Jacob S. Coons

 

SOURCE: "Portrait and Biographical Album of Champaign County, Illinois," Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1887
SURNAMES: COONS, COWELL, COX, HAWTHORNE, SMITH, YOUNG

 

JACOB S. COONS is a prosperous farmer and stock-grower, residing in St. Joseph Township. He is the son of William and Christina (SMITH) COONS, and was born Oct. 5, 1836, in Tompkins County, N. Y., near Italy. The Coons branch of the family are of German ancestry, and were early settlers of America in the old Colonial times, wherein they took an active part in the various Indian disturbances, with which New York was for a long period troubled. His paternal grandparents, Jacob and Ellen (HAWTHORNE) COONS, were natives of that State, where his father, William COONS, was born in 1807, in Schoharie County.

William Coons' boyhood and youth were passed in his native State, and he was there taught the cooper's trade. His marriage to Miss Christina SMITH, daughter of Jacob and Mary (YOUNG) SMITH, likewise occurred there. The Smith family were natives of Virginia, but were subsequently among the early settlers of Pennsylvania. After his marriage William Coons removed to Marion County, Ohio, and subsequently to Wyandot County. He passed the remainder of his life in that State, his death occurring in 1852; he left his widow with a family of six children, five sons and one daughter.

Jacob S. Coons passed his early life in Ohio, where he received the advantages of the common schools, and subsequently attended an excellent select school. He remained with his mother until twenty-one years of age, and then went to visit the old homestead in New York, and the relatives from whom his family had been so long separated. He spent four years there, engaged in various business enterprises, and then returned to Ohio. In the autumn of 1858 he came to Champaign County, and was engaged for a time in farming by the month. He next rented a farm and soon acquired sufficient capital to purchase eighty acres of land. He has cultivated and improved this, and from time to time increased its limits until he now owns a fine estate containing 170 acres. He has brought his farm to a high state of cultivation. It is well fenced and tiled, and supplied with a pleasant residence and excellent farm buildings. In conducting his farm, Mr. Coons has been especially successful in raising cattle and hogs.

Mr. Coons has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Susan COX; she became the mother of two children—Ada, the wife of George Neldon, and Arthur M. On the 7th of October, 1886, Mr. Coons was married to his present wife, Mrs. COWELL, of Vermilion County, Ill. Mr. and Mrs. Coons are both highly esteemed members of the Methodist Church, of which the former is one of the Trustees. Mr. Coons is a stanch Republican, and holds the belief that in all the affairs of life, political and social, law and order should be the regulators of the commonwealth.