Ferdinand "Fred" T. and Mary Theresia Lux

Ferdinand Theodore "Fred T." Lux Mary Theresia Goerger Married: 23 July 1907,
St. Cloud, Minnesota


Obituaries for Mary and Fred Lux
Lux family, circa 1930

Lux family, circa 1930.

Front L to R: David, Joan, Ferdinand (a.k.a. Fred, father), Ruth, Bob, Marguerite, Mary (mother), Fred (a.k.a. Bud).
Rear: Toni, Cathy, Vivian, Gen


Children:

                     | Genevieve Caroline       b. 01 NOV 1908 / d. 10 APR 1972, CA
                     | Vivian Mary              b. 11 JUN 1910 / d. 26 OCT 1993, MN
                     | Antoinette Amelia (Toni) b. 14 NOV 1912 / d. 22 NOV 1972, CA
                     | Catherine Rosemary       b. 10 NOV 1914
Fred T. Lux     \    | Robert Henry             b. 04 MAR 1916 / d. 15 NOV 1996, Melrose MN
      &          }---| David Phillip            b. 22 JAN 1919
Mary C. Lux     /    | Joan Theophila/Barbara   b. 28 APR 1921 
                     | Ferdinand Edward (Bud)   b. 06 SEP 1922 / d. 08 MAR 2005, Falmouth MA
                     | Ruth Agnes/Ann           b. 09 JAN 1924 / d. 21 JAN 1976, Minneapolis MN
                     | Marguerite Louise        b. 19 APR 1927 /


Ferdinand Theodore Lux       Mary Catherine Goerger Lux
Fred learned cigarmaking as an apprentice in St. Cloud; it became his occupation for over 30 years. Mary attended the St. Cloud Teachers' College and taught at the Bromenshenkel School near Sauk Centre in 1906, and in St. Cloud the following year. After their marriage in 1907, Fred and Mary moved to Minot, North Dakota, where their first two daughters, Gen and Vivian, were born. In about 1911, they moved to Brainerd, Minnesota, and then to Albany, Minnesota in 1915. Fred made and sold cigars in all of these towns, and operated a taxi and delivery service in Albany.
From: Albany, the Heart of Minnesota p. 145

"In 1915 Fred and Mary Lux moved their family by train to the village of Albany. They had lived in Brainerd where he was engaged in making cigars. He continued this business during the five years they lived in Albany.

Cigar box, 1936. Caption reads: 
from F. T. Lux / at Sauk Center / Sept. 30 - 1936 At the time cigars were made by hand. The first step was to measure some tobacco filler by feeling the amount in the palm of the hand. A tobacco binder was rolled around it, then the filler placed in a mold that held about twenty cigars. When several molds were filled, they were placed in a press. The cigars removed from the mold were wrapped with a very fine quality tobacco, called a wrapper. Then they were rolled and shaped with tapered ends. Finally one end was cut off. All that remained was to label, sort according to color, and pack into boxes of usually fifty cigars.

The business was especially profitable at Christmas time. But when cigarettes became popular, cigars went out.

The family lived a block north of the Bier store where a woodshed behind the house became the cigar factory. Then they moved four blocks west of there after Fred bought the Dray Line. A building near the Schaefer store became the cigar factory. The Dray Line consisted of two horses, a wagon, and an enclosed bus-type wagon to transport people and freight arriving by train. It was a horse-drawn taxi service.

One daughter, Vivian (Elfering), recalls some events in Albany during their years here: The first automobiles - one owned by the young John Kraker excited the envy of his peers. The first moving pictures - merely silent movies of poor quality, they nevertheless stirred enthusiasm. The end of World War I - the village celebrated by ringing all the bells in the community. The influenza epidemic after the war - there were many deaths. The first airplanes - the sound of one sent folks dashing outdoors to look up. The 18th Amendment prohibiting alcoholic beverages - at midnight what was not consumed at the last ditch party had to be poured into the street."

The Lux family moved to Sauk Centre in 1920, into the house where both Mary and Fred would live out their lives: 127 Birch Street. The house is still standing, though much updated from when the Lux family lived there. Fred continued in the cigar making business until 1938.

Rep. Fred T. Lux From 1933 to 1949, Fred was the Minnesota State Representative for Sauk Centre, district 46. In the 1932 election he defeated Zeno F. Moser by a tally of 2,839 to 2,212.

His Biography in the 1933 Minnesota Legislative manual reads:

Born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, June 15, 1886. Attended schools in Sauk Centre and Business College. Was Secretary of Brainerd Trades and Labor Assembly, also Secretary of Cigar Makers' Union. For the past seventeen years a cigar manufacturer. Married and has ten children.

Rep. Lux's letter head from the Fiftieth Session of the Minnesota Legislature shows the following Committee Assignments:

  • State and County Fairs, Chairman
  • Elections, Vice Chairman
  • Banks and Banking
  • Dairy Products and Livestock
  • Liquor Control
  • Public Health and Hospitals
  • Public Highways
  • State Prison

Mary passed away in 1949 after a long bout with nephritis, an inflammation of the kidney. Fred succumbed to prostate cancer in August 1962.


Standing: Gen, Vivian. Seated: Cathy, Bob, Toni
Standing: Gen, Vivian.
Seated: Cathy, Bob, Toni
about 1916
Lux brothers - Everett, Alex, Fred
Lux brothers - Everett, Alex, Fred
Mary and Fred Lux
Mary and Fred Lux
in front of their home
on Birch St. in Sauk Centre.

127 Birch St. about 1925
In front of the house on Birch St.
about 1925. Gen, Mary, Fred,
Joan, Ruth, Dave.
Lux family, Thanksgiving 1949. Lux family, Thanksgiving 1949
(shortly after Mary's death)
Seated: Dave, Cathy, Fred T., Ruth, Joan.
Standing: Marguerite, Toni, Bud (Fred E.), Gen, Bob, Vivian.
Fred T. at the Corner Bar
Fred Lux, working at
the Corner Bar, 1950s.


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