General Notes

Name Prefix:<NPFX> President
Ancestral File Number:<AFN> 8QRN-T7
He later became the fifth  President of the United States. He was ademocrat.  The Monroe doctrine was named after him.  He died at the homeof his son in law, Samuel Gouverneur.

His ancestry according to Gary Boyd Roberts' Ancestors of American Presidents. Also, see the article on the Monroe Family, pages 231 - 241, William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Volume 13, Series 2 (1933).

Excerpts from Encarta 98 Encyclopedia:

Monroe, James (1758-1831), fifth president of the United States (1817-1825) and the last of the so-called Virginia dynasty of U.S. presidents. He succeeded his lifelong friends Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the nation's highest office... James Monroe was one of five children born to Spence Monroe, a carpenter, and Elizabeth Jones Monroe. The family lived on a small farm at the edge of a forest in Westmoreland County, Virginia... Monroe was named aide-de-camp to Major General Lord Stirling. He fought in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown in the autumn of 1777. That winter he was with General George Washington at Valley Forge, and in June 1778 he fought in the Battle of Monmouth... While in Congress, which was meeting in New York City, (Pres) Monroe met Elizabeth Kortright, whom he married in the spring of 1786. They had two daughters, and a son who died in childhood. In October 1786, Monroe resigned from Congress and settled with his bride in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he began a law practice... In 1789 Monroe moved to Albemarle County, Virginia, near Jefferson's estate, Monticello. Monroe's estate, Ash Lawn, was for almost 20 years the home to which he returned whenever he was free from public duties... Monroe was 67 years old when he turned over the presidency to Adams and retired to Oak Hill in Loudoun County, Virginia. But his retirement years were clouded by financial worries. He was forced to sell his estate Ash Lawn to meet his debts. Although Congress awarded him $30,000 in 1826, he never recovered from the financial burden of his long years of public service. After his wife died, Monroe sold Oak Hill and moved to New York City to live with his younger daughter, Maria Hester Gouverneur, and her husband. He died on July 4, 1831, five years after Jefferson and John Adams had died and 55 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He was buried in New York City, but in 1858 his body was moved to Richmond, Virginia, and reburied in Hollywood Cemetery.

Another good biogaphy is shown at
http://monticello.avenue.org/Tourism/AshLawn/docs/bio-monroe.htm

The Monroe family tree is shown at
http://departments.mwc.edu/jmmu/www/jmformativeyrs.html

See much info at the James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library at
http://departments.mwc.edu/jmmu/www/index.html

Also see info at his home Ash Lawn in Charlottesville, Va at http://monticello.avenue.org/ashlawn/docs/bio-virginia.htm