Marjorie Belle Monroe

Notes:

Marjorie lived at 163 Alexander Avenue in Upper Montclair, New Jersey.

Ref: Clan Munro files - D'Aprix, Marjorie

References:

(1) "History and Genealogy of the Lexington, Mass. Munroes", 2nd ed. by R. S.
Munroe - Florence, Massachusetts (1986) - 13-8/11-87-32 - p. 393

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

Marjorie married Donald R. D'aprix in Jun 1935. Donald was born on 1 Oct 1904 in Utica, Oneida Co., New York, USA; died on 26 Sep 1969 in Ringoes, New Jersey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Living

Notes:

Jay was named after his grandfather, Judge Jay R. Monroe, the founder of the town of South Haven, Michigan, and for his uncle, Jay R. Monroe, Jr., a banker in Kalamazoo, who died at an early age. Jay grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan where he first took an interest in sailing.

He attended Stetson University in Florida and Kalamazoo college in Michigan. In 1906, he graduated from the University of Michigan Law School and was admitted to the Michigan bar. He did not pursue a legal career and did not enter the family banking business, but went to work for the Western Electric Company in Chicago. Assigned to the accounting department, he first became acquainted with the rather primitive adding and calculating machines which were just coming on the market at that time.

Jay was interested in these mechanical devices and began to develop ideas for improvements. In 1907, a disastrous spring frost ruined the fruit crop in southwestern Michigan, causing Jay's father, Lyman Monroe, to suffer grave financial losses which nearly wiped out his fortune. Jay, who had been brought up in relative affluence was on his own. That same year, the Western Electric Company transferred him to Pittsburgh, where he met his future wife.

Jay was transferred again in 1910, this time to New York City. He and his new wife, settled in East Orange, New Jersey. There Jay met Frank Stephen Baldwin, who had invented a remarkable calculator in 1874. Baldwin had made vigorous efforts to commercialize his invention but had been unsuccessful. It was said that the machine was ahead of its time. When Jay saw Baldwin's latest model of 1908, he realized that this machine with improvements would have a great potential.

Frank Baldwin was seventy-three years old when the two met in 1911. He was delighted that Jay, aged twenty-eight recognized the worth of his machine. Jay left Western Electric and worked with Baldwin to perfect the machine which would perform the four rules of arithmetic in a manner so straightforward and simple that it could be operated by the average person without the necessity of special training.

Frank and Jay became close friends. Baldwin gladly sold his patents to Jay who assigned them to the newly organized Monroe Calculating Machine Company which was incorporated in Apr 1912. Jay's first cousin, Stephen B. Monroe, and a group of his associates in Kalamazoo, Michigan, provided the original capital.

The company was begun on a very small scale. It was an enormous effort to organize production and to set up a sales force. The first years were difficult and discouraging. By 1915 the corner was turned. The famous K model introduced in 1921 became a world-wide success. This was followed by a full line of automatic calculating machies which became the leaders in the industry.

Jay pioneered many innovations in enlightened industrial relations. He was greatly respected and loved by his employees who numbered nearly 3000 at the time of his death. He has been characterized as an industrialist with a heart. His motto: "The pursuit of a definite ideal" resulted in the Monroe spirit which lived long after his death in the company he founded.

Jay was a devoted husband and father who experienced more than his share of grief. His oldest son, Jay Randolph, Jr. (IV), died in 1914 at the age of three. Nine years later in 1923, his wife, Bette, died at the age of 34. His second wife, Edith, died in 1931.

Because of health reasons, he had been advised to seek outdoor exercise, so after his company was well established, he took up golf. He loved the game and became quite good at it. He became close personal friends with Bobby Jones, Clif Roberts and other well known figures in the golfing world. He was one of the founders of the Augusta National Golf Club and a member of several golf clubs including Baltusrol, Canoe Brook, Essex County, the Knoll and Pine Valley in New Jersey, and many others. He had a reputation as the nicest guy to caddy for in New Jersey.

In 1932, he married Ethlyn Wheeler of Proctorsville, Vermont. He died suddenly in April 1937 of a massive cerebral hemmorrhage. He was 54 years old. His death was a bitter blow to his family and his company. There was a power struggle there which lasted for ten years.

Jay Monroe was a man of sterling character, upright and honest in all his dealings. These qualities were happily recognized in his lifetime. He was a natural leader who was looked up to by all who knew him. In 1958, his widow and son established a modest charitable foundation in his memory so that his generous spirit could be perpetuated.

References:

(1) "History and Genealogy of the Lexington, Mass. Munroes", 2nd ed. by R. S.
Munroe - Florence, Massachusetts (1986) - 13-8/11-87-3 - p. 254, 391-393

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

Jay married Bette Belle Baughman on 22 Aug 1908 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania, USA. Bette was born on 25 Jul 1888 in Youngstown, Mahoning Co., Ohio, USA; died in May 1923 in Orange, New Jersey, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Ref. (1) says Bette died in Orange, New Hampshire, but it is believed that it was Orange, New Jersey.

References:

(1) "History and Genealogy of the Lexington, Mass. Munroes", 2nd ed. by R. S.
Munroe - Florence, Massachusetts (1986) - 13-8/11-87-3 - p. 393

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

Notes:

Lyman was born on his parents' farm in Lawrence, Michigan. After graduation from high school in Decatur, Michigan, he studied at Parson's Business College in Kalamazoo in 1871. He was then employed by his uncle, L. T. Rawson, in his grain trading business in Decatur.

In Apr 1873, Lyman took a job as bookkeeper in the First National Bank of South Haven, which had been founded two years earlier by his oldest brother, Charles, and S. R. Boardmen. By 1875, Lyman was assistant cashier. In 1878 he succeeded his brother Charles as cashier when Charles stepped up to Vice President. Lyman held this position for 21 years. During this time, he was the de facto operating head of the bank. In 1889, the bank was reorganized as the First State Bank of South Haven.

Lyman and Carrie J. Curtiss married in 1876. Two years after their wedding, they moved into a beautiful large house which they had built on the north side of South Haven. This house in the Victorian style of its time was described as one of the finest and most beautiful houses in South Haven. Their three children were born there and their eldest daughter died there. For many years they lived a happy affluent life. Devout Baptists, there were known as pillars of the local Baptist Church where Lyman served for many years as treasurer.

In 1899, Lyman resigned as cashier of the bank to devote full time to his large real estate holdings. He had inherited a large amount of agricultural land from his father, and by shrewd and prudent investment, he added greatly to his holdings which included resort cottages, hotels, and town properties. His 60-acre peach orchard was partially within the village limits of South Haven. He maintained his connections with the bank by remaining on the board of directors.

In 1902, he organized a private unincorporated banking company, the South Haven Loan & Trust Company, which he operated with a partner, Eugene Allen Hartman. In 1906, he was elected president of the Bank of South Haven, when his brother was promoted from president to Chairman of the Board.

Lyman was a registered Republican, but he was not active in politics.

In 1907, a disastrous late spring frost destroyed the crops in southwestern Michigan, including the local peaches. Besides a total loss of his own peach crop and defaulted loans to his private banking company, Lyman Monroe, as a business leader in the community, co-signed many loans on the Bank of South Haven to fruitgrowers in the area. While these defaulted loans did not completely destroy Lyman financially, they took the bulk of his fortune.

After several years of failing health, he died in 1910. He was deeply mourned by the people of South haven who recognized his strong devotion to the community.
References:

(1) "History and Genealogy of the Lexington, Mass. Munroes", 2nd ed. by R. S.
Munroe - Florence, Massachusetts (1986) - 13-8/11-87 - p. 253-254

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

Lyman married Carrie Jane Curtis on 10 May 1876. Carrie was born on 31 Oct 1855 in Niles, Berrien Co., Michigan, USA; died in Mar 1919 in Deland, Florida, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Carrie was the daughter of George E and Lydia Cornelia (Tompkins) of Kalamazoo.

References:

(1) "History and Genealogy of the Lexington, Mass. Munroes", 2nd ed. by R. S.
Munroe - Florence, Massachusetts (1986) - 13-8/11-87 - p. 253-254

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

Notes:

In 1816 when Jay was ten, his family moved from Surry, New Hampshire to Hamilton, New York. This was the year that a volcanic eruption in Indonesia caused northern New England to have no summer.

After finishing the local school at Hamilton, Jay was apprenticed to a stonemason, but when he turned twenty in 1826, he took off for the west. He traveled on the newly completed Erie Canal to Buffalo, New York where he continued on by lake schooner to Detroit, Michigan. He supported himself at first as a stonemason, but his ability and force of character were soon discovered and his services were solicited for more adventurous and ambitious employment.

Mr. Campeau engaged him to go with a part of his men on a circuit of the lakes in the interest of his fir trade. After his return he passed two years in the employ of Mr. Campeau and General Cass in locating lands for incoming settlers.

After a trip to his old home in New York, he returned to Michigan and settled at Prairie Ronde in 1830. The greater part of his time was occupied in traveling over the territory of Michigan locating lands for others. He was thrifty and frugal and applied his commissions in the purchase of lands for himself.

His wandering showed him much of the territory in its state of primeval wilderness. He was the first white man to pass over the site where South Haven now stands. In 1833 he built the first house within the limits of the present city. It was occupied by the Thomas family who recorded the first birth and death in the history of South Haven.

Jay made a plat of the village which was embraced in Hannah's plat of 1852, and has been a part of every one that has been made since. Along with other wise provisions, the plan required the reservation of a lot for a schoolhouse.

In 1835, in association with Charles U. Cross, he laid out a road between South Haven and Paw Paw, and what remains of that highway now is still known as the Munroe road. He had previously laid out a road between South Haven and Prairie Ronde.

Jay married Fanny Rawson on 10 Sep 1836. For some months after thir marriage, they boarded in Kalamazoo. In 1837 they settled on the land owned by Jay in Lawrence township. There he worked on and improved his farm of 900 acres. He also continued to act as land agent, and in time he became one of the most extensive landholders in that part of the country. At one time he possesed 80 eighty-acre tracts, or 6,400 acres in all, an expanse equal to ten square miles.

Under the territorial government of Michigan, Jay was appointed a judge, and from then to the end of his life he was always known as Judge Monroe. He was a man of benign disposition, his administration of the law always tempered justice with mercy. He was a friend and adviser of the early settlers. He served as commissioner of the poor in Van Buren County for more than twenty-five years. He was earnest in his interest and active in his support of all public undertakings for the good of the state. He helped to organize the State Agricultural Society, and was one of the founders of the Van Buren County Pioneers' Society. To the end of his life, he was one of the Pioneers' Society's most active members. In politics he was a life-long Democrat. In spiritual matters he was a firm believer in the Christian religion, but not connected by membership with any church organization.

Jay died in South Haven soon after returning from a visit to the Centennial Expositon in Philadelphia.

Fanny, Jay's wife, was universally beloved throughout the city of South Haven. She raised nine children on a farm which was remote from other human dwellings. The nearest neighbor was about a mile distant. She did all the writing and figuring required by her husband's business, including his land agency. Because the home was located in about the center of the county, it became a sort of halfway house for strangers and travelers. There were almost always extra persons to provide for with meals and lodging. After the death of her husband, Fanny stayed with her daughter Eunice in South Haven. She died at the age of 92.

Ref: Lexington Munroes, 2nd ed. 13-8/11-8
Clan Munro files - Elder, Charlotte

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

Jay married Fanny Rawson on 10 Sep 1836. Fanny was born on 28 May 1815 in Erving, Massachusetts; died on 31 Oct 1907 in South Haven, Van Buren Co., Michigan, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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