Emma Elizabeth Monroe

Notes:

Emma's mother died when she was 13 and shortly after, her father was appointed by President Lincoln to the post of United States Consul to Brazil. When her father left for Brazil in Jan 1862, Emma and her three siblings were placed in the care of a good New England family.

Her father returned in Aug 1865. He was to be returned to Brazil for another four years, but he was determined to take his children with him. He met and courted Julia Finney, who happened to be the ideal woman in Emma's eyes. The courtship was very accelerated because her father had to return to Brazil in Jan 1866.

The marriage took place near the end of November 1865 and Julia had only a few weeks to prepare her new family of four children for the 5000 mile trip to Brazil. Emma was quite ashamed of her wardrobe and didn't want her new mother to see it, but after a quick inventory, Emma was delighted when her mother provided her a trunk full of lovely clothes from Cleveland.

On 20 Jan 1866, Emma sailed with her family from Baltimore, Maryland on the little barge "Lapening". Their life in Brazil was a "paradise". There were servents and slaves to do the cooking and housework. Emma's step-mother came to be very much loved by the entire family. She took over educating the children by giving them daily lessons. She also taught them to sing and Emma and her mother often sang duets to help entertain officers from American warships which often visited the port of Rio de Janeiro, where they lived.

Emma also learned to play instrumental duets with Miss Dascombe, the family nanny, and learned to dance from her mother. Although the officers from the American warships visited regularly, the Munroes did not receive visitors on Sundays. That day was reserved for the family.

Emma returned to the states before the rest of the family to continue her studies at Oberlin College. She graduated with a degree in literature in 1869.

While at Oberlin, she met her future husband, Charles, who was one of her classmates. Charles was the son of Isaac N. and Sophia (Pierce) Fitch. He graduated from Oberlin in 1869 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He took two years of his seminary training in Oberlin and then went to Yale, where he graduated in 1873 with the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. He was ordained to the ministry in the Congregational Church in North Cornwall, Connecticut on 12 May 1874 and served as the pastor of the North Cornwall Church for seven years. Twenty-five years later he returned to the same church and spent the remainder of his active ministry in the service of that community. The intervening years were spent in Norwalk, Ohio; Wauseon, Ohio (1882-85); Spencerport, Ohio (1885); Colorado Springs and Denver, Colorado; Millbank, South Dakota; and Langsburg, Michigan (1905). For eight years in Colorado, he was the State Superintendent of Sunday Schools. In 1917, after an active service of more than 43 years in the ministry, he retired and the couple moved to New York City where he engaged in Y.M.X.A. work and assisted in some of the pastoral work of the Manhattan Congregational Church. In Dec 1919, he was employed by a bank in the Wall Street district as a special messenger and served as such until Dec 1923. His health failed near the end of 1923 and he went to Southern Pines, North Carolina. He had been there only three days when he experienced a "stroke of apoplexy" from which he made a slow and partial recovery. He returned to his home at College Point, New York about the last of May 1924. Early in June, he had another stroke from which he died on 12 Jun 1924.

Emma served for eight years as President of the Rocky Mountain Branch of Foreign Misisons, beginning in 1890. In 1900 she began serving as President of South Dakota Branch of Foreign Missions and filled that position for at least 35 years. She was a speaker for missions in churches and did the work of associate pastor with her husband.

Emma died of "Grippe" on Staten Island, New York.

Ref: Clan Munro files - Guilford, Dr. Joan S.

Emma married Charles Newton Fitch on 20 May 1872. Charles was born on 25 Jan 1846 in Geneva, Ohio; died on 12 Jun 1924 in Of, College Point, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Newton Monroe Fitch was born on 23 Jan 1875; died on 21 Aug 1951 in Of, La Jolla, California; was buried in Kansas City, Jackson Co., Missouri, USA.
2. James Monroe Fitch was born on 16 May 1876 in Cornwall, Connecticut; died on 20 Aug 1942 in St. George, Staten Island, New York.

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]

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