Blount County AlArchives Biographies.....Whaley, Monroe 1849 - after 1893
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Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 13, 2004, 4:16 pm

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
    MONROE WHALEY, a prominent and prosperous farmer of Blount county, and one
of its most rapid money makers, was born in 1849, a son of Alexander and Debbie
A. (McPherson) Whaley. The father was born in 1814 and reared on the farm where
he now lives, and has always lived within one mile of his birthplace. When he
was a boy the country was filled with Indians, wolves and all kinds of wild
game. He was the father of fourteen children, ten of whom are now living:
William M., Lewis, Catharine, Monroe, Martha, Mary D., Florence, Ruth, Anna and
Francis. They were all reared to majority and all live in Alabama, and all in
Blount county, except two. The mother was also born and reared in Blount county
and both are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. The father was a soldier
in the late war in Capt. Graves' company of cavalry, and served two years. He
was a son of Alexander Whaley and Ruth (McAnally) Whaley. Alexander Whaley was a
native of east Tennessee and came to Alabama before the war of 1812. He was a
soldier in the Revolutionary war, was one of the very first settlers in Blount
county, and at that time had to "tote" his corn from Guntersville and beat it
with a pestle to make meal - a distance of about seventy-five miles, and on
their way to the mill had to go through an unbroken forest and had to feed the
horses on sassafras and other bushes. Alexander Whaley still has the old
flint-lock gun that his father carried with him on his trips. The grandfather
was a great hunter in his day and for a number of years followed hunting as a
livelihood. Mrs. Debbie Whaley is a daughter of Lewis and Narcissa (McPherson)
McPherson. Monroe Whaley was reared in Blount county and attended school in the
old log cabin school house, with its slab seats and stick and dirt chimney. In
1871 he married Rebecca A. Rice, daughter of James and Sarah (Hedricks) Rice,
both natives of Tennessee who came to Alabama in 1860. This union has resulted
in the birth of seven children, five of whom are still living: Jessie E.,
William H. T., Minnie R., Clarence E. and Claude A. Those dead are Alexander and
an infant. The mother was born in 1844 in Tennessee. Her grandfather was named
James Rice and her grandmother's maiden name was Rebecca Bordon. Mr. Whaley has
served as justice of the peace, in beat twenty-four, four years, and was
appointed by Governor Seay as commissioner of Blount county in 1887, served two
years, and refused to accept the position a second time. After marriage, when he
began life for himself, he had to borrow his first flour to make some biscuit,
but he went to work with a will and is now one of the substantial farmers of
Blount county. He owns 450 acres of fine land, which is one of the best improved
farms in the county. He also runs a large gin in connection with his farm. As an
illustration of his energy, we simply state that when he first settled where he
now lives he had to clear up the land that he planted the first year, and went
to a store to buy a plow on credit, and was refused, yet today he is one of the
solid moneyed farmers of Blount county. He and wife are members of the Methodist
Episcopal church, south, and are very highly respected.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 512-513

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