MUNROE/MONROE AND RELATED FAMILIES COLLECTION, [ca. 1750]-1965

Vault A45, Munroe, Unit 6

 

EXTENT:  2 containers (1.5 linear feet).

ORGANIZATION AND ARRANGEMENT: Organized into four series:  I. Family papers, 1762-1845; II. Family photographs, [ca. 1840]-[ca. 1895-1900], further organized into two subseries: II. A. Daguerreotypes and tintypes, [ca. 1840]-[1850s]; II. B. Photographs on paper, [between 1861 and 1865]-[ca. 1895-1900]; III. Family history (genealogy and biography), [1879]-1965; IV. Artifact, [ca. 1750].

FAMILY HISTORY:  A family of Lexington, Roxbury, and Concord, Massachusetts, descended from William Munro (1625-1717/1718), a Scottish prisoner of war taken by Cromwell’s forces at the Battle of Worcester and exiled to America.  The original William Munro was a settler of Lexington.  The Munroes of Concord descended through the first Munro’s son Daniel (1673-1733), grandson Jedidiah (1721-1775), and great-grandson Daniel (1744-1827), whose children (born in Roxbury) were Daniel, Nathaniel, William, Abigail, John, and Charles.  Of these, Daniel, Nathaniel, and William moved to Concord at the beginning of the nineteenth century.  

The three brothers worked together in Concord as clock makers, William (1778-1861) making the cases to house his brothers’ clock mechanisms.  William alone made Concord his permanent home.  In 1812, when war with Britain created a scarcity of pencils, he became interested in pencil making, and in 1819 turned his attention entirely to that business, in which he was successful.

In 1805, William married Martha (“Patty”) Stone of Concord.  Patty Stone Monroe/Munroe (1782-1866) was a daughter of Captain John Stone (1728-1791) and Martha Greenough Stone (1736-1813), whose ancestors included Clarks as well as Greenoughs.  William and Patty had nine children: William; Martha Stone; Mary Elizabeth; Thomas; Francis; Alfred; Mary; Elizabeth (or Eliza); and James Wallace.

Eldest son William Munroe (1806-1877)—a successful importer and merchant of dry goods who worked in Boston, New York, and London—was the founding benefactor of the Concord Free Public Library, which opened in 1873.

Thomas (1812-1884) was also in dry goods.  He worked in partnership with William in London in 1839.  While there, he married Ellen Middleton, with whom he returned to America and had three children: Ralph Middleton; Mary Middleton; and Ellen Middleton. Ralph Middleton Munroe (1851-1933)—a yacht and sailboat builder, early settler of Coconut Grove (now a neighborhood of Miami), and founder of the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club—was married twice, to Eva Hewitt ([ca. 1857]-1882) and, after her death, to Jessie Wirth.  Ralph and Jessie had two children.  Both in his youth and later, Ralph Middleton Munroe visited family in Concord.

Francis Munroe (1814-1870) took over his father’s pencil making business.

Alfred Munroe (1817-1904), too, was in the dry goods business and in clothing.  He worked in London with his brothers William and Thomas and later in New York and New Orleans.  He was a photographer by avocation.

After the death of their parents, unmarried sisters Mary (1819-1909) and Eliza (1822-1903) Munroe carried on family life in the Munroe home at the corner of Main Street and Academy Lane in Concord (now 185 Main Street).  Their brother William lived there part-time in the 1870s, in his retirement (his permanent residence was on Beacon Hill in Boston).  After William’s death, Alfred lived permanently with his sisters.

SCOPE AND CONTENT:  An organic collection of Munroe family papers and photographs, [ca. 1750]-1965.  The collection includes letters, printed items, daguerreotypes, tintypes, paper prints (cartes de visite, cabinet cards, unmounted and mounted prints), and materials relating to family history and genealogy (manuscript, typescript, printed).  An item-level listing is provided in the container list, below.

PROVENANCE:  The materials in the collection were passed down through descendants of Thomas Munroe.

SOURCE OF ACQUISITION:  Gift of Martha Cole, July 2013, with a second accession added.

RELATED MATERIALS IN THE WILLIAM MUNROE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, CFPL (PARTIAL LISTING):  Collection of Materials Generated by Pencil Manufacturing in Concord, Mass., by William and Francis Munroe; Alfred Munroe Glass Plate Negative Collection of Images of Concord, Mass.; William Munroe Papers; Munroe/Monroe Family Photograph Collection.

NOTES/COMMENTS:  Collection received July 31, 2013; accessioned October 10, 2013 (AMC 215).  Nine items (identified in the container list) were laminated prior to donation to the CFPL.  Two daguerreotypes (as indicated in the container list) were cleaned and restored at NEDCC (Andover, Massachusetts), September 2013, through funding from the Concord Free Public Library Corporation.  In processing the collection, some newspaper clippings were photocopied, the originals discarded.
 
PROCESSED BY:  LPW; finding aid completed October 15, 2013; addendum made March, 2014.

 

CONTAINER LIST

Series I.  Family papers, 1762-1845:

Box 1, Folder 1:
Manuscript copy of letter by the Reverend Samuel Cook to his friend Martha Greenough (who later became Mrs. John Stone), January 12, 1762.  Letter laminated prior to donation to the CFPL.

Box 1, Folder 2:
Five manuscript entries, 1762, 1766, and 1795, by Martha Greenough/ Martha Stone (regarding religious experience and the deaths of a friend and of a son), recorded on a sheet of paper (possibly the detached endpaper of a personal or family Bible or other book).

Box 1, Folder 3:
ALS, Sarah Edwards to “My Dear Sister” (Mrs. Martha Stone), Boston, December 5, 1772.  Letter laminated prior to donation to the CFPL.

Box 1, Folder 4:
ALS, Thomas Greenough to daughter “Patty” (Mrs. Martha Stone), Boston, June 17, 1783.  Letter laminated prior to donation to the CFPL.

Box 1, Folder 5:
ALS, W. [William] Greenough to “Dear Sister” (Mrs. Martha Stone), Newton, November 25, 1784.  Letter laminated prior to donation to the CFPL.

Box 1, Folder 6:
ALS, M. Savage to “Dear Sister” (Mrs. Martha Stone), York, February 12, 1791.  Letter laminated prior to donation to the CFPL.

Box 1, Folder 7:
ALS, Sarah Edwards to sister (Mrs. Martha Stone), Boston, September 14, 1798.  Letter laminated prior to donation to the CFPL.

Box 1, Folder 8:
Three undated manuscript fragments related to Mrs. Martha Stone.  Two items laminated prior to donation to the CFPL.

Box 1, Folder 9:
Printed card titled “The Diploma,” explaining the symbolism of the diploma awarded by the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association, [183-].  William Monroe (1778-1861) received the diploma for cabinet making in 1834 and for pencil making in 1837.

Box 1, Folder 10:
Marshall’s Ladies Elegant Pocket Souvenir for 1838 (London: Printed by assignment for Suttaby & Co., [1837]).  Inscribed on front free endpaper: “Miss Eliza / The Pet / of The Family / From her / Brother / Tho Munroe.”  A pocket-book, with pages for recording cash accounts (only one entry made, dated (in penci) “Decr 4th” and written above space for recording entry for January 1, 1838).    

Box 1, Folder 11:
ALS, William Munroe (1806-1877) to father William Monroe (1778-1861), Manchester, April 5, 1845.  Letter laminated prior to donation to the CFPL.

Box 1, Folder 12:
Fragment of embossed envelope (undated) addressed in ink to “W. Munroe Esqre.”

Box 1, Folder 12a:
Miscellaneous pieces of manuscript (mostly verse, with one prose piece) and one printed poem, 1795-[190-] (mainly undated).

II. Family photographs, [ca. 1840]-[ca. 1895-1900]:

II. A. Daguerreotypes and tintypes, [ca. 1840]-[1850s]:  

Box 2, Small Box 1:
Daugerreotype (in case) showing Alfred and Eliza Munroe playing chess, Francis and Mary watching, [ca. 1840].

Daguerreotype (in case) of William Monroe (1778-1861), [ca. 1845].  Label inside case reads: “Wm. Shew, / Miniature Case Maker, And Dealer in / Plates, Lockets, Chemicals, and / German & American Cameras, / Corner of Court and Howard Sts. / Boston.”  Daguerreotype cleaned and restored at NEDCC (Andover, Massachusetts), September 2013, through funding from the Concord Free Public Library Corporation.

Box 2, Small Box 2:
Daguerreotype (in case) of Martha (“Patty”) Stone Monroe, [ca. 1845].  Case identical to that containing daguerreotype of Mrs. Monroe’s husband William (Box 2, Small Box 1).  

Box 2, Small Box 3:
Daguerreotype (in case) of William Munroe (1806-1877), [ca. 1850].  Stamped on mat: “Meade & Bro.” [a New York photographic company].  Daguerreotype cleaned and restored at NEDCC (Andover, Massachusetts), September 2013, through funding from the Concord Free Public Library Corporation.

Box 2, Small Box 4:
Daguerreotype (in case) of Martha S. Munroe (1808-1864) in middle age, [1850s].

Box 2, Small Box 5:
Daguerreotype (in case) of Thomas Munroe (1812-1884) in middle age. [1850s],

Box 2, Small Box 6:
Miniature tintype of Francis Munroe (1814-1870) in middle age, [1850s].

Box 2, Small Box 7:
Daguerreotype (in case) of Alfred Munroe (1817-1904), [1850s].  Stamped on mat: “E. Jacobs / N. O.” [Edward Jacobs was a New Orleans photographer active between 1844 and 1864].

Box 2, Small Box 8:
Daguerreotype (in oval wooden frame) of Mary Munroe (1819-1909) in middle age, [1850s].

Box 2, Small Box 9:
Daguerreotype (in case) of Eliza Munroe (1822-1903), [1850s].

Box 2, Small Box 10:
Two daguerreotypes and one tintype of Ellen Middleton Munroe (1821-1890): one daguerreotype (in case), [ca. 1840]; one daguerreotype (in case identical to that for daguerreotypes of William and Patty Stone Monroe; Box 2, Small Boxes 1 and 2), [ca. 1845]; one miniature tintype, [1850s?].

Box 2, Small Box 11:
Daguerreotype of Eleanor Hastings Middleton (mother of Ellen Middleton Munroe) and daughter Fanny Middleton, [1850s?].

Box 2, Small Box 12:
Daguerreotype (in case) of Mary Middleton Munroe (1853-1855), [1854].

Box 2, Small Box 13:
Daguerreotype (in case) of Mary Middleton Munroe (1853-1855), [1855].

II. B. Photographs on paper, [between 1861 and 1865]-[ca. 1895-1900]:

Box 1, Folder 13:
Carte de visite photograph of Martha (“Patty”) Stone Munroe, [between 1861 and 1865].  Printed on verso: “F. L. Lay’s / Photographic Atelier, / 31 Winter St., Boston.”  Date of image based on information in A Directory of Massachusetts Photographers, 1839-1900 (Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1993).

Box 1, Folder 14:
Carte de visite photograph of William Munroe (1806-1877), [1862].  Date of image taken from manuscript identification on verso of card.

Box 1, Folder 15:
Carte de visite photograph of William Munroe (1806-1877) by Allen & Rowell of Boston, [April 1874].  Date of image taken from manuscript identification on verso of card.

Box 1, Folder 16:
Carte de visite photograph of Martha S. Munroe (1808-1864) by [Edward L.] Allen of Boston, [between 1862 and 1864].  Printed below image on recto of card: “[below bottom left corner of image] Allen [below bottom right corner] 13 Winter St.”  Date of image based on information in A Directory of Massachusetts Photographers, 1839-1900 (Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1993).

Box 1, Folder 17:
Mounted paper print made from photographic portrait of Alfred Munroe (1817-1904), [original photograph: 1870s].

Box 1, Folder 18:
Mounted portrait photograph on paper of Alfred Munroe (1817-1904), [ca. 1885-1890].

Box 1, Folder 19:
Photographic portrait (paper print) of Alfred Munroe in old age in garden gazebo, Munroe home, corner of Main Street and Academy Lane, Concord, [ca. 1895-1900].

Box 1, Folder 20:
Cabinet card photograph of Mary Munroe (1819-1909), [1870].  Date of image taken from manuscript identification on verso of card.  Stamped on verso: “A. Munroe, / Concord, Mass.” 

Box 1, Folder 21:
Mounted portrait photograph on paper of elderly Mary Munroe (1819-1909) by yuccas in garden, Munroe home at corner of Main Street and Academy Lane, Concord, [1890s].

Box 1, Folder 22:
Cabinet card photograph of Eliza Munroe (1822-1903) by Allen & Rowell of Boston, [ca. 1875-1880].  Date of image based in part on information in A Directory of Massachusetts Photographers, 1839-1900 (Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1993).  

Box 1, Folder 23:
Carte de visite photograph of Ralph Middleton Munroe (1851-1933) by Rockwood, [1878?].  Printed on verso of card: “Rockwood / Photographer / 17 Union Square West / N.Y.”

Box 1, Folder 24:
Carte de visite photograph of Eva Hewitt Munroe ([ca. 1857]-1882) by Rider & Gehrig of Chicago, [1877 or 1878].  Printed on verso of card: “ Rider & Gehrig / Gallery of Photography, / and / Fine Arts, / 335 W. Madison Street, / Chicago.”  Date of image based on information in Pioneer Photographers from the Mississippi to the Continental Divide (Redwood City, California: Stanford University Press, 2005).

Box 1, Folder 25:
Five photographs (cartes de visite and cabinet cards) of Munroe relatives (as identified on versos: “Mary Louise Munroe”; “Cousin Elizabeth Munroe”; “Minnie Joy a cousin”; “Cousin Mary Monroe Joy”; “Mrs. Swift”), [1870s-1890s].

III. Family history (genealogy and biography), [1879]-1965:

Box 1, Folder 26:
Two copies of a manuscript genealogical booklet by and in the hand of Mary Munroe: Genealogical Records of the ancestors and family connections of Mrs. William Munroe of Concord, Massachusetts.  Gathered from accounts in the New England and Massachusetts Historical and Genealogical Societies’ Registers, and other sources.  By Mary Munroe.  Concord, Mass. 1899.  Each notebook contains a genealogical essay on the Clark, Greenough, Stone, and Munroe families, including reference also to the Saltonstall, Whittingham, Copley, Kilby, Cunningham, Lewis, Gay, Mather, Byles, and other related families; a chart titled “Genealogical Descent”; and a second essay titled “The Clark-Greenough-Frankland House, 1713-1832,” regarding the Boston home of some of the ancestors of Mary Munroe’s mother.  The names “Alfred Munroe” and “Ellen M. Austen” [Ellen Middleton Munroe Austen, b. 1855, a daughter of Thomas Munroe and Eleen Middleton Munroe] are inscribed on the paper cover of one copy, which includes additional material laid in (notes; a clipping; a photograph of a printed illustration of the Clark-Greenough-Frankland House with an accompanying letter by “Alfred” [Munroe]; and a sheet containing etchings of panels from the house).

Box 1, Folder 26a:
Manuscript notes on Munroes and related families, some in hand of Mary Munroe (mainly undated), including one letter–Edith Munroe to "Dear Betty," dated November 29, 1965. Also, Munroe family genealogical charts and typed data.

Box 1, Folder 27:
An additional copy in the hand of Mary Munroe of the house history found as part of the manuscript in Box 1, Folder 26, plus a page (apparently from another manuscript) of notes on Thomas Greenough, also in her hand, [1899].

Box 1, Folder 28:
Sketch (undated), captioned: “Centre of parlor floor of / Clark-Frankland House / Garden Court St. Boston.”

Box 1, Folder 29:
Mounted photograph (undated; [1890s?]) of Clark coat of arms.

Box 1, Folder 30:
Mounted photograph (undated; from printed source?) of Clark coat of arms from the Clark-Greenough-Frankland House.

Box 1, Folder 31:
Pencil sketches (undated) of portions of the Clark coat of arms.

Box 1, Folder 32:
ALS, H. W. Bryant to Miss Munroe, Portland, Maine, March 11, 1896, on Library of the Maine Historical Society letterhead, regarding Clark coat of arms.

Box 1, Folder 33:
Mounted photograph (undated; [1890s?]) of the Saltonstall coat of arms.

Box 1, Folder 33a:
"An unofficial tracing of a Munro Coat of Arms" (undated).

Box 1, Folder 34:
ALS, Mary Munroe to Mrs. Mary L. Holman, Concord, July 1, 1902, regarding Miss Munroe’s great-grandfather Jonathan Parker, plus manuscript genealogical notes, among them one by Sarah Isabella Parker Hall (April 2, 1905) relating to the Parker line.

Box 1, Folder 35:
Printed pamphlet: A Brief History of the Ancestors and Descendants of Scarborough Parker, One of the Pioneers of Jay, Franklin County, Maine, by Millard M. Parker (Boston: W. F. Brown & Co., Printers, [1879]).  “Read before the Parker Cousins Association, at East Livermore, Me., August 13th, 1879.”  Inscribed in ink on front cover: “Mary Munroe / Concord Mass.”

Box 1, Folder 36:
Typescript note (undated; carbon copy) regarding Jonathan Parker.

Box 1, Folder 37:
Mounted cabinet card portrait of Colonel Sir Hector Munro of Foulis, Chief of the Clan (photograph made from printed source by Alfred Munroe), [1890s].

Box 1, Folder 38:
Undated picture postcard showing “Fowlis Castle.”

Box 1, Folder 39:
Mimeographed genealogical typescript Seven Ancestral Lines: Bronsdon, Brown, Clark, Conner, Cotting, Greenough, Munro and Sanborn, by Elizabeth Sanborn Conner Rhue, 1954.  Some typescript and manuscript notes laid in and manuscript edits made to text.

Box 1, Folder 39a:
Letters from and material relating to Charles A. Munroe, 1953, 1960, undated.

Box 1, Folder 40:
Photocopy of undated clipping from The Pulaski Democrat regarding Munroe casualties on April 19, 1775.

Box 1, Folder 40a:
Items (including antique postcard postmarked 1911) relating to the Munroe Tavern in Lexington, Massachusetts, and to Munroe graves in that town.

Box 1, Folder 41:
Letters and photocopy of clipping relating to the nineteenth-century Munroe/Monroe brothers of Concord, Massachusetts (Daniel, Nathaniel, and William) as clock makers, 1951, 1955.

Box 1, Folder 42:
Materials (letters, notes, photocopied and original clippings, and photographs) relating to William Monroe of Concord as a pencil maker, 1947-1961, plus undated. Includes two letters (1951 and 1952) from Stephen T. Riley, Librarian, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Box 1, Folder 43:
Concord context: mounted cabinet card portrait of silhouette of the Reverend Ezra Ripley, minister of the First Parish in Concord from 1778 to 1841 (photograph made by Alfred Munroe from printed source), [1890s].

Box 1, Folder 44:
Concord context: mounted photographic print by Alfred Munroe of the White Cottage on the Church Green in Concord (home of cabinet maker and pencil maker William Monroe and family from 1811 to 1821), [1890s].

IV. Artifact, [ca. 1750]:

Box 2, Small Box 14:
Cap belonging to Martha Greenough (later Mrs. John Stone), accompanyed by sheet of paper inscribed with identifying information about cap.

c2013-c2014 Concord Free Public Library, Concord, Mass.
Not to be reproduced in any form without permission of the Curator of Special Collections, Concord Free Public Library.

 

Mounted 17th October 2013. Revised 15 March, 2014. rcwh.