Willard Noble Munroe, Jr.

Notes:

As a young man, Willard enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1918, and served aboard the U.S.S. Southerly.

Willard was assistant treasurer and secretary of the Munroe Shoe Company until 1938, when he joined the Groveton Paper Company as sales manager for his uncle Horace.

He was a Mason and achieved the 32nd degree as a member of the Tranquil Lodge, the Lewiston Commandery, Knights Templar, the Kora Temple of the Mystic Shrine.

Ref: Clan Munro files - Yard, F. L. Dixon

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Buried:
Willard was buried at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Auburn, Maine.

Willard married Carmen Harris on 31 Oct 1922. Carmen was born on 16 Aug 1895 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, USA; died on 13 Jun 1974; was buried in Auburn, Androscoggin Co., Maine, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Living
2. Living

Notes:

After receiving his education at Hebron Academy and Gray's Business College in Portland, Maine, Willard went to Kansas and engaged in the cattle business with great success. He returned to Auburn when his father became ill.

He joined the Munroe, Packard and Linscott firm, and later founded the Auburn Shoe Manufacturers Association and became its first president.

While still in the shoe business, he became interested in paper manufacturing, and in 1897 became treasurer of the Odell Manufacturing Co. of Groveton. Two years later he became treasurer of the Brompton Pulp and Paper Co. of Quebec. During the same period of time, he reorganized the shoe company with his brother, Horace, under the name of the National Shoemakers.

In 1907, the Brompton company purchased the Claremont, Wyman, Flint and Odell companies and became one of the largest paper manufacturing firms in Canada. In 1919, after further purchases, he became president of the Groveton, Odell, Brompton complex, which he operated until his death in 1938.

Ref: Clan Munro files - Yard, F. L. Dixon

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Buried:
Willard was buried at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Auburn, Maine.

Willard married Ella May Perry in 1880. Ella was born on 1 Jan 1859; died on 19 Aug 1940; was buried in Auburn, Androscoggin Co., Maine, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Buried:
Ella was buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Auburn, Maine.

Notes:

Noble was a well known business man in Auburn, Maine. He was a partner with his brother-in-law, Cyrus S. Packard, and later his brother, James, in the firm of Packard & Munroe (shoe manufacturers). Noble and James founded several companies including the Minot Shoe Company, and the C. S. Packard and Co. The firms they founded were very successful and operated over a great number of years.

His first wife was a descendant of Governor Bradford of Plymouth. He had three children by his first wife and six by the second.

Ref: Clan Munro files - Munro, Ronald Geyer
Yard, Prof. F. L. Dixon

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Buried:
The Hartley reference says Noble was buried at the Splinterville Cemetery. At least one other reference says he was buried at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery. Both cemeteries are in Auburn, Maine.

Noble married Maria Wishart Washburn on 25 Sep 1856. Maria was born about 1834 in , , Maine, USA; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

David acquired a practical education, and in young manhood learned the trade of gunsmith, which line of work he followed for a number of years.

He was an inventor of considerable note for those days, inventing several labor saving devices principally used among the farmers in his neighborhood, and in addition to this was a thorough mechanic and a practical and successful farmer, conducting his operations on a farm in Minot, Maine.

David's deed for property in Minot, Maine (which was first Poland-Cumberland) was witnessed by his father on 31 Jan 1800. He was still in Minot as late as 1820, but in 1830 only his widow lived there. By 1850, Ruth had gone to live with the family of her daughter, Jennet, in Auburn, Maine.

His wife was from Turner, Maine and was the daughter of Nathan and Rebecca Niles. One reference gives their marriage date as 15 Nov 1802, and Ruth's birthplace as Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

Ref: Clan Munro files - Munro, Ronald Geyer
Yard, Prof. F. L. Dixon
"The Monroe Book" by Dr. Joan S. Guilford - Alexander of Bridgewater - 2

Sometime during David's generation, the spelling of the family surname changed from "Munro" to "Munroe". Before that, there is no question that his father, Alexander, spelled his name "Munro." There are several references to this spelling, such as "The New England Historical and Genealogical Register" (1891 - Vol. XLV - p. 246) and "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the revolutionary War" (Vol. 11 - p. 207). The original "Munro" spelling continued until at least 22 Dec 1818 when "David Munro of Minot" entered into a property purchase contracted on that date, and witnessed by "Nathan Munro." A later document dated 2 Sep 1833 for property release is signed by "William Munroe" referencing "my honoured father, David Munroe" and witnessed by his wife "Julia Ann Munroe" and his sister "Eunice Munroe."

This information was noted in a letter postmarked 9 Oct 1952 in a letter from Elsie Record Cowdrey, David's descendant, to her cousin Florence Munroe Shepherd.

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Buried:
David was buried at the Taber Cemetery in Auburn, Maine.

David married Ruth Niles on 12 Nov 1801 in Minot, Androscoggin Co., Maine, USA. Ruth was born on 7 Apr 1780 in Portland, Cumberland Co., Maine, USA; died on 23 Sep 1850 in Auburn, Androscoggin Co., Maine, USA; was buried in Auburn, Androscoggin Co., Maine, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Buried:
Ruth was buried at the Taber Cemetery in Auburn, Maine.