WILLCOX Cowboy Hall of Fame inductees

EDWARD R. MONK (113)
1851-1924
2014 COWBOY HALL OF FAME POSTHUMOUS AWARD

Judge Edward R. Monk

Edward Roseberry Monk was born January 31, 1851, in Stark County, Ohio. He received an M.A. degree from Michigan University and was admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of the State of Michigan in 1876. Due to failing health, he and his brothers came to Arizona in 1882.

Originally, they were interested in the mines but after two short years the Judge and his brother William (Uncle Will) gave up mining and founded a ranch about ten miles northeast of Willcox. The Monk Ranch, with cattle branded MOK, is one of the largest and oldest ranches in the area. The Monk Brothers Cattle Company started out with longhorns purchased from John Slaughter and later began to improve their herd until it was exclusively Herefords.

While working hard to diligently run the ranch, Judge Monk also practiced law in Willcox in his office on Maley Street close to the train depot. From 1886- 1890 he served as Cochise County probate judge in Tombstone. In 1895, he was appointed a member of the Board of Regents at the University of Arizona.

In 1903, in Tucson, Arizona, about 40 cattlemen held the first meeting of the Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association, and Judge Monk was elected the first president. He also was one of the cattlemen that approached the territorial legislature and help convince them to form the Arizona Rangers.

Judge Monk died in 1924, at the age of 73 ending a long and distinguished career of this pioneer. His efforts, along with those of many others, helped develop Arizona’s thriving livestock industry.