First definite location of the ancestors in the MONROE-PETERS line is in McMinn County, TN which was created November 5, 1819 from a part of the Indian lands, ceded by the Cherokee Indians to the US in that year. Further tracing will determine whether the families were inhabitants at the time the county was organized, or arrived soon afterward. The town of Athens was laid off 1821-22 and in 1823 the courts of the County were moved there.
In 1826, the George Monroe, Sr. family home was approximately nine miles from Athens on the Mount Verd-Pond Hill Road and Athens was their post office. They were farmers and through the years they acquired land and slaves and became quite prosperous.
Early on, George W. Monroe, Sr. gave land on his farm for a community cemetery. It may have been started as a family cemetery. In it are about 125 umarked graves. Most of those marked are of Monroe family members, but Eliza and her son Horace must lie among those unmarked. In 1879, which was ten years after the death of George W. and six years after that of his wife, Elizabeth, the Baptist denomination established a church by the cemetery and named it Pond Hill. They were also given charge of the cemetery. His gravestone reads, "Grandfather" and Elizabeth's reads, "Grandmother".
The Monroe clan were in McMinn County, TN when the Civil War began in 1861. The Monroes were farmers and slave owners like their neighbors, but their sympathies were with the Union cause. On November 1, 1862, In Pulaski, TN two of George, Sr.'s sons and two of his grandsons enlisted and were enrolled in Company "C", 3rd Regiment, East TN Calvary Volunteers. They included: Joseph, then 44; George Jr, then 48; Jesse Lafayette, 21 and Sherwood, 19. (Or Sheridan - Census people and the Army couldn't decide which.) They were mustered-in at Huntsville.
At the time of his families enlistment, George Sr., was too old to fight (being almost 80) but not too old for the indignities of war. Confederate sympathizers went to his home, hung him to the limb of a tree until he told where his money was, stole the money, took anything else they wanted, then left the place practically wrecked. No doubt this happened after the enlistment of the younger Monroes in the Federal ranks and probably incited because of those enlistments. Had they been there, there would have been blood shed over the incident.
The war was very real to the Tennesseeans at this time as many battles were being fought on their soil, and very soon it was to be tragic for the Monroe family. On December 31, 1862, and January 2, 1863, just two months after their enlistments, the Battle of Stones River (Called by the Confederates the Battle of Murfreesboro) was fought. Murfreesboro is the county seat of Rutherford County on the West fork of Stones River just 33 miles southeast of Nashville. The Union Army occupied Murfreesboro when the Confederates withdrew, but the losses on both sides were very heavy. Of 37, 712 Confederates present for duty, 1,294 were killed; 7,945 wounded and about 2500 missing. On the Union side, of 44, 800 present for duty, 1677 were killed; 7,543 wounded and 3,686 missing. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
Joseph and George Monroe, Jr. were among the casualties on the Union side. George was wounded and died Feb 6, 1863 in the Field hospital near Murfreesboro. Jessee Lafayette saw both his father and his uncle buried in trenches with others. The Uncle Joseph wrapped in his blanket; George Jr, in a pine box. Perhaps the difference was because the stress of battle and the burial aftermath were over before George died. It was not because of difference in rank because according to Army records, they were all privates. These were the "remarks" on George, Jr.'s Muster card: "Last paid to: Never Paid." "Clothing Account - last paid: Never" "Bounty paid - None" "Due - $100".
**This information was compiled by Cecil Grace Hollis Puryear, paternal grandmother of Jerry Cecil Puryear, a direct descendant of Robert Monroe.
Taken from Chancery Court Records of McMinn County, TN (Boyer, 1980):
#293 Joseph WILSON & wife, & others v. Harriet MONROE & others. Filed 26 June 1871. George MONROE died in McMinn Cou. 13 Oct. 1868, age about eighty-six, leaving widow Elizabeth and heirs as follows, with information given in depositions in parentheses. Complaintants, children or grandchildren of George MONROE dec'd: 1. Nancy, wife of Joseph WILSON of MO; 2. Chatharine DOBBS of MO, 3. Jesse MONROE of AL, 4. daughter Margaret HARDIN of McMinn Co., (age fifty-four in 1872, has three grown children and lived on farm of George MONROE dec'd); 5. son Robert of KY (gone many years but had grown children when he left and he lived on farm of George dec'd for twenty years; 6. Martha, widow of son William MONROE dec'd and two children names unknown of AL and one child name and residence not known; 7. Margaret, widow of son George Jr. dec'd (George lived on farm about fifteen years); 8. Jesse L. MONROE; 9. grandson Sherwood M. MONROE (son of George Jr. and age twenty-six in 1872); 10. granddaughter Samintha P. wife of William M. STANTON; 11. Eliza B. wife of James McKEEHAN; 12. grandson Millard F. born Sept. 1852; 13. Joseph McCOLLUM (grandson); 14. Alice PEARCE of IL; Defendants, all of McMinn Co., are the widow Elizabeth, and Harriet MONROE, widow of Joseph, dec'd, and children of Harriet and Joseph to wit Mary E.J.B., wife of Wiley N. WALLACE(signed Wallis); Margaret E., wife of John L. McCHRISTIAN (signed McCuistion); William M.; Louis F.; Horace L.; Charles B.; Joseph M.; Sarah A.; Elizabeth P.; and George N. MONROE, the last four minors. Joseph, the youngest son of George and Elizabeth, was taken off a prisoner about 1863 and has not been seen any more, and he lived with his father. Complaintants charge that George Sr. was under the influence of Harriet who with her children had lived in part of same house with George Sr. for about twenty years and that Harriet procurred him to make fraudulent deeds (copies are in file) of his most valuable land, leaving only a small tract to be divided among the widow and the other heirs. They ask that deeds be declared null and void. Case is compromised 1874 by defendants paying complaintants but in 1875 fund is not paid, land is levied upon and is sold to Chapman Wallace. Depositions to be taken 1872 of Margaret HARDIN, Martha A. Utley, and Thomas C. Odom at the counting room of Morgan M. Bryan at Ten Mile Stand, Meigs Co. Widow Elizabeth answers that George Sr. was a Minister of the Gospel, that she has a comfortable home with Harriet and is treated well. Witness A.G. Small, age forty-five, 1873, deposes that he went to George MONROE's house to preach the funeral of his son Joseph.
