Montgomery, Whitney Maxwell

Whitney Maxwell Montgomery was born September 14, 1877 in Navarro County, Texas. He received an intermittent education in the local public schools. However, his love for words and sound undoubtedly came from his classical father and his musically inclined mother. As Whitney and his father farmed the land, fished the ponds, or walked in the woods, his father quoted from the Bible, Shakespeare, Byron, and Burns. At about the age of 15, Whitney began writing verse, often using themes from the farm and ranch land. Whitney continued to live in Navarro County until 1927 during which time he contributed poetry and short stories to magazines and newspapers.

It was through a mutual interest in verse that Whitney Montgomery met Vaida Stewart Boyd. Born on a ranch in Childress County, Texas on August 28, 1888, Vaida, too, began writing poetry in her youth. In 1905 Vaida Stewart married Arthur Boyd and had two daughters: Thelma “Teddy” and Genevieve. This marriage subsequently ended. In 1912 Vaida’s interest in the literary world led her to start a small business as an author’s typist. Among the manuscripts that she prepared for publication were some poems by Whitney Montgomery. His poems began a literary correspondence between the two poetry lovers, but they did not meet until Whitney traveled to Dallas, where Vaida was then living, to attend a Poetry Society of Texas meeting in 1921. Six years later, Whitney Montgomery married Vaida Stewart and settled with her in Dallas, Texas.

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