James Monroe Redd

Born 1863

History

James Monroe Redd, or Monroe, as he was called by most, was born to the delight of his parents, Lemuel Hardison Redd, Sr. and Keziah Jane Butler on August 24, 1863, in New Harmony, Utah. He had a happy, active childhood racing across the plains and working on the farm with his nine other brothers and sisters. In 1866, when Monroe was three years old, his father entered into a polygamous marriage with Sarah Jane Chamberlain. They all lived together for four years until the little house could no longer contain so many busy bodies. (Lemuel Redd Sr. and Sarah Jane had 12 children, so life on the Redd family homestead was bustling!) Monroe’s father bought a large duplex and for the next 20 years, the two families lived side by side. There was always someone for Monroe to play with, share in his chores and explore the wilderness with. Monroe lived, worked, learned and played on this homestead until he was 17 years old. At that time, President John Taylor called a company of young men and families to colonize the San Juan area of southern Utah and Monroe Redd was among them.

Hole-in-the-Rock
In November 1879, Monroe joined his father, older brother, Lemuel Redd, Jr., and many others, on what would become a journey of a lifetime. They left New Harmony and headed east for San Juan County. “They traveled the old road to Panguitch,

Source:
Researched and written for the Hole-in-the-Rock Foundation by:
C.S.M. Jones LLC, Family Heritage Consulting.

Bibliography

Carter, Kate B., comp. Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 8, “One Hundred Years,” by Alta Redd Winzenreid. Salt Lake City, Utah: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1965.

“Funeral Services Are Held in Monticello For Utah Pioneer.” Obituary notice for James
Monroe Redd from the files of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Salt Lake City, UT.

Miller, David E. Hole-In-The-Rock: An Epic in the Colonization of the Great American
West. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1966.

Perkins, Cornelia Adams, Marian Gardner Nielson, and Lenora Butt Jones. Saga of the
San Juan. Monticello, Utah: San Juan County Daughters of Utah Pioneers,1957.

i James Monroe Redd, “From the Memory of James Monroe Redd,” appendix XIII in David E. Miller,Hole-In-The-Rock: An Epic in the Colonization of the Great American West (Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1966), 217. Miller included two accounts attributed to James Monroe Redd in the appendix of his monumental work.

ii Ibid., 219.

iii Cornelia Adams Perkins, Marian Gardner Nielson, and Lenora Butt Jones, Saga of the San Juan(Monticello, Utah: San Juan County Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1957), 329.

iv Kate B. Carter, comp., Our Pioneer Heritage, vol. 8, “One Hundred Years,” by Alta Redd Winzenreid (Salt Lake City, Utah: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1965), 219.

v Ibid., 219.

Family Search:
James Monroe Redd on FamilySearch