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Rev. David Monfort

Presbyterian minister and a documented friend and former classmate of Rev. David McDill.

People›Rev. David Monfort
Historic portrait of Rev. David Monfort
Historic portrait of Rev. David Monfort. Image supplied from the project research collection; original publication provenance remains under review.
Evidence status: DOCUMENTED CONTEXT. The friendship and educational relationship are documented; direct cooperation in Underground Railroad operations has not been established.

Why He Matters

David Monfort helps reveal the personal connections linking Presbyterian and Associate Reformed circles important to Hamilton's antebellum history. He and David McDill were classmates at Transylvania University, where a strong friendship developed.

Different Theological Paths

After Transylvania, Monfort attended Princeton Theological Seminary, while McDill completed his theological education in the Associate Reformed tradition. Their friendship therefore provides a useful bridge between denominational networks that later intersected in and around Hamilton.

1846 Hanover correspondence

A Letter in David Monfort's Own Hand

An 1846 manuscript letter preserved at Hanover College shows David Monfort corresponding with Rev. John Finley Crowe, D.D., at South Hanover, Indiana. The letter discusses Presbyterian institutional affairs, the Synod, and hopes for the future of Hanover College.

This is useful to the Hamilton project because it provides direct primary evidence of Monfort's handwriting and signature while also reinforcing the larger Presbyterian network that linked Hamilton figures to Hanover.

Signature of Rev. David Monfort from an 1846 letter to Rev. John Finley Crowe
Signature of Rev. David Monfort from an 1846 letter to Rev. John Finley Crowe, preserved at Hanover College.
Primary source • Hanover College

1846 Letter to Rev. John Finley Crowe

The surviving manuscript scans below preserve David Monfort's own handwriting, signature, and correspondence with Rev. John Finley Crowe at South Hanover, Indiana. The letter discusses Hanover College, the Synod, Presbyterian institutional affairs, and hopes for the college's future. The exact day and month are still being verified from the archive record, so the project currently identifies the document conservatively as an 1846 letter.

Manuscript page from an 1846 letter by Rev. David Monfort to Rev. John Finley Crowe
Manuscript scan, 1846 correspondence of Rev. David Monfort to Rev. John Finley Crowe.
Address side of an 1846 David Monfort letter to Rev. John Finley Crowe
Address and folded reverse side of the manuscript.
Signed manuscript page from an 1846 letter by Rev. David Monfort
Signed manuscript page showing Monfort's closing and signature.

Archive: Hanover College. The project is preserving the manuscript as direct evidence of the Monfort-Crowe-Hanover Presbyterian network. It is not, by itself, evidence of Underground Railroad activity. Explore this source in the Research Library →

Research Caution

This relationship is significant network evidence, but it does not by itself prove that Monfort and McDill worked together in Underground Railroad operations.

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