John Montgomery Ward

John Montgomery Ward (March 3, 1860 – March 4, 1925), known as Monte Ward, was an American Major League Baseball pitcher, shortstop and manager. Ward was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Renovo, Pennsylvania. He led the formation of the first professional sports players union and a new baseball league, the Players' League.

Early life

Ward attended the Bellefonte Academy in the early 1870s and, at 13 years of age, he was sent to Pennsylvania State University. In his short time there, he helped jumpstart a baseball program and is often credited for developing the first curveball. However, he was kicked out of school for pushing an upperclassman who attempted to haze him down a flight of stairs and stealing chickens.

The following year, in 1874, his parents James and Ruth died. He tried to make it as a travelling salesman, but when that proved unsuccessful, he returned to his hometown. It was there that he re-discovered baseball. In 1878, the semi-pro team that he was playing for folded, which opened the door for him to move on to a new opportunity. He was offered a contract to pitch for the Providence Grays of the still new National League, an all professional major league that had begun its operations in 1876.

Montgomery Ward

Montgomery Ward was the name of two historically distinct American retail enterprises. It can refer either to the defunct mail order and department store retailer, which operated between 1872 and 2000, or to the current catalog and online retailer also known as Wards.

Original Montgomery Ward (1872–2000)

Company origins

Montgomery Ward was founded by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872. Ward had conceived of the idea of a dry goods mail-order business in Chicago, Illinois, after several years of working as a traveling salesman among rural customers. He observed that rural customers often wanted "city" goods but their only access to them was through rural retailers who had little competition and offered no guarantee of quality. Ward also believed that by eliminating intermediaries, he could cut costs and make a wide variety of goods available to rural customers, who could purchase goods by mail and pick them up at the nearest train station.

After several false starts, including the destruction of his first inventory by the Great Chicago Fire, Ward started his business at his first office, either in a single room at 825 North Clark Street, or in a loft above a livery stable on Kinzie Street between Rush and State Streets. He and two partners used $1,600 they had raised in capital and issued their first catalog in August 1872 which consisted of an 8 in × 12 in (20 cm × 30 cm) single-sheet price list, listing 163 items for sale with ordering instructions for which Ward had written the copy. His two partners left the following year, but he continued the struggling business and was joined by his future brother-in-law George Robinson Thorne.

John Montgomery

John Montgomery or John Montgomerie or Jack Montgomery may refer to:

Politicians

John Montgomery (tavern-keeper)

John Montgomery (probably February 29, 1788 – October 31, 1879) owned the tavern which served as a base for the rebels during the Upper Canada Rebellion. His establishment was the site of the Battle of Montgomery's Tavern.

He was born in Gagetown, New Brunswick, the son of Alexander Montgomery who came there from Stamford, Connecticut after the American Revolution. In 1798, the family moved to York in Upper Canada. Montgomery served on the Niagara frontier during the War of 1812 and fought in the Battle of Queenston Heights. He operated a number of taverns in the York area, including The Bird in the Hand at Yonge Street and Finch Avenue, in 1828. He leased this inn out in 1830, and that year began building Montgomery's Tavern further south on Yonge Street. Montgomery was also a road commissioner for York County and a director for the Mutual Insurance Company.

Sympathetic with the concerns of the Reformers, Montgomery helped send William Lyon Mackenzie to England in 1832 to present petitions to the British Colonial Office. He also helped found the Bank of the People in 1836. Although he signed a declaration of Toronto Reformers and joined a vigilance committee formed as a result in July 1837, Montgomery did not advocate open rebellion. In December, he was informed that his tavern would be the rebel base; Montgomery was to serve as commissary. John Linfoot, who had leased the tavern and would take possession in February 1838, had already moved in at the time and Montgomery was in the process of moving out. On December 7, on the orders of Francis Bond Head, the tavern was burned and Montgomery was arrested and charged with high treason. He was sentenced to be executed but his sentence was reduced and he was sent to Fort Henry to await exile to Tasmania. He escaped to Rochester, New York, where he became president of an association for Canadian refugees.

John Montgomery (died 1741)

John Montgomery (c.1719 – November 1741) M.P. for County Monaghan, Ireland from October 1741 until his death a month later in November 1741. He was succeeded as Monaghan M.P. by his younger brother General Alexander Montgomery (died 1785).

He was the eldest son of John Montgomery (died 1733) of Ballyleck, County Monaghan (Member of Parliament for Monaghan and second son of Colonel Alexander Montgomery (1667–1722) after succeeding his father to Ballyleck Estate when his elder brother Thomas Montgomery (Politician) was disinherited for marrying an Englishwoman).

His mother was Mary Coxe, a Maid of Honour to Queen Caroline, wife of King George II of England. Mary Coxe's father was also the Queen's physician and governor of New Jersey, Dr Daniel Coxe.

Montgomery's first cousin was the American Revolution war-hero Major-General Richard Montgomery.