Joseph Monosmith,1841-1925

MONOSMITH, STRAIT, WEBER, BENTON, BIXLER

Posted By: Connie White (email)
Date: 9/15/2012 at 22:33:53

Adams County Union Republican, Corning, Iowa
September 23, 1925, Page 8
The Passing of a Pioneer
Joseph Monosmith, one of the pioneers of Adams County, passed away in Villisca last Saturday. The body was brought to Corning today and funeral ceremonies were conducted by Rev. J.E. Congdon, Jr. in the Federated Church. Burial was made in Walnut Grove Cemetery.
Mr. Monosmith was one of the few remaining pioneers who came to Adams County before the advent of the railroad, when Queen City was the principal town in the southern portion of the county, and Quincy was the county seat; when an occasional Indian was still to be found on his hunting grounds along our water courses. He was one of the many soldiers of the civil war who came from their eastern homes to transform the west into a home lover's paradise. With his young wife and baby the last portion of their journey was made in an old stage coach that ran between Afton and Queen City.
Their first winter was spent in a cabin north of Brooks. After that they moved onto a piece of virgin prairie, in the north part of Lincoln township, where for five years Mr. Monosmith helped to conquer stubborn Nature. From 1875 to 1892, the family lived in Mercer township, and from 1892 to 1900 on a farm just west of Corning.
For several years Mr. Monosmith was a member of the board of supervisors. He was one of the first members of the Corning Congregational Church and was an active member for many years.
The deceased gentleman was born in Wayne County, Ohio, May 6,1841, being 84 years of age at the time of his death. His father and grandfather were among the early settlers of the western reserve, of Ohio. Mr. Monosmith's boyhood and young manhood were spent in Medina County, Ohio, where he enlisted in the Army, April 7,1861, at the time of Lincoln's first call for 75,000 men. He served in the Second Ohio cavalry, under Generals Sheridan and Custer, being one of Custer's quartermasters, and was honorably discharged iin September,1865. In November, 1864, while home on a furlough, he was married to Jane T. Strait, who died in 1901. They were the parents of four children; Orra Weber of Billings, Okla.; John Monosmith, Roseburg, Ore; Albert W. Monosmth, Fort Dodge,Ia; Leigh Monosmith, Oberlin, Ohio.
After the death of his first wife Mr. Monosmith moved back to his old home in Ohio, where he lived until a few weeks ago, when he came back to Iowa to spend the winter. In 1903 he married Sarah Benton, of Grafton, Ohio, who died in 1922. In 1924, he was married to Helen Strait Bixler, a sister of his first wife. This wife survives him.