Montgomery: white oak wedding and the long Niangua settle-in
Before Hickory County had a name, the Montgomerys were already arguing with geography— Gasconade to Little Niangua, Tennessee roots to California gold, and one wedding that had to relocate under an oak tree so a Benton County squire would feel legal about it.
Wilson's History gives William Montgomery (b. North Carolina, August 17, 1797) and Nancy Ballou (b. April 1800) as the stem of a line that still mattered in Hermitage when the book was written— grandson John William Montgomery then prosecuting attorney. William came from Tennessee to the Gasconade (today's Pulaski country) in 1817, shifted to Little Niangua about 1829, and kept moving the homestead as neighbors named Stark, Jones, Hayes, and Ross filled in the bottoms.
In 1850 William and son John J. went to California; William died there October 8, 1853. Nancy died in Dallas County, Missouri, the next February. John J. stayed tied to the Niangua farm for decades—aside from California years and a spell in Texas—before living with his son in Hermitage in old age.
The story people retell, though, is Elizabeth Ann's marriage to John West in 1833. Consent was finally easy; a minister was not. A justice fetched from Benton (now Hickory) County declined to marry them outside his county, so bride, groom, and company rode over to Pippin Hollow and stood under a large white oak among the tall grass while Squire Riddle did the deed on home ground. Ozark problem-solving: if the law won't travel, the wedding will.
William and Nancy's children included Robert Carroll, John J., David M., Thomas J. B., Elizabeth Ann (West), Ruth Amina (Jones), Margaret Evaline (Davis), Charity Caroline (Pointer), and Nancy Emeline (Lakey).
Source: Wilson's History of Hickory County, pp. 150–151 (William Montgomery biography and early-settler notes), preserved in the Society's family collections. Additional genealogy lines appear in the Montgomery family materials.