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Clan Munro USA
Genealogy Pages
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 1821 - 1898 (76 years)
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| Name |
James Wilbur Munroe |
| Born |
18 Jul 1821 |
Plainfield, Windham Co., Connecticut, USA  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
7 Jul 1898 |
Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA |
| Person ID |
I11148 |
Munro |
| Last Modified |
15 May 2005 |
| Family 1 |
Elizabeth Maxwell, b. 14 Aug 1825, Mansfield, Richland Co., Ohio, USA , d. 20 Feb 1862, Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA (Age 36 years) |
| Married |
19 Jan 1847 |
Richland Co., Ohio, USA |
| Children |
| + | 1. Emma Elizabeth Monroe, b. 14 Jun 1848, Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA , d. 13 Feb 1939, Staten Island, Richmond Co., New York, USA (Age 90 years) |
| | 2. Mary Katherine Monroe, b. 22 Oct 1854, Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA , d. 12 Oct 1917, Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA (Age 62 years) |
| | 3. Charles Edwin Monroe, b. 28 Mar 1857, Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA , d. 12 May 1931, Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA (Age 74 years) |
| + | 4. William Maxwell Monroe, b. 4 Jul 1858, Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA , d. 31 Dec 1932, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, USA (Age 74 years) |
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| Last Modified |
20 Jan 2009 |
| Family ID |
F5859 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family 2 |
Julia Rice Finney, b. May 1837, Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA , d. 8 Feb 1930, Deland, Florida (Age ~ 92 years) |
| Married |
30 Nov 1865 |
| Last Modified |
20 Jan 2009 |
| Family ID |
F6506 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| 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
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