Hannah Covenhoven/Conover and Abram Montanye

One of the family names that has always fascinated me was that of Montanye.  It has been spelled or misspelled many different ways depending how you look at it.  Thanks to Lois Stewart and the Society of the Descendants of Johannes De La Montagne – I know a lot more about the family that I probably would ever had learned on my own.  So, I have tried to fill out information on my small branch of this family.

My great great great grandmother was Phoebe Ann Montanye, the daughter of Abram C. Montanye and Hannah Covenhoven/Conover.  I have an uncle who still remembers seeing her during her last years she was alive.  He has often recounted the story that he and his family went to visit her and they walked into the room and she reached under her bed for something.  He was never sure if it was going to be a cookie or her chamber pot…thankfully for him, it was the cookie.  Phoebe married her schoolteacher, Silas Gallup, on 12 Feb 1859 when she was just barely 15 years old, and their first child was born just a year later, my great great grandmother Edith Phoebe Gallup.  I have spent a lot of time researching information on she and her children, but I have always struggled a bit more with her parents and siblings.

Abram C. Montanye was born on 2 Jan 1806 in Charleston, Montgomery Co., NY to James Montanye and Keziah VanDuyn.  (Keziah’s last name is a guess by several researchers that I have worked with and have reason to trust their judgment.)   Abram was the middle child of seven children.  They were:

• James Montaney b. 1799 d. 1857 m Lois Mary Avery
• John Montaney b. 1800 d. 1854 m. Alida Shufelt
• Edward S. Montanye b. 1803 d. 1850 m. Miriam Mary Rockwell
• Abram C. Montanye b. 1806 d. 1884 m. Hannah Conover
• William C. Montanye b. 1808 d. 1895 m. Rachel Rockwell
• David Montaney b. 1812 d. 1870 m. Eliza A Williams
• Elizabeth Montanye b. 1814 d. 1889 m. Isaiah Rockwell

There is a lot that I don’t know about Abram Montanye’s siblings and their families.  I have made a stab on occasion to fill out my information, but I suspect that it might be project larger than I want to tackle at the moment.  However, compared to what I know about Abram Montanye’s family, I know very little about Hannah Conover and her family.

The first record that I was able to find mention of was that of a marriage between Abram Montanye and Hannah Conover/Covenhoven conducted at the Baptist Church at Rider’s Corners in Charleston, Montgomery Co., NY.  The marriage was performed by Rev Elijah Herrick on 25 Dec 1827.  That was my best and most significant piece of information.  I also made a guess that the Mary Covenhoven that married a John Tallmadge might be a sister to my Hannah Covenoven and perhaps the Angelina Covenhoven who married Charles Kellogg might all be related.  However, that didn’t really help me figure out who Hannah’s parents were and what her real name was.  I have heard it as Conover and as Covenhoven.  The fact of the matter is – is that it might be both names.  Conover might be an Americanized version of Covenhoven.  The only lucky thing about Hannah was that she died on 29 Nov 1888 at the age of 81.  Because it was after 1880, there was the possibility of a death record, so I saved the money and sent off for Hannah’s death record. I didn’t get a lot more than her parent’s names from that record – that of Abram Conover and Mary.  So, while I might guess that she had a sister named Angelina and another sister, I have no proof nor anything that leads me into another direction as yet. 

One of the few bits and pieces that I was able to discover from the Montgomery Co., NY genweb site was a listing that Abram and Hannah were buried at the Rockwell Family Farm.  It seemed that no matter who I asked or who they asked, we were never able to find that cemetery.  At least up until last year when I got the delightful email telling that Hananh and Abram (the links will take you to the Find a Grave listing - were buried in the Priddle Road Cemetery in Esperance, Schoharie Co., NY.

Here is the family of Hannah Conover/Covenhoven and Abram Montanye:

• Polly Montanye b. 1828 d?
• Angelina Montanye b. 1829 d. ?
• Nancy Mary Montanye b. 1833 d. 1878 m. Chester Irving Gardiner
• William Judson Montanye b. 1834 d. 8 Jan 1918
• John R. Montanye b. 20 Sept 1835 d. 8 Jan 1918 m. Harriet Brate
• Elizabeth b. 1837 d. ? m. Frederick H. Smith
• Harriet Montanye b. 1839 d. 1922 m. Charles Barkley
• Sarah Jane Montanye b. 1842 d. 1837 m. William A Young
• Phoebe Ann Montanye b. 1844 d. 1927 m. Silas Gallup
• Hannah E. Montanye b. 1852 d. 1906 m. Frederick Cady French

They Lived Their Faith

I descend from some of the earliest settlers who came to this country searching for religious freedom.  Some were on the Mayflower and later ships and some came later during the Palantine onslaught.    But, the religious ideas that I have today came down through my great grandparents.  Neither one of them were born Catholic, but they were probably the most devout Catholics that I have ever known.

My Great Grandparents Wedding Picture

Granddad Gage was most likely born in the Presbyterian Church.  His father, Orlando Gage, was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church at Esperance, NY and in fact, I have a copy of letter that was essentially a memorial to Orlando Gage.  I’ve no idea of the exact denomination of Edith Gallup’s family’s religious affiliation.  I suspect that they were probably Baptist.  One of the few records that I can find on Edith’s grandmother, Hannah Conover, is that she married Abram Montanye at the Baptist Church at Rider’s Corners, Charleston, Montgomery Co., NY.  There also seems to be a strong vein of the Raritan Reformed Dutch Church association running through the Montanye family.  Either way, they were far from Catholicism.

Grandma Gage was also born into the Presbyterian Church.  Her father was an elder in the church at Decatur, NE and I know that her grandfather was a preacher back in West Virginia who was referred to as “Brother Shawver” or “Shoutin George Shawver.”  Perhaps that is how my great grandparents originally met was through church, however, I am not really sure.  But when they chose to get married, they married in the Catholic Church.  Granddad Gage and spent a few years working for Linus Brenner, and he and his family were devout Catholics.  After a few years of attending church with them, he converted to Catholicism as did my grandmother.  I think this event occurred before their marriage, because their eldest son was baptized as were all of their children.

My Grandmother's 1st Communion

Their religious beliefs had a strong impact on their life and how they raised their families.  Throughout all of the hard times, I think that their faith kept them strong.  I know that when they lived up on Hatter Creek and the weather was so bad, my grandmother would read the Bible and they would still observe church even at home.  All of her children grew up going to church and respecting the church and its traditions.  Not all of their children continued their practice of going to church…some left and never really came back and others returned and have enjoyed a strong relationship with their church.  Some of my happiest memories as a child going to church was going to church with my great grandparents.  Granddad Gage’s chest would puff out enough that I thought his buttons would burst.  He loved the fact that his family filled up the entire pew at the church.  Even now I have talked to people who remember attending church with my great grandparents when they lived in Lewiston, ID in the 1950’s.  I can still picture them walking into church together and saying the words of mass.  By the time they had passed, they had lived together for 73 ½ years and had lived as a wonderfully devoted couple to each other and their faith.  There is much to admire about both.

Monsignor Hughes and myself at my 1st Communion