Description 

Early Life 

Keith Montgomery was born an only son to a poor Virginia farm family July 24th 1876. As soon as he was old enough to hold a pitch fork and carry a full bucket of water he was put to work helping his mother and father on their small family farm with a tiny one room shack and a barn where they grew corn and hay and raised chicken. As a result of a large heart appetite and him working all day everyday living off the land he grew up fast, big, and strong. Coming from a poor family that lived out in the middle of bum fuck nowhere Keith never received a formal education and learnt everything he knew from is momma and daddy, with his mother being the only one who ever received any form of formal education. By day he’d help his daddy with chores on the farm or help him hunt and fish, bringing home whatever they caught to be cooked for dinner. Before bed every night his mother would often read him stories, often dime store novels about the wild west which initiated a deep rooted fascination with cowboys and the wild west into Keith. On Sundays they’d take the several hour journey to town to go to church and pick up essentials from the general store.

He’d happily live with his mom and dad for 25 years until tragedy struck when one day his father was killed in a freak hay bale accident, crushed to death. For another year he and his mother would struggle to keep the farm afloat until she too would pass away from illness. Not long after the bank would take the farm and Keith would take what money his family had left over and hit the road travelling west in search for a better life.

Present Life 

He’d spend much of 1902 drifting from town to town, state to state doing odd jobs here and there only to spend much of his hard earned money on booze in saloons. He arrived in New Alexandria October 1st 1902. Having had his horse stolen while drinking in a saloon the night prior he hitched a ride on a wagon and road into state, being dropped off in Blackwater where he’d use what was left of his family's money to buy a horse and some food. For his first couple days he mostly kept to himself and would work in the mines and lumber camps to earn money. On Sunday he’d attend a sermon in Rhodes hosted by Patrick Beale and his assistant Felix Cooper who would introduce him to folk during the after church reception in the Parlor House Keith would quickly develop a strong friendship with Pastor Beale and Felix as well as an Hungarian alcohol vender by the name of Bruno Covac, a Norwegian man by the name of Fredrick Anderson and a energetic young lady by the name of Raven Stanton. From then on Keith would become a familiar sight around Rhodes, often waking up early in the morning to go work and then hang out at the Wakey Bakey Cafe or Ferret Firearm Solutions. Every Thursday he’d be at the church for soup kitchen and every Sunday he’d be there for Beale’s sermons.

October 13th would be a landmark day for Keith as it marked Keith’s first cattle drive. Since first arriving in state Keith had been anxious to do real cowboy thinks like in the story books so when he was offered a chance to run cows with Lone Elk Ranch he pounced on it. That night they’d drive a herd of around 20 cattle from McFarlens to the great plains just outside Beechers to graze. Unfortunately Keith could not stay for the entirety of the drive as it was getting a bit late and he had to go to bed, but he had finally gotten his first taste of cowboying and he enjoyed every second of it.

October 15 would mark another important day in Keith’s life as it was the day of the first (and last) church social barn dance in Rhoades, hosted by Paster Bealle and Felix. Now Keith had never been much of a dancer but he was excited to make new friends and his buddy Bruno had given him several bottles of liquor which Keith planned to drink, cause whats a party without alcohol? Keith would down all the bottles at once and proceed to make a fool of himself, happily stumbling and falling over as he tried to dance. Eventually he’d pass out half way through the event at which point Mica Heller would carry Keith to the Rhodes hotel to sleep it off. Keith and Mica would become real close friends after this.

Shortly after Keith would pick up more work at Rosewood Ranch, ran and operated by Ash Wood and Jacob Allen. Keith would also meet Toney Dale, Arthur Thompson, Flyn Delayne, Thomas Shepard, Franklin Longmire, Jackie Lumbar, Samantha Wolf and Raven Stanton extended family, Brian Stanton, Dan Bull and Corwin Smith. While Brian would be forced to leave state after being revealed to be a not so nice feller Keith would become very close with the ranch group and see them very much as a family, especially Toney, Arthur and Dan who he secretly admired and saw as an older brother.

For the next few weeks Keith had a sort of routine. Mornings with his friends in Rhodes. Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays he could often be found at The Four Horsemen. Thursday was soup kitchen and cattle drives with Lone Elk, and Sunday was church day.

November 20th would mark the single most important day in Keith’s entire life, the day he officially met Jessie Pike. Jessie had arrived about a month after Keith and was making a name for himself as a master baiter and was offering fishing lessons. While Keith is an avid fishermen the fish in New Alexandria were a little different from those back in Virginia so he was keen to learn the proper technique. Upon meeting in Saint Denis Keith quickly discovered Jessie looked like a miniature version of him. Same beard, same hair, even the same eyes. They were even riding the same horse, a seal brown Breton. They both loved to fish, had the same punny sense of humor, and even a similar personality. Their friendship would only blossom from then on.

November 20th would also mark the last time he’d ever see Bruno, Beale and Felix as they abruptly left state the next day under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Keith was devastated by their sudden unexpected departure.

December 5th saw the arrival of Sol Sal and Dovie to Rosewood who Keith would quickly make friends with

December 8th Keith got into his first shootout. He was at The Horsemen with Toney when someone raced in saying The Wizards had kidnapped Zoe Ramirez from the station. Without hesitation Keith followed Tony out the Horsmen and into the swamps where they quickly found The Wizerds trying to feed Zoe to an alligator. A brief shootout soon ensued which resulted in Keith and Tony being shot down but the noise was enough to attract law enforcement who quickly took care of the situation.

December 15th Keith would go see A Christmas Carol with Jesse

1903 would have a quiet start with January being mostly unremarkable with the notable exception of Jesse opening his restaurant Pike’s Pier where Keith would act as security.

Things would start getting interesting again in February as the infamous outlaw Diamond and Butchers creek began spreading havoc. One of Jesse’s close friends, Seraphine Burton, was at the center of this and had been gravely injured by Diamond twice and Keith was terrified Jesse would snap and go after Diamond alone. Keith would also have his first rodeo, even coming in second place in bronco busting!

March and much of April would mark a return to normalcy. On Thursdays Keith could often be seen at the Wishing Well in Strawberry with Roy, Irish, Evangalene Dubois and Timmy Boyle. Shit would hit the fan again towards the end of April when the Callahans kidnapped Ash Wood from the ranch and tried to feed her to a gater. Jesse’s gung ho response to this fueled additional fears that he’d get himself killed avenging Ash. Things would only get worse when the Remmanents stopped by the ranch a few days later and robbed some of the family. Then a few days later a group of thugs would directly threaten Jesse and force him to flee west to hide. Just to make things worse, in response to the ranch being targeted by criminals some of Rosewood's staff decided to pick up bounty hunting which only inadvertently made things worse. All this happening all in short period of time was taxing on Keith as he was constantly worrying about someone or something, especially Jesse. Things culminated with the passing of Franklin Longmire.

Franklin, who operated Gateway (formerly Sentinel) Ranch passed away May 21st and Jackie Lumbar, Thomas and Pable Shepard and Jesse all agreed to pick up where Frank left off. Despite still being very close with many of those at Rosewood, Keith opted to move to Gateway with Jesse. Much of June would be spent getting the ranch back in operation. Keith would also meet Casey Jackson. Casey had been with the Prescott criminal family a long time ago and was looking to turn his life around. Casey would soon become a welcome addition to the ranch and a very close friend of Keith’s.

For the rest of the year and into next year Keith would live and work at the ranch while also remaining a common sight across the state, especially around Blackwater and Mcfarlens where he could often be found. By mid June Keith had started working for Frontier Railway driving trains across New Alexandria, a dream job for him.

Affiliations 

Lone Elk Ranch 1902-1903
Keiths first ranching job, left to focus on Gateway.
Rosewood Ranch 1902-1903 (defunct)
In many ways Rosewood would become his first family after his parents passing and played a crucial role in his life. Left to focus on Gateway.
Gateway Ranch 1903-Present
Keith's current residence and family.
Frontier Railways 1903-Present
A dream job for Keith.
America Eternal
Keith is a hyper patriot whos love and loyalty to his country is unrelenting

Quotes 

"Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowdy!"
"Murrica!"
"I AM Amurrica!"
"I'm the grizzly bear"
"I like to drive the choo choo train!"

Trivia 

Keith is the self proclaimed "worlds greatest alcoholic" and on two separate occasions has drank 20 bottles of vodka and an entire barrel of rum.