John Judson Monroe

Notes:

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The following is from an obituary clipped from an unknown newspaper:

John Monroe

John Judson Monroe, 75, of 9488 African Hill Road, Columbia, Maryland, a member of the Monroe family which has been identified with the Collinsville Herald since 1917, died on 30 Mar 1988 in Howard County Hospital, Columbia.

He had suffered from colon cancer and its complications since it was diagnosed four years ago, but took a turn for the worse two weeks ago.

He had been in government service since 1944 when he was commissioned in the U.S. Navy. After foreign language school at Colorado University, he was assigned to Washington D.C.

In 1951, he was discharged from the Navy to join the Navy Security Services (now the National Security Agency).

He held various technical and management positions there until his retirement on 25 Mar shortly before his death.

He was well enough to attend a ceremony earlier this year where he was awarded the nation's highest civilian award, the Exceptional Civilian Service Award. He had previously been awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Award.

He graduated from Collinsville Township High School in 1929 and from Illinois College in 1933 where he earned Phi Beta Kappa honors.

He was editor of the student newspaper, the Rambler, was president of Phi Alpha Literary Society, was a varsity tennis player and was active in chorus and dramatics.

He was a former board member of the Collinsville Memorial Public Library.

Services were held at 2 p.m. on Saturday at St. John's Episcopal Church, Ellicott City, Maryland were he was registrar of the vestry.

Memorials have been requested to the memorial fund at St. John's Episcopal Church.

Born in Jacksonville, Illinois, he was the son of the late James Oliver Monroe Sr. and Freda Koch Monroe.

He and his former wife, Evalee Valline, who now lives in Arizona, had six children, all of whom survive: Mrs. Robert (Jonni) Nehus of Bowling Green, Missouri, Jud Monroe of Laguna Beach, California, Douglas Monroe of New York, Mrs. Jerry (Dierdre) Boak of Ithaca, New York, Bill Monroe of Baltimore, Missouri, and Mrs. Paul (Cindy) Bernstein of Kensington, Maryland.

In 1968, he married Patricia Anderson. They have two daughters, Caitlin, a student at Western Maryland College, and Megan, at home.

His father, the late Sen. james O. Monroe Sr., bought the Collinsville Herald in 1917. He served this district in the state legislature most of the time from 1930-1962.

When the five children of Sen. Monroe incorporated the Herald in 1954, John became a director, a post he held until the family sold the paper to the Post Corporation of Appleton, Wisconsin in 1977.

Other survivors include a brother, Karl L. Monroe of Collinsville, who still writes for the Herald; and one sister, Mrs. Ronald (Elizabeth) Stevens of Collinsville.

Two brothers, Circuit Judge James Oliver Monroe Jr., and Thomas Warren Monroe, preceded him in death.
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Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Died:
Howard County Hospital

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Living
2. Living
3. Living
4. Living
5. Living
6. Living

John married Patricia Anderson in 1968. Patricia was born about 1914; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Living
2. Living

Notes:

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The following was written by John Judson Monroe

My father met my mother in the classroom. Hearkening to her words of wisdom, he sat humbly at her feet. She was the teacher. he was a country boy getting away from the cows and the pasture.

A number of years after that, they were married. Their union knotted two ropes from whose lengths hung a good many strands of different texture. ...

My father, James Oliver, was the oldest of a family of eight. He led the typical farmer-boy's life of the time, working at home and in the fields, and going to school. Upon graduation from Ewing Academy, he attempted to place himself teaching country school. But, though he raised his age from 17 to 19, the lie did him no good. He entered Ewing Cgortingerollege. After two years, my mother's wise words turned his steps toward Illinois College and what everlasting fame he was to acquire during his lifetime.
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James was the oldest of a family of eight. He led the typical Illinois farm boy's life of the time, working at home in the fields, and going to school. He went to grammer school in a country school where his father taught at one time. He later had another teacher, Fredericka Koch, with whom he fell in love and subsequently married.

His wife's full name was Fredericka Juliana Sophia Louisa Christina "Frida" Koch. She had so many names because when she was born, many of her mother's neighbors wanted to be god-mothers, so she was named after each of them.

After graduation from Ewing Academy, he attempet to get a job as a teacher in a country school. But, though he raised his age from 17 to 19, the lie did him no good. He entered Ewing College, but after two years he began studying at Illinois College.

James bought the Collinsville Herald newspaper in 1917. He served as a Senator in the Illinois State Legislature most of the time from 1930-1962.

The Karl Monroe letter says James was born in Spring Garden, Illinois.

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

James married Fredericka Juliana Sophia Koch on 6 Jan 1912 in Bowling Green, Pike Co., Missouri, USA. Fredericka (daughter of August Koch and Elizabeth Habermaas) was born on 17 Jun 1885 in East Saginaw, , Michigan, USA; died on 1 Sep 1945 in Highland, Madison Co., Illinois, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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

Notes:

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The following is from a family history manuscript written by John Judson Monroe

Among their children was John Judson, for whom I am named.

John Judson was a huge man, amply fit to cope with the west: the settled prairies of Indiana could not hold him. He migrated to Kansas to farm to save for intermittent expeditions to Colorado and Wyoming. When grasshoppers wiped out his farm, he returned to the middle west, making Illinois hes stamping grounds.

He had had some education at the beginnings of a small college called Ewing in the southern part of Illinois. His physical build fitted him for handling belligerent farmer boys. It was nothing for him, then, to procure numerous positions teaching country school.

Finally he settled down on a farm in Jefferson County, Illinois, near Ina, and not far from Mount Vernon. Marriage, farming, and politics held his attention for many years. For twenty years he was elected road commissioner of the township on the Democratic ticket, and gloried in his responsibility. But there was a Republican landslide one year and he was defeated. He turned tail and became a Reb\\publican henceforth and forevermore. his children never ceased to tease him about it.
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John married Sarah "Sadie" Lavinia Cox, who was called "little grandma" by some of her grandchildren to distinguish her from grandma Koch. She was the daughter of James Duncan and Rebecca Landrum (Davis) Cox and a descendant of John Sevier, the Tennessee pioneer.

John was a 230-pound farmer. He migrated from Illinois to Kansas. On his Kansas farm, he was injured when his team of horses reared at the sound of a rattlesnake. He carried a deep hole in his temple for the rest of his life.

After intermittent expeditions to Colorado and Wyoming, and after grasshoppers wiped out his Kansas farm, he returned to Illinois where he eked out a poor living on a bad farm there. Since he had some education from Ewing, a small college in southern Illinois, he had no trouble procuring numerous positions as a teacher in the country schools of Illinois.

He finally settled on a farm in Jefferson County, Illinois, near Ina. For twenty years he was elected road commissioner of the township on the Democratic ticket, and gloried in his responsibility. There was a Republican landslide one year, and he was defeated. Because of that, he changed parties and became a Republican himself forever after.

The Boak reference gives John's death place, but it is illegible.

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

John married Sarah Lavinia Cox on 28 Sep 1881 in , Jefferson Co., Illinois, USA. Sarah (daughter of James Duncan Cox and Rebecca Landrum Davis) was born on 9 Jan 1857 in Spring Garden, Jefferson Co., Illinois, USA; died on 7 Jan 1922 in Spring Garden, Jefferson Co., Illinois, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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The following is from a family history manuscript written by John Judson Monroe

It has always been a visible source of pride, at least to the juvenile element of the family that she [Sarah Cox] "goes straight back to John Sevier", the Tennessee pioneer. And there have been among the elders those sufficiently intrigued by the sound of an historical name to investigate the matter. Their findings substantiate the claim. All of this only proves that Sarah Cox was a tiny woman, who claimed as much credit for herself as for the grasshopper plague in bringing John Judson back to Illinois.
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Sarah was called "little grandma" by some of her grandchildren to distinguish her from their other grandmother.

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

Died:
Sarah died at the old home place.

Notes:

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The following is from a family history manuscript written by John Judson Monroe

Their child was called August Koch. A technical education fitted him for later becoming the superintendent of a railroad foundry in East Saginaw, Michigan. Here it was the he met Elizabeth habermaas, teacher of German in the high school.
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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.

August married Elizabeth Habermaas. Elizabeth (daughter of Louisa Kuhlenthal) was born about 1862; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Elizabeth was a German teacher in a high school in East Saginaw, Michigan.

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:

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The following is from a family history manuscript written by John Judson Monroe

James was a commissary sergeant during the Civil War. He "hated like hell" to take food from southern women to feed northern men. During the performance of his disagreeable duty, he was shot in the foot. He died from the wound twenty years later.

Meanwhile he married an Irish girl. Among their children was John Judson, for whom I am named.
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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:

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

James married Rebecca Landrum Davis in 1858 in , Jefferson Co., Tennessee, USA. Rebecca (daughter of Nicholas Hayes Duncan and Mary Landrum) was born on 17 Mar 1836; died in Mar 1876. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

When Rebecca lived in Tennessee, she was harrassed by the slave-owner predecessors of the KKK. Her husband disappeared from the story and Rebecca was given a cart and an ox team to make the trek to Illinois.

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

Notes:

Johann was a German landgraf.

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.

Johann married Augusta Görtinger. Augusta was born about 1837; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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The following is from a family history manuscript written by John Judson Monroe

The other rope leads back to France and Germany. It needs much untangling.

Augusta Görtinger lived in Westphalia. She was a baker's daughter, and was superlatively homely. But she had sufficient charm to attract the eye of Johann Koch, a German landgraf, whose peers infested the country at the time.
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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:

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The following is from a family history manuscript written by John Judson Monroe

Louisa was the daughter of a red-headed Lutheran preacher and a Strasbourg girl whose people had fled from the southern part of France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and whose uncles left their bones on the plains of Russia following napoleon's disastrous retreat from Moscow.

Louisa's father had left a good deal of money to several daughters. She used her portion to acquire a literary education thus becoming a "bluestocking". she migrated to the United States to Jacksonville, Illinois, where she became a teacher of French and music at Illinois Women's College."
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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.