My Genealogy Hound

Charles S. Rex, who is engaged in the retail coal and ice business, is widely known as one of the representative merchants of the city, recognized as a man of enterprise, positive character and indomitable energy. He was born upon a farm in Jefferson county, Ohio, on the 11th of January, 1842. His ancestral history is traced back in direct line to George Rex, his great grandfather, who was born near London, England, in 1750 and came to America about 1771, settling in eastern Pennsylvania, probably near Philadelphia. There in 1772 he married Margaret Kepler, a native of Germany, and to them were born twelve children, of whom Benjamin, the grandfather of our subject, was the fourth son. Tradition has it that George Rex was a son of King George III and Hannah Lightfoot, the “beautiful Quakeress,” by lawful wedlock in Morganic contract, said marriage taking place in Cruzon street chapel, Mayfair, England, in 1759, twelve years prior to the marriage act forbidding royalty to marry outside of royal lines. Three children were born of this marriage, of whom one died insane, while one, a daughter, became the wife of an East India officer and the other, George Rex, who came to America, served as an officer of rank in the British army in the war of the Revolution. There is much to substantiate this tradition. There is of course nothing in the court records of England concerning the marriage but the Rt. Hon. Lady Anne Hamilton, in her work, Secret History of the Court of London, published in 1832, speaks of King George III, then Prince of Wales, on the occasion of one of his rides, seeing “a very engaging young lady, who appeared by her dress to be a member of the Society of Friends….At length the passion of his Royal Highness arrived at such a point that he felt his happiness dependent upon receiving the lady in marriage At last he confided his views to his next brother, Edward, Duke of York, and another person, who were the only witnesses to the legal marriage of the Prince of Wales to the before mentioned lady, Hannah Lightfoot, which took place at Cruzon street chapel, Mayfair, in the year 1759.” A weight of evidence proves the statement that George Rex served as an officer in the British army and remained loyal to the king until his death—a thing not considered honorable in this country at that time, much less being a relative of the king, and no doubt the cause of his not returning at the close of the war to the vicinity of Philadelphia, where he had first located, but settling instead in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, while his wife with three small children floated down the Susquehanna river in a canoe to meet him there. George Rex at the marriage of his twelve children, five sons and seven daughters, gave each a large Bible and with his own hand wrote therein admonitions in a very fine, large, round old hand, clothed in language denoting that he was a man of education and refinement, and signing himself “George Rex, who emigrated from England.”

Benjamin Rex, the grandfather of Charles S. Rex, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, January 9, 1793. He devoted his life to agricultural pursuits and in 1831 removed to Jefferson county, Ohio, where he died September 17, 1854. He was married January 23, 1816, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, to Annie Barclay, who died June 7, 1838. She was the mother of eleven children, of whom George D. Rex was the eldest. He was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, near Jefferson, November 10, 1816, and died in 1890 near Wintersville, Jefferson county, Ohio, on the farm on which he settled in 1831. His entire life was devoted to general agricultural pursuits. In Uniontown, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of November, 1840, he married Martha Swan and they had three children, of whom two died in childhood, while Charles Rex of this review is the only survivor. The mother died May 8, 1845, and the father was later married again, in Jefferson county, Ohio, to Mrs. Rebecca J. (Porter) Ross, and unto them were born three children, of whom one died in childhood, while the others were Darwin Rex and Anna E. The former died in 1900 in Harriman, Tennessee, leaving two sons and three daughters, and the latter became the wife of B. R. Dance, of Steubenville, Ohio. The second wife died September 3, 1852, and in 1853 George B. Rex was again married, Mary Jane Winters, of Jefferson county, Ohio, becoming his wife. She survived until the 1st of November, 1898.

Charles S. Rex, whose name introduces this record, was reared in the county of his nativity and is indebted to the public schools of that locality for the educational privileges he enjoyed. He came west at the age of eighteen years, going to St. Louis, Missouri, where he spent one year as a street car conductor. He then removed to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and engaged in farming in Henry county, being thus connected with agricultural pursuits for about four years. While there he was married in 1865 to Miss Anna E. Payne, and in 1867 he went to Lawrence, Kansas, where he again followed farming for three years, after which he returned to Mount Pleasant, where his wife died in 1869. For two years Mr. Rex was in the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and in August, 1870, came to Creston. Here he was ticket agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad for two years, from February, 1871, until the fall of 1873. He also embarked in the drug business, conducting his store for five years or until 1875. On December 22, 1874, he turned his attention to the lumber and coal trade, in which he continued for two years. He afterward was employed by a lumberman until 1883, when the Rex Lumber Company was organized, with C. S. Rex as president and manager, in which positions he continued until 1886, when he purchased his partners’ interests and continued the business until 1903. In the meantime, however, the C. S. Rex Lumber Company was dissolved and the business was carried on under his individual name until the 1st of January, 1899, when George B. Rex was admitted to a partnership and the firm style of C. S. Rex & Son was then assumed. It was thus maintained until 1903, when they disposed of the lumber business and C. S. Rex practically retired. However, the wholesale and retail coal business was continued under the name of the Rex Coal & Mining Company. In 1905 C. S. Rex and son, C. S. Rex, Jr., engaged in the retail coal and ice business under the firm style of C. S. Rex & Son. Since 1906 George B. Rex has been engaged in the wholesale coal business under the name of the Rex Coal Company, which was organized that year.

By his first marriage Charles S. Rex of this review had two children. Blanche, the elder, died in 1878 at the age of twelve years, and George B., born in 1867, is now engaged in the wholesale coal business. He was married in December, 1890, in Springfield, Ohio, to Miss Anna Kitchen, and they have one child, George Robert Rex, born in March, 1901. George B. Rex belongs to the Royal Arch Chapter of Masons and also to the Hoo Hoos. He is likewise a member of the Congregationalist church, in which he is serving as a trustee. In 1873 Charles S. Rex was again married, in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, his second union being with Sarah E. Kitchen, and unto them were born the following named: Anna Grace, the wife of A. B. Clark, of Clarinda, Iowa; Harry Noel; Sarah Edna, the wife of Harry A. Parkin, of Chicago; Charles S.; and May, the wife of A. D. Adcock, of Chicago, a member of the firm of Pfief & Adcock, attorneys.

In community affairs Charles S. Rex has been deeply interested and has done much to promote public progress here. For two years he served as chief of the Creston fire department. He is a member and deacon of the Congregational church and in politics is a stalwart republican, never wavering in his support of the party. He was clerk of the first election board in Creston in 1871 at an election held to vote on the question of incorporating the town of Creston. At this election he was chosen city clerk and at the succeeding election was re-elected for another year. His life has been one of intense and well directed activity, his success being built upon a substantial foundation of business enterprise, integrity and laudable ambition. He has formed his plans readily, has been determined in their execution and through the careful utilization of his opportunities and the means at hand has become one of the prosperous and prominent business men and citizens of Creston.