John S. Montmollin

John Samuel Montmollin II (1808 – June 9, 1859) of Savannah, Georgia, was an American slave trader, banker and plantation owner. According to descendants, Montmollin was heavily involved in the organization of the illegal slave transport Wanderer. Montmollin died in a steamboat boiler explosion on the Savannah River in 1859.

John Samuel Montmollin II
John S. Montmollin II, portrait image published 1931 in Detroit Free Press
Born1808
Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Died(1859-06-09)June 9, 1859 (aged 51)
Savannah River, Georgia, U.S.
Cause of deathBoiler explosion
Other namesde Montmollin, deMontmollin
Occupation(s)Human trafficker, slave trader, banker

Biography

Montmollin's maternal grandfather was Jonathan Edwards (the younger), thus he was a first cousin, once removed, to Aaron Burr; as vice president, Burr stayed at the Montmollin home in 1802 while visiting Savannah.[1] Montmollin married at Savannah, in 1842, Miss Harriet M. Rossignol.[2] He was a city marshal of Savannah in 1848.[3] He owned a plantation near Savannah, Georgia.[4]

Montmollin was president of the Mechanics' Savings Bank of Savannah, which had been organized in 1854, and had capital amounting to US$250,000 (equivalent to $2,604,858 in 2022) in 1857.[5][6][7] Beginning in 1856, he funded the US$11,500 (equivalent to $374,559 in 2022) construction of a still-extant three-story brick building now known as the John Montmollin Warehouse.[8] The third floor was a slave pen (after the city was occupied by Union troops during the American Civil War the building was turned into a school for the city's African-American children, most of whom had never before had the opportunity to learn how to read or write).[9] In December 1858 Montmollin sought to purchase "one or two gangs of rice field Negros."[10] According to his daughter-in-law, who was interviewed in 1931, Montmollin sought to reopen the transatlantic slave trade and was responsible for organizing the illegal human trafficking transport Wanderer in 1858.[4]

John S. Montmollin to Ziba B. Oakes, letter of January 31, 1857, requesting four Black Boys ages 18 to 21, large-size ones preferred, field hands preferred, "buy them as cheap as possible" (Boston Public Library Anti-Slavery Collection donated by James Redpath via William Lloyd Garrison)

John S. Montmollin was one of approximately eleven people killed when a boiler exploded on the Savannah River steamboat John G. Lawton on June 9, 1859.[11] His body was found "imbedded in the marsh, head downwards, to the hips, some seventy to eighty yards from where the explosion occurred, showing it must have been driven very high into the air. A handkerchief, which he had in his hand at the time of the accident, was still tight in his grasp."[11]

Montmollin was killed "within a short distance of the spot where his [Wanderer] captives had been incarcerated" on an island in the Savannah River.[12]

See also

References
  1. Harden, William (1913). A History of Savannah and South Georgia. Lewis Publishing Company. p. 271. ISBN 978-0-7222-0895-3.
  2. "Married". The Weekly Telegraph. 1842-02-15. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  3. Bancroft, Joseph; Purse, Edward J.; Savannah (Ga.) (1848). Census of the city of Savannah. Savannah: Edward J. Purse, printer, no. 102 Bryan Street. p. 21.
  4. Klemmer, Harvey (1931-05-17). "How Africa's Last Black Cargo Came to America". Detroit Free Press. p. 63. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  5. "Mechanics' Savings Bank of Savannah". The Times-Picayune. 1856-01-09. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  6. "Article clipped from The Athens Post". The Athens Post. 1854-12-15. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  7. The Merchants & bankers' almanac. New York: Office of the Bankers' Magazine and Statistical Register. 1857. p. 18 – via HathiTrust.
  8. Sheehy, Barry; Wallace, Cindy; Goode-Walker, Vaughnette (2011). Civil War Savannah: Savannah, immortal city. Greenleaf Book Group. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-934572-70-2.
  9. Byrne, William A. (1995). ""Uncle Billy" Sherman Comes To Town: The Free Winter of Black Savannah". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 79 (1): 91–116. ISSN 0016-8297. JSTOR 40583184.
  10. "Notice—the Subscriber wishes". The Charleston Daily Courier. 1858-12-02. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  11. "From the Savannah News, June 11th, the Late Explosion, Further Particulars". The Weekly Telegraph. 1859-06-14. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  12. "The Messenger and Intelligencer 10 Sep 1908, page Page 6". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
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