PETER LUX
A large number of the most successful and substantial farmers of Cass township, Shelby county, Iowa. are of German parentage, and among these farmers Peter Lux is one who has been identified with the history of the township for nearly thirty years. He comes from an excellent family and one which has been widely identified with the history of this county. Mr. Lux is a man of thrift, and although he had nothing when he started in to work for himself, by his own good management and keen business ability he has accumulated a farm of one hundred and twenty acres. On this he has placed several thousand dollars' worth of improvements.
Peter Lux, the son of John Peter and Mary Eva (Blum) Lux, was born December 24, 1861, in the Rhine province of Germany. His parents lived in Germany until 1890, when they came to Shelby county and settled near Panama, where his father bought a farm of eighty acres and lived until his death in 1911. His mother passed away in 1902. Nine children were born to John P. Lux and wife: Peter, Angeline, Eva, Katherine, Martin, Hubert, Thomas, Mary and Anna.
Peter Lux received his education in his native land and after leaving school farmed with his father until he was twenty-three years of age. He came to America in 1885 and settled near Westphalia, Iowa. He worked out as a farm hand for five years. He then rented land until 1903, when he bought his present farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Cass township. Since buying this farm he has placed at least five thousand dollars' worth of improvements on it and has brought it to a high state of cultivation by a systematic crop rotation. He is particularly interested in the breeding of cattle, and has been very successful in this particular line of activity.
Mr. Lux was married on October 19, 1892, to Elizabeth Wilwerding, the daughter of Henry Wilwerding, an old settler of Shelby county, and one of its prominent citizens for many years. Mr. Lux and his wife are loyal members of the Catholic church. Politically, Mr. Lux is a Democrat but has never been active in political affairs.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 1069 - 1070
Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
Retrieved by William E. Lux, 18 April 2008 from http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~iashelby/1915bio/1915bio30.htm#lux
