Descendants of Joel Monroe (1793-1877)
Joel Monroe, one of the early settlers in the community which bears his name, is said to have been a distant relative of President James Monroe. A Virginia Farmer, Joel married Margaret Bing of Lawrence county ((Pennsylvania) and moved to the area with his young family around 1820.
A deed of 1828 shows that he purchased 122 acres and 63 perches (parts of an acre) from a John and Sarah Tusk. (And earlier deed of 1792 records the transfer of that land from John McKee to John Tusk for 90 pounds.).
The Monroe farm extended from the Old Stone Church to the present municipal building, and northward to today’s Garden City. It was Joel Monroe who, by selling off small lots along the Northern Turnpike, encouraged development in the core of the emerging community.
By 1850 the farming community was well established, but its mail still had to be picked up in nearby Turtle Creek. That year, Monroe and his neighbors petitioned the federal government for their own post office. Their petition was granted, and on January 23, 1851, Joel Monroe became the first postmaster, with the post office located in his home near the toll gate of the Northern Pike (along today’s Route 22).
As was the custom was at the time, a name with local meaning was to be selected for the post office - in this case, the name of the postmaster. Thus the village became “Monroeville.”
Joel Monroe and his wife had nine children (Sarah, Nancy, Rebecca, Margaret J., James M., Mary Ann, Joel, Pricilla and Lavenia). The farm was to be passed on his daughter Rebecca Monroe Duff, when Joel sold to his son-in-law, Henry Duff for $1,500 dollars. The Duff House on Northern Pike near Route 22, became a familiar fixture in community. It was razed in 1964.
By 1855 Joel Monroe had resigned as postmaster and went on to buy another farm in New Castle, Pa. His wife was killed in a house fire in 1864; he died in 1877. The man who gave Monroeville its name is buried, alongside his wife, at the Greenwood Cemetery in New Castle, Pa.
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Sources:
Remarks by Paul Damon, Past President, Monroeville Historical Society on the dedication of the Joel Monroe room at McGinley House, June 7, 1987.
Remarks by Rebecca Gillis Sooy to the Monroeville Historical society, undated.