Emma Elizabeth Monroe

1848 - 1939  (90 years)

• Name	Emma Elizabeth Monroe
  Born	14 Jun 1848	Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA
  Gender	Female
  Died	13 Feb 1939	Staten Island, Richmond Co., New York, USA
  Person ID	I17072	Munro
  Last Modified	27 May 2001

  
  

  Father	James Wilbur Munroe,   b. 18 Jul 1821, Plainfield, Windham Co., Connecticut, USA ,   d. 7 Jul 1898, Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio, USA  (Age 76 years)
  Mother	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
  Family ID	F5859	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Charles Newton Fitch,   b. 25 Jan 1846, Geneva, Ohio ,   d. 12 Jun 1924, Of, College Point, New York  (Age 78 years)
  Married	20 May 1872
  Children	1. Newton Monroe Fitch,   b. 23 Jan 1875,   d. 21 Aug 1951, Of, La Jolla, California  (Age 76 years)   2. James Monroe Fitch,   b. 16 May 1876, Cornwall, Connecticut ,   d. 20 Aug 1942, St. George, Staten Island, New York  (Age 66 years)
  Last Modified	20 Jan 2009
  Family ID	F6507	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• 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.