Monroe, J. Vernon; 1905 Bio, Gunnison County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/gunnison/bios/monroejv.txt --------------------------------------- Donated May 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- J. Vernon Monroe To progress from a condition of obscurity and poverty, beginning with no capital except his natural endowments of a hopeful disposition, a clear head, an honest heart and a determined and resourceful spirit, to a large landed estate with great herds of cattle, is to make a long stride in success and prosperity, but it is one that has been made by many a man in this western land of great opportunities and boundless resources that can be had by diligently searching for them and fully deserving them through earnest and persistent efforts to secure them. Among this number J. Vernon Monroe, one of the leading ranchers and stock-growers of Gunnison county, is entitled to a high rank in public estimation for the efforts he has made and the success he has won. Mr. Monroe was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, on November 2, 1852, the son of parents in moderate circumstances, and he lost them both by death when he was but three years old. His father, D.B. Monroe, was also a native of Ohio, and his mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Veitch, was born in Scotland and came to this country when a girl with her mother, her father having died in her native land. Vernon was the second of their three sons, and was reared from the age of three years to that of twelve by relatives. From the age of twelve he has made his own way in the world, with but little education gained outside of the great and thorough school of experience, beginning his career as a farm hand at five dollars a month, the wage he received for hard and earnest work for a period of two years. He then clerked in a country store in his native county about ten years, and in the spring of 1876 moved to Missouri and during the next two years kept a grocery store at Richmond, Ray county, that state. Then, lured by the excitement over the rich discoveries of gold in the Black Hills, he sold his business and went to that promising region in search of a better fortune. After passing about two years in various occupations in the neighborhood of Deadwood, he returned to Richmond, Missouri, a somewhat wiser but it cannot be said a sadder man. The experience was valuable and he so accounted it. In 1883, in the spring of the year, he again turned his steps westward, coming to Colorado, where he spent the first year on the plains east of Denver. The next spring he moved to North Park and took up a ranch, starting without money, but gradually working himself out of debt and into possession of a good herd of cattle, at the same time improving his property and increasing its value by vigorous and systematic cultivation, having nothing for a time to depend on but nature's bounty and his own energy and skill; for his land was all in wild sage brush when he took hold of it and without improvements of any kind. He sold it to good advantage in the fall of 1900, after which he moved at once to Gunnison county and bought the ranch of nine hundred and forty acres three miles and a half east of Doyleville which he now owns. This he has all under irrigation and in a high state of productiveness, cutting on it annually an average of seven hundred tons of excellent hay, and feeding six hundred to seven hundred cattle of good grades. It is one of the really superior ranches in the Tomichi valley, beautifully located in the shadow of Tomichi Dome, a lofty and majestic mountain which is one of the well known landmarks of the region, visible for many miles from every part of the surrounding country. Here enterprise and business tact, and a wise application of the lessons of experience, have paid and prospered him handsomely,and his manliness and sterling worth, and his energy and prudence actively employed in the development of the section of his home, have made him one of the best known and most esteemed men of the county. In political affairs he always actively and effectively supports the Republican party, but ever without ambition for a share in the honors or emoluments of public office, which he has never had and never sought. In fraternal life he belongs to the Odd Fellows' lodge at Gunnison, and he is zealous and appreciated in the benevolent activity of the order and useful in the service of his lodge. His first marriage occurred in Missouri on June 30, 1880, and was with Miss Julia Warinner, a native of Richmond in that state. She died on March 17, 1882, leaving one son, J. Vernon Monroe, Jr., now a resident of Denver. On July 11, 1898, the father contracted a second marriage, being united on this occasion with Miss Rose McMurtry, also a native of Missouri and born in Calloway county, a direct descendant of Daniel Boone. They have one child, their son Allan Miller, now four years old (1904). =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. 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