Monlux, George

MONLUX, WAGNER, EARLY, NEWCOME

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner
Date: 7/24/2006 at 07:36:47

MONLUX, GEORGE

George Monlux, the president of the Lyon County Pioneer Association and for many years widely known as one of the foremost citizens and business men of Rock Rapids, has made that city his home since 1888. For many years previous to that time he had been closely associated with the growth and development of Lyon county, and there are few men living today who have done as much for the upbuilding of the county. Upright and honorable in all his dealings, he has manifested on all occasions a high integrity and a strict adherence to principle. We take pleasure in presenting a portrait of Mr. Monlux on another page of this work. (p. 251)

Mr. Monlux was born in Delaware, Ohio, May 25, 1843, a son of Ezra and Susanna (Wagner) Monlux. His father was born in Virginia, August 24, 1808, and his mother in Pennsylvania, August 16, 1810. The father followed farming all his life, and when a young man removed to Zanesville, Ohio, where he found employment for some time on the national turnpike road. About 1831 he made his home near Delaware, in that state, where he remained until 1856, when he removed with his family to Clayton, Iowa, where he died November 5, 1892, his wife having passed to her rest in that county in 1879. Of the brothers and sister of the subject of this sketch brief mention may be made: Margaret is the widow of Simon Early; William, who was born in 1833, and died in 1903, was a veteran of the Civil War, and his death resulted from an unhealed wound received in that struggle; John, a veteran of the same great war, is now living at Santa Monica, California; Charles is a resident of Pullman, Washington; Ezra served a year in the Union Army during the great Rebellion, he was born in 1849; Eliza is still living and has her home on the old farm in Clayton county.

John Wagner, the maternal grandfather of George Monlux, came to Ohio in 1830. Fifteen years later he removed to Illinois, and still later became one of the first settlers of Clayton county, Iowa. When he died in 1888 he was nearly ninety years of age, and had removed to Nebraska.

George Monlux secured his education principally from the public schools, though it was supplemented by a few terms at Western College, then a rising Iowa institution. In 1863 he left college for the purpose of enlisting in the Eighth Iowa Cavalry, Company I. His military record covered a period of twenty-five months, and was a story of a thoroughly honorable and gallant career. He was in the campaign around Atlanta, fought at Franklin and Nashville, and took part in the celebrated Wilson raid. He was never wounded, and entered the army as a private, had risen to the rank of second lieutenant at the time of the mustering out of the regiment.

After returning from the war, Mr. Monlux took charge of the old Clayton county farm, which he cultivated for four years. In November, 1870, he made his first appearance in Lyon county, remaining for about a month. He was married here January 10, 1871, and the following spring returned to the county, driving in with ox teams and making his home in section 10, Grant township, Lyon county, where he was engaged in farming for a time. In 1882 he was offered a position as traveling salesman, which he accepted and held for some years. In 1888 he made his home in Rock Rapids, where he is now living retired.

Mrs. George Monlux, whose marriage is noted above, was Phila Newcome, and was a native of Clayton County. Of the children born to this union; Ezra is an engineer of Rock Rapids, Myrtle is married; George is a farmer in Rock township; William is in the cement business in Rock Rapids; Ray is associated with his brother George in farming; and Benjamin is at home.

George Monlux was justice of the peace for some years in Grant township, where he also long officiated as secretary of the school board. In the Grand Army of the Republic in which he holds a prominent place, he has filled all the offices of Dunlap Post, No. 147, has been aide-de-camp on the national commander's staff, and at present is on the department staff of Iowa.

Mr. Monlux belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and is a member of Border Lodge, No. 406, of Rock Rapids. He is president of the Pioneer Association of Lyon county, and is very enthusiastic in the work of preserving the records and traditions of the early days in this part of the northwest. As a good business man, a hard-working farmer, and an upright and patriotic citizen he will long be remembered among the leading citizens of Rock Rapids and the great northwestern part of Iowa.

Source: Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Lyon County, Iowa. Published under the Auspices of the Pioneer Association of Lyon County. Geo. Monlun, Pres.; Hon. E. C. Roach Sec’y; and Col. F. M. Thompson, Historian. Geo. A. Ogle & CO., Published, Engravers and Book Manufacturers. Chicago, 1904-1905

Transcribed by Roseanna Zehner, Darlene Jacoby and Diane Johnson