William Latane Montague (1824-1909)

He was born in Buckingham County, Virginia, and came to Baltimore in 1848 as a merchant. He began his career as a clerk with the dry goods packing firm of Harrison & Co., and during the Civil War he was a spy for the Confederacy, running guns past Union lines. He briefly embarked on a career in insurance until the end of the war when in 1865 he entered Baltimore's sugar and coffee trade. Two years later, he quit that business and went to New York as a stockbroker. He lived there until 1876 when his first wife died and he returned to Baltimore, still trading as a stockbroker. In 1891, he returned to Richmond, Virginia, and his original career as a merchant. He was married twice: In 1858, to Sallie, the daughter of Captain Thomas Love of Baltimore. They were the parents of five children, including Alice who was the mother of the Duchess of Windsor. His second wife was Mary Hazlett of Talbot County, Maryland. Towards the end of his life he succumbed to dementia and was confined to an institution near Baltimore.