James Wilbur Munroe

Notes:

James was a man of thought and a man of action. A scholar and teacher, legislator and ambassador, he spent his life serving the abolitionist cause, his country, and Oberlin College.

James was well-educated in both public and private schools and began teaching in the public schools at the age of fourteen.

In 1841, after attending a meeting of the Connecticut State Anti-Slavery Society he became convinced to postpone his plans for college and begin giving lectures for the Society. During the next two to three years, he delivered several hundred addresses on the lecture circuit. His antislavery efforts provided him with frequent contact with the most prominent eastern abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Charles Burleigh, Alvan Stewart, William Godell, and Frederick Douglass. In his autobiography, Douglass recalled that James was one of the few white abolitionists who also worked against Northern racism.

In 1844, James left the lecture circuit because of poor health and entered Oberlin College. He served there as an assistant teacher and tutor between 1845 and 1848. He earned his A.B. degree in 1846 and his theology degree in 1849. At the 1846 Commencement, James delivered an address entitled "Moral Heroism". His speech, a defense of abolitionists, prompted the "Cleveland Herald" to write that the young graduate was destined to "leave the impress of his own mind and genius upon the age."

In 1849, he became pastor of a Congregational Church in Sandusky, Ohio, but after six months in Sandusky, he was offered the position of professor of Rehetoric and Belles Lettres at Oberlin, which he quickly accepted. At Oberlin, he was also engaged in fund-raising for the college.

His political views evolved over the years and he finally made a break with his Garrisonian past and became an advocate of the Liberty party. He gradually embraced the Free-Soil ideology and accepted the more moderate goal of containment of slavery rather than outright abolition. In 1852, he endorsed the Free-Soil ticket before joining the ranks of the newly created Republican party.

In 1851 and 1853, James was approached by the Free-Soil party to run for the state legislature. He declined both times, but did accept the Republican nomination in 1855 and won easily winning close to 90% of the popular vote. He retained his professorship since the legislature met only briefly at the start of each year when classes were not in session. In 1859, he was elected to the Ohio Senate, and served as president pro-tempore in 1861 and 1862. During his seven years in the state legislature, James developed an impressive record of reform legislation including protection for escaped slaves and school system reform. His advocacy of black suffrage raised the ire of women suffragists in Oberlin who were disgusted that he was willing to strike "white" and not "male" from qualifications to vote.

During the 1850's, James took a more active role in the abolition of slavery. In Dec 1859, he went to Virginia in an effort to recover the body of John Copeland, the black Oberlin resident who was executed for his part in John Brown's failed raid on Harper's Ferry. He was persuaded to make this attempt by Copeland's father, who was prevented from going because Virginia law forbade the admission of free blacks. John received a hostile reaction in Virginia and was forced to return to Oberlin without the body which was never recovered.

James campaigned hard for Lincoln in 1860, delivering more than thirty speeches. The Republicans won a huge victory in Oberlin and a majority in Ohio. James was reelected to the state legislature in 1861.

The sudden death of James' wife, Elizabeth, in 1862 cast him into a state of depression. Seeking a change of scenery, he sought and secured the consulship to Rio de Janeiro. In that position during the Civil War, he provided for the crews of captured ships which were put ashore in Brazil, and gathered information about Confederate cruisers which prowled the South Atlantic preying on shipping. This information aided the Department of State in pressing claims for damage in the final adjustment with Great Britain.

At the conclusion of the Civil War, James was offered the presidency of Oberlin College, but he declined and remained as Consul in Rio where he helped provide for destitute American emigres, many of whom left the South in search of new opportunities. After briefly serving as Charge d'Affaires ad interim, James resigned his post and returned to New York on 25 Sep 1869.

Upon returning to Oberlin, he resumed his political career and in Oct 1870, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 19th Ohio district. He served for ten years from 4 Mar 1871 to 4 Mar 1881 when he declined renomination. During that time he served on the Banking and Currency Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Appropriations Committee and was chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor. He was a solid backer of Republican policies and a defender of human rights and national economic stability.

James was a long-time friend of President James A. Garfield and was about to be appointed to a post in the diplomatic service when Garfield was assasinated in 1881. An offer of the presidency at Ohio State University likewise failed to materialize. In the fall of 1883, James accepted a newly endowed chair in Political Science and International Law and resumed his teaching career offering courses in political economy and modern history.

He continued teaching until 1896 when, at the age of 75, he retired. He was still in demand performing community service and delivering speeches. In 1897, he published a volume of his speeches and addresses in the book "Oberlin Thursday Lectures, Addresses and Essays". He also managed to continue leading a large adult Bible class in the First Congregational Church.

He died at his home in Oberlin on 7 Jun 1898. The city mourned the loss of one of its most famous citizens by closing businesses and lowering flags to half mast.

James' first wife was the daughter of Louisa Maxwell. His second wife was the daughter of Charles Grandison Finney, second president of Oberlin College, and his wife Lydia Root Andrews.

Ref: Clan Munro files - Yard, Prof. F. L. Dixon
- Guilford, Dr. Joan S.
"The Monroe Book" by Dr. Joan S. Guilford - Ohio Unconnected Monroes

James married Elizabeth Maxwell on 19 Jan 1847 in Richland Co., Ohio, USA. Elizabeth was born on 14 Aug 1825 in Mansfield, Richland Co., Ohio, USA; died on 20 Feb 1862 in Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Emma Elizabeth Monroe was born on 14 Jun 1848 in Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA; died on 13 Feb 1939 in Staten Island, Richmond Co., New York, USA.
2. Mary Katherine Monroe was born on 22 Oct 1854 in Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA; died on 12 Oct 1917 in Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA; was buried in Westwood Cem., Oberlin, Ohio.
3. Charles Edwin Monroe was born on 28 Mar 1857 in Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA; died on 12 May 1931 in Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA.
4. William Maxwell Monroe was born on 4 Jul 1858 in Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA; died on 31 Dec 1932 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, USA; was buried on 3 Jan 1933 in Lakeview Cem., Cleveland, Ohio.

James married Julia Rice Finney on 30 Nov 1865. Julia was born in May 1837 in Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA; died on 8 Feb 1930 in Deland, Florida; was buried on 12 Feb 1930 in Westwood Cem., Oberlin, Ohio. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Job and his wife were of the Quaker faith. Phebe was the daughter of Abel and Mary Collins. He was a lawyer and later a farmer.

Ref: Clan Munro files - Yard, Prof. F. L. Dixon
Guilford, Dr. Joan S.

Job married Phoebe Collins in 1819. Phoebe was born about 1788; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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

Birth:
Estimate: This birth date is an estimate based on the birth dates of nearest relatives or contemporaries, or based on other clues such as christening date, marriage date, birth order, etc.

Notes:

The Munro reference says John was born in "Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA/RI".

The name of John's wife may have been Bethany Cornell. One reference says they married on 20 Jun 1782, and he may have had an earlier marriage. Parthenia was the daughter of Gideon and Hepzibah (Lewis) Cornell.

John served in the Revolutionary War from Rehoboth, Massachusetts 1 May 1778 to 1 Jan 1779 in Captain Jacob Fuller's Company, Colonel John Jacob's Regiment in Rhode Island.

He moved to Plainfield, Connecticut where he was a member of the Legislature. He became a Quaker after the war.

At his death, his estate was worth $417.55 but he may have given away much to his children before that. His wife's will was proved in 1835. She left $1 each to her sons Job and Cornell, $130 to Samuel and the rest to her daughters.

Ref: Clan Munro files - Brown, Thelma
- Yard, Prof. F. L. Dixon
- Bowers, Dr. Nancy Brooker
- Guilford, Dr. Joan S.
- Munro, John Quincy - John Munro family group record

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

John married Parthenia Cornell on 14 Nov 1782 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts, USA. Parthenia was born on 6 Jan 1758 in Swansea, Bristol Co., Massachusetts, USA; died on 4 Nov 1834 in Plainfield, Windham Co., Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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

Notes:

**********
The following is from the E.W. Wait reference via the Beckett file.

"John Munroe, second child of Thomas and Mary, was born in Bristol on May 14, 1701. We know quite a bit about him and he appears to have been a good, substantial ancestor. he left a will and from this we get some idea of his property and we learn the married names of his daughters.

"John married Hannah Rosbotham on April 29, 1728 in St. Michael's Church, Bristol. (This church was burned in May 1778 by British soldiers on a pillaging expedition from the island of Rhode Island.) They had a large family, their first eleven children being born in Bristol, their last two in Rehoboth, to which town they moved between December 1748 and October 1750. A deed dated February 20, 1750 shows that John bought sixty-three acres of land in Rehoboth from Jeremiah Allen for '1180 pounds of ye old tenor.'

"John Munroe's will is dated April 2, 1789 - he is 'of Rehoboth' and he calls himself 'yeoman.' He appoints his youngest son, Joseph, executor. To his wife Hannah he leaves all his household furniture, half of his dwelling -house, a quarter of an acre of land for a garden west of the house; also a cow and a swine, 'both to be kept for her winter and summer;' also 12 bushels of Indian corn yearly, 4 bushels of rye, 8 pounds of good sheep's wool, two pounds of flax, 50 pounds of beef, and 8 cords of firewood, 'brought to the door and cut fit for the fire.'

"John's will also leaves to daughter Comfort Bowen 27 pounds; to son Nathan 8 shillings; to son Stephen 30 pounds; to son Rosbotham 3 pouunds; to son Benjamin 15 pounds; to son John 45 pounds; to heirs of deceased daughter Elizabeth Carpenter 15 pounds; to heirs of deceased daughter Mary Fuller 15 pounds; to heirs of deceased daughter Alice Horton 15 pounds; to son Thomas 18 pounds; to daughter Hannah 30 pounds; and to granddaughter Patience Short 'for the love I bare to her and Services She as Done for me' 3 pounds. Son Joseph is to have all the estate, both real and personal, not otherwise disposed of. John died on April 18, 1793 and his will was probated the following 6th of August.

"In the first United States Census, taken in 1790, we find John Munroe of Rehoboth with a household consisting of one male of sixteen (himself) and two females - his wife Hannah and probably his daughter Hannah, as she was unmarried when he made his will in 1789 and was very likely still living at home.

"John Munroe appears in the tax lists for the years 1759, 1765 and 1769 as printed in Richard LeBaron Bowen's splendid work EARLY REHOBOTH. In 1759 he was taxed 12 pounds on his real estate and 6 pounds, 9 shillings on his personal estate. That he was a prosperous farmer is shown by the fact that in 1765 his tax jumped to 30 pounds on real and 13 pounds, 1 shilling on personal property; it was practically the same in 1769.

"John was sixty-three years old when he made the acquaintance of young Hector Munro. In February 1764, Hector, accompanied by a relative named Donald, turned up in Rehoboth and wrote a letter to a cousin back home in the Concord-Lexington area. He stated that he and Donald had been unable to find work in Boston, so had started for New York.

"'We marched from Boston,' wrote Hector, 'that very same day and came to Providence and as I was very curios inquiring after my Relations and Kinsmen, I was informed that there was Great Many of them in Rehoboth & Bristol within six mile of Providence & that same hour we marched of in order to find them out which we did that same night with one Nathan Munroe as stately a man as ever you seied of the name and he keepted us with him Two days and the Third he convoyed us to his father's house a good stately old man that hath great deal of Regard for his relations and he keepted us four days and the fift he and Nathan his son went along with us to convoy us in order to show us the rest of our relations down at Bristol and the very first house we came to was Doctor Munro, Captain Thomas Munro's son at Concord.' (Doctor Munro was born in Concord in 1731, a grandson of the first William Murnoe of Lexington; but had moved from there to Bristol before 1762.)

"It was providential for us that Boston had offered no employment to Hector, for otherwise he might never have gotten to Rehoboth and written the letter which adds proof of the relationship between the Bristol and Lexington Munroe families. (Incidentally, Hector went no further to seek his fortune; he married a Rehoboth girl and had several children born in Rehoboth and in 1776 he made his will because he was going into the Army.)"
**********

Ref 3, p. 26 says John first married Ruth Bowen [9683]. Since this marriage is almost never mentioned in the many references available for John, there is some doubt about its authenticity. Other references (i.e. Rockwell) say that Ruth was the second wife of John [29187].

The Stotler reference says that John sailed on the sloop "Providence" with John Paul Jones.

John and his family moved from Bristol, Rhode Island to Rehoboth between Dec 1748 and Oct 1750. There he bought 63 acres (ref 1) of land from Jeremiah Allen for 1180 pounds. Ref 2 says it was 69 and a half acres and that it may have been part of the land left to Hannah's mother. This land was in Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts until an 1812 boundary change set it in the rural town of Seekonk. It was situated a short distance west of the Rehoboth/Seekonk boundary, south of Winthrop Street (later Highway 44) and southeast of the intersection of Lake and Lincoln Streets. The family built a house to live in and some out buildings on the property. The farm produced grain and supported cattle, pigs and sheep.

John was a charitable and hospitable man, a patriarch who valued family connections. A letter dated Feb 1764 gives an account written by Hector Munro, a young soldier, a descendant of William Munro of Lexington, who had been recently discharged from the King's Army after fighting in the French War for King James. Hector tells of his travels to seek work in New York and Boston and to locate his "kinsmen" in Rehoboth and Bristol. During this time Hector met John, who was then almost 63. Hector was delighted by the elder Munro and described him as "a good stately old man and a man that hath a great deal of regard for his relations."

His will, in which he calls himself "yeoman," is dated 2 Apr 1789 (Beckett says 2 Apr 1781), and contains a wealth of genealogical information. He left the family farm to his son, Joseph, with the stipulation that Joseph care for his mother in the family home for the rest of her years.

He was buried in the family cemetery on the farm. His grave stone reads: "The Sweet Remembrance of the Just/Shall Flurish when they sleep in Dust."

References:

(2) "Brown Munro, Sr.: A Life in Time (1829 - 1909)" by Dr. Nancy Brown
Brooker Bowers - Ames, Iowa (1993) - p. 11, 21-24

(3) Clan Munro files - Yard, Prof. F. L. Dixon - Correspondence with Prof. F.
L. Dixon Yard - 1991-1992 - p. 22, 26, 30, 43

(4) Clan Munro files - Yard, Prof. F. L. Dixon - Early Rhode Island Vital
Records - collected by Prof. F. L. Dixon Yard - p. 15

The May reference says that John [37] was the son of John [65] instead of his grandson.

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

Died:
Will dated 2 Apr 1789

Buried:
John was buried in the family cemetery on the corner of Lake and Lincoln Streets. His headstone reads: "In Memory of Mr. John Munro, son of Thomas Munro of Bristol who departed this life April 18 AD 1793 aged 91 years 10 months & 24 days."

John married Hannah Rosbotham on 29 Apr 1728 in Bristol, Bristol Co., Rhode Island, USA. Hannah (daughter of Capt. Joseph Rosbotham and Elizabeth Church) was born on 20 Jun 1711 in Bristol, Bristol Co., Rhode Island, USA; died on 18 Jun 1809 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts, USA; was buried in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Hannah lived sixteen years after the death of her husband, but John had provided for her by stipulating that their son, Joseph, whould inherit the family farm if he would care for Hannah for the rest of her days. Hannah's death is recorded in the 18 Jul 1809 issue of "The Providence Phoenix." It reads:

"Mrs. Hannah Munro, widow of John and granddaughter of Colonel Benujamin Church, died at Rehoboth, aged 98 years. She had 13 children, 93 grand children, 161 great-grandchildren, and 22 great-great grand children - in all 289."

She was buried in the family cemetery on the farm where she lived most of her life.

References:

(2) "Brown Munro, Sr.: A Life in Time (1829 - 1909)" by Dr. Nancy Brown
Brooker Bowers - Ames, Iowa (1993) - p. 11, 21-24

(3) Clan Munro files - Yard, Prof. F. L. Dixon - Correspondence with Prof. F.
L. Dixon Yard - 1991-1992 - p. 22, 30, 43

(4) Clan Munro files - Yard, Prof. F. L. Dixon - Early Rhode Island Vital
Records - collected by Prof. F. L. Dixon Yard - p. 15

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

Buried:
Family Cemetery

Notes:

Married:
John and Hannah were married at Saint Michael's Church.