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3 Aug. 1872–6 Jan. 1949

Title page from Montgomery's "Dio Chysostom as a Homeric Critic," dissertation at Johns Hopkins University, 1901.
Title page from Montgomery's "Dio Chysostom as a Homeric Critic," dissertation at Johns Hopkins University, 1901.
Cover page of "Educational Conditions In Japan" by Montgomery, 1919, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education.
Cover page of "Educational Conditions In Japan" by Montgomery, 1919, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education.
Walter Alexander Montgomery, educator, was born in Warren County, the son of Walter A. and Lizzie Holman Wilson Montgomery. He attended Wake Forest College and received bachelor's, master's, and doctor of philosophy degrees from Johns Hopkins University. His first teaching position was in the city schools of Asheville, but in 1906 he joined the faculty of the College of William and Mary to teach Latin and Greek. This was followed by seven years at Richmond College, after which he returned to William and Mary as head of the Greek and Latin department.

For a time Montgomery also served in the National Bureau of Education in Washington, D.C., and between 1919 and 1921 he published studies on various aspects of education in Italy, Japan, Spain, Canada, Belgium, Great Britain, India, and Latin America. Among his other publications were scholarly works in his field of interest, including one on Johannes Gutenberg and the invention of printing from movable type and a Latin grammar. Montgomery was active in the preservation of historic buildings and sites in Virginia, and he wrote and acted in pageants depicting historical events. His wife was the former Gertrude Smith of Fayetteville, Ark., and he was survived by a daughter, Mrs. M. S. Niminger. He was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery, Williamsburg, Va.

 

References:

Chapel Hill Weekly, 14 Jan. 1949.

Montgomery family notes (in possession of E. C. Hicks, Jr., Wilmington).

National Union Catalog (Library of Congress).

Raleigh News and Observer, 14 Sept. 1929.

Additional Resources:

McMurtrie, Douglas C., Guillaume Fichet, and W. A. Montgomery. 1927. The Fichet Letter [addressed to Robert Gaguin]: the earliest document ascribing to Gutenberg the invention of printing. New York: Press of Ars Typographica. https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/707972962 (accessed December 9, 2013).

Montgomery, Walter Alexander. 1901. Dio Chrysostom as a Homeric critic. Baltimore: J. Murphy Co. https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/19956044 (accessed December 9, 2013).

Image Credits:

Montgomery, Walter Alexander. Educational Conditions in Japan. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1919. https://archive.org/details/educationaljapan00montuoft (accessed December 9, 2013).

Montgomery, Walter Alexander. 1901. Dio Chrysostom as a Homeric critic. Baltimore: J. Murphy Co. https://archive.org/stream/diochrysostomas00montgoog#page/n2/mode/2up (accessed December 9, 2013).

Citation

Powell, William S. "Montgomery, Walter Alexander." NCpedia. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press. Accessed on December 28th, 2024. https://ncpedia.org/biography/montgomery-walter-0.