William MONROE M.D.

  General Notes:

After the death of his mother, he went back to Ohio and lived with his Thuston grandparents. While in Ohio, he attended Washburn College in Blendon, Ohio. He then returned to Wisconsin and studied medicine with his step father, Dr. John Loofborough and went into practice with him. He was left $2.50 in his grandfather, Daniel Thurston's will. He went to CA during the 1849 Gold Rush. M.Harke

WILLIAM MONROE, M.D., a member of the medical firm of MONROE & MONROE, is an old settler of Monroe, and has a host of friends throughout Green county and southern Wisconsin. Dr. MONROE was born July 30, 1818, near Cincinnati, Ohio, son of William and Harriet (THURSTON) MONROE, both natives of New York. They had two children, Lucy Ann and William, the former of whom married Major Robert W. GRAY, of South Carolina, and is now deceased. The father was a student from boyhood, and when he became a man took up the practice of medicine, which was his calling throughout life. He prepared for his professional career in New York, and practiced in Ohio, dying near Cincinnati, when his son William was an infant of two months. His widow married, in 1831, Dr. John LOOFBOUROW, and died in 1835, when forty-six years old. She and her first husband were members of the Baptist church. Lemuel MONROE, the grandfather of our subject, was a veteran of two wars, the Revolution and the war of 1812. He lived to old age, was twice married, and had children by both wives. Daniel Green THURSTON, the Doctor's maternal grandfather, was of English descent, and was a relative of Gen. GREEN, of Revolutionary fame. By occupation he was a farmer. He reached the age of eighty-two, and was the father of fourteen children. Dr. William MONROE, whose name introduces this article, came to Mineral Point, Wis., in 1831, with his mother, sister and stepfather, and grew to manhood under their fostering care. He attended the Mineral Point school, and when he had completed the course of instruction there went back to Blendon, Ohio, that he might attend Washburn's College, then a celebrated Ohio institution. When a young man he followed lead mining near Mineral Point for several years, in the meantime reading for the medical profession, his preceptor being Dr. O. E. STRONG, and later his stepfather, Dr. LOOFBOUROW. He began the practice of medicine in the village of Fayette, twelve miles from Mineral Point, having an office there from 1844 to 1868, in which latter year he came to Monroe, where he has since remained, a diligent student of the more abstruse phases of his profession, and a faithful practitioner in the city and adjoining country. Dr. MONROE and Miss Mary Jane, daughter of Zera and Caroline BEEBE, were united in marriage Nov. 28, 1841, and five sons and five daughters have been born of this union. Six died in infancy and early childhood, four living to maturity, namely: Harriet L., Mettie Jane, William B. and Zera W. Harriet L. married Rev. M. B. BALCH, a Methodist minister, now deceased, and she is living at Minneapolis; they had one child, William B. Mettie Jane lives at home. William is a physician, associated with his father; he is a graduate of Bellevue Hospital Medical College. Zera W. is also a practicing physician, associated with his father and brother, and is a graduate of Rush Medical, of Chicago; he married Miss Annie BENSON, lives at Argyle, Wis., and has four children, Marie, Helen, Frances and Catharine. Dr. and Mrs. MONROE are members of the Christian Church at Monroe, and he is one of its trustees. He is a member of Smith Lodge, No. 31, A.F. & A.M., Palestine Chapter, No. 2, R.A.M., and Janesville commandery, No. 2, K.T.; also belongs to the I.O.O.F., and the Knights of Pythias. He is a valued member of the state Medical Society, and at an early day was associated with the physicians in the southern part of Wisconsin in what was known as the Southwestern Medical Society. Politically he is a Republican, and he was treasurer of Fayette township, Lafayette county, two terms. In 1867 Dr. MONROE was a member of the State Assembly, and made a good record in that body. He was a private in the Black Hawk war, and now draws a pension for his services in that struggle. He has made his home in Monroe thirty-two years, now living on West Washington street, and has been a resident of Lafayette and Green counties for over seventy years. Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin," (c)1901 Union Publishing; pp. 536-537.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Personal Photo.

William married Mary Jane BEEBE, daughter of Zera BEEBE and Caroline, on 28 Nov 1841 in Wiota, WI. (Mary Jane BEEBE was born in 1821 in Hartland, Windsor, VT and died in 1903.)