Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/33

 MUNROE

MUXROE

son of Bennett and Lucy (Abel) Munro and of James and Hannah (Waldron) Batt, and a descen- dant maternally from Mary Chilton, and from Richard Warren, both of whom came over in the Mayfloiver. He attended the Bristol, R.I., high school and the Walnut Hill school at Geneva, N.Y., graduated from Brown university, A.B., 1870, A. M., 1873, was a graduate student at Frei- burg university, Germany, and at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He was president of De Veaux college. Suspension Bridge, N.Y., 1881-89; in 1891 was elected associate professor of history and director of the university extension in Brown university, and was subsequently made professor of European histor3^ He became a member of the American Philological association in 1879; the American Historical association in 1898; corresponding member of the Rhode Island His- torical society in 1883, and was elected secretary of the Rhode Island Historical society in 1900. He married, Dec. 28, 1875, Susan Wilkinson, daughter of the Rev. Daniel Le Baron and Re- becca (Wilkinson) Goodwin. He is the author of: History of Bristol, Rhode Island (1880); and Picturesque Rhode Island (1881).

MUNROE, Charles Edward, chemist, was born in Cambridge, Mass., May 24, 1849; son of Enoch and Emeline Elizabeth (Russell) Munroe; grandson of William and Lucy (Frost) Munroe, and of Edward and Elizabeth (Abbot) Russell, and a descendant of William Munroe,

born in Scotland in 1625, settled in Lex- ington, Mass., in 1657. He was graduated at Harvard, S.B.. summa cum laude, 1871, and after serving as as- sistant to Professor Wolcott Gibbs, was senior assistant in chemistry at Harv- ard, 1871-74. He con- ducted the summer school of instruc- tion in chemistry at Cambridge, Mass.. in 1872-74, and lectured on chemistry at the Boston Dental college, 1873-74. He was professor of chemistry at the U.S. Naval academy, Annapolis, Md., 1874-86, lectured in St. John's college, Annapolis, 1883-84, and was chemist to the torpedo corps at the U.S. naval torpedo station and war college, Newport, R.I., 1886-92. He was Lowell Institute lecturer, Boston, Mass., 1890; professor of chemistry at Columbian university, Washington, D.C., from 1892, being dean of the Corcoran Scientific school, 1892-99, and dean of the School of Graduate

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Studies from 1893. He was an authority on ex- plosives, invented a smokeless powder in 1890, and his researches on the subject of explosives appeared in scientific journals in the United States and Europe. He started the mineral cabi- net at the U.S. Naval academy during his service there and established a post graduate course for naval officers at the Smithsonian Institution. He Avas appointed by Presidents Arthur, Cleveland and Harrison, a member of the assay commission to test the United States coinage; served on the U.S. coast and geodetic survey in 1882 to examine the 03^ster-bearing waters of Cliesapeake bay, was a special agent of the U.S. census of 1880 to report on the building stones of Maryland and Virginia, was vice-president of the board of visi- tors to the U.S. Naval academy, 1898, and expert special agent of the U.S. census of 1900 on the chemical industries of the United States. He was decorated in 1901 bj^the Sultan of Turkey as com- mandant of the order of the Medjidji, and in Octo- ber, 1900, was designated by the Royal Academy of Science of Stockholm, Sweden, to nominate American inventors and discoverers in the science of chemistry desiring to compete for the Nobel prizes, provided by the will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. He was secretary, treasurer and corresponding secretary of the U.S. Naval institute; vice-president of the chem- ical section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; president of the Washington (D.C.) Chemical society: president of the American Chemical society; fellow of the American Academy of Sciences, and a member of the American Philosophical society, the Amer- ican Institute of Mining Engineers, and of the Washington Academy of Science. He was also a fellow of the Berlin and London chemical socie- ties and of the Society of Chemical Industry of England. He received the degree of Ph.D. at Columbian universit}' in 1894. He was married in 1883 to Mary Louise, daughter of Prof. George F. Barker of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of over 100 papers on chemistry and explosives; of Notes on the Literature of Explo- sives, published periodically, 1882-1898; of an In- dex to the Literature of Explosives (Part I. 1886, Part II, 1893); Lectures on Chemistry and Explo- sives (1888), and of a Catechism of Exjilosives (1888).

nUNROE, Kirk, author, was born near Prairie du Chien, Wis., Sept. 15, 1850; son of Charles and Susan (Hall) Munroe; grandson of Edmund and Sophia (Seawell) Monroe, and of Isaac and Susan (Mitchell) Hall, all of Boston. Mass.. and a descendant of William Munroe of Lexington, Mass., 1651. There were fifteen Slonroes in the battle of Lexington, and one of them fired the first shot. The first man killed was a Munroe.