph W. Gardner home
(now the Smith-Kelleher Funeral Home), he built three identical lovely houses on Maple and Severance Streets
for his wife's sisters, and generously built and donated
in 1884 the Emmanuel Memorial Episcopal Church (now the Trinity Fellowship). Although Thomas never counted
Shelburne Falls as his home, for several years he
was its largest taxpayer. Sadly, his fortunes were
short-lived. In 1894 the Shelburne Falls Bank
foreclosed on all four of his residences, plus
another 25 acre parcel. He left town, and his later whereabouts are unknown.