A few excerpts from The History of Union County, Ohio (1883)
regarding the Coons and related families:
The full text of this history can be found here.
L. W. BOLENBAUGH, farmer, P. O. York. The
subject of this sketch was born in Union County, Ohio, December 18, 1836; he is a son of
Jacob Bolenbaugh (deceased) and Sarah Bolenbaugh, natives of Pennsylvania, who with their
parents come to Ohio when quite young. They were married in Fairfield County, Ohio, March
20,1830. In 1834, they came to Union County and settled in York Township, where our
subject now resides. In August 1878, Jacob departed this life, respected by all who knew
him; his widow survives him and resides at the home of our subject. They were the parents
of three children-Lewis F., David D. and L. W. Our subject was reared on a farm and
received but a limited education. On October 1, 1860, he was united in marriage to Miss
Alvira, Harris, who was born July 6, 1840, and was a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth
Harris. To them have been born five children-David C., Howard (deceased), Ida, Otis G. and
Maud. In March 1865, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Ninety-first Ohio Volunteer
Infantry, Find was employed principally in doing garrison duty. He received an honorable
discharge in September 1865. Mr. Bolenbaugh is one of the incorporators of the Union
County Farmers' Insurance Company, and is the owner of 118 acres of land in a high state
of cultivation.
GEORGE W. COONS, farmer, P.O. Byhalia. The
subject of this sketch was born in Union County, Ohio, July 29, 1840. His parents were
Thomas S. Coons and Rebecca Coons, the latter now deceased. In December 1861, he enlisted
in the Eighty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was attached to the Army of West
Virginia. He participated in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Cross Keys, Sulphur Springs,
and the second battle of Bull Run, where he received a wound in the left leg, which
terminated in a thigh amputation. On the battle-field he was taken prisoner by the
confederates, and left eight days without food. He, however, finally was properly
exchanged, and was honorably discharged from the service on November 25, 1862. On January
25, 1872, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Elliott, who was born January 26,
1849, in Portage County, Ohio; she is a daughter of Wilkinson and Sarah Elliott. To them
have been born four children, three of whom are now living-Orville F., Orland T., an
infant and one deceased. Mr. Coons has served as Assessor of York Township; has been
successful in business, and is the owner of a fine farm of 158 acres of land. He resides
in the northern portion of York Township.
STERLING F. COONS, farmer, P. O. Byhalia.
The subject of this sketch was born in Union County, Ohio, September 6, 1847; is a son of
Thomas S. and Rebecca (deceased) Coons. From his youth, he has devoted his attention
principally to agricultural pursuits. On July 25, 1870, he married Miss Hope Haines who
was born June 9, 1852, in Union County, Ohio. She is a daughter of Jonathan and Mary
(deceased) Haines. For ten years subsequent to his marriage, he resided near Rush Creek,
in Washington Township, but in the spring of 1880 he located on the homestead farm in the
northern portion of York Township. Politically, he is a Republican, and he is the owner of
150 acres of land in a good state of cultivation.
N. H. COONS, farmer, P. O. York, was born in
Licking County, Ohio, April 18, 1825, and is a son of George and Keziah Coons, who settled
in York Township in 1880. His father filled several important offices in the township and
died in 1856, respected by all who knew him. On May 15, 1852, he married Miss Fidelia
Phelps, who was born in 1831 ; her father was a Baptist minister and a very active member
of society. They have had eight children, of whom four are now living-Cynthia A., Jason,
James and Mary I. Mr. Coons resides on his farm in the northern portion of York Township.
JOHN STAMATS, farmer, P. O. Richwood. The
subject of this sketch, a pioneer of York Township, was born August 17, 1803, in
Westmoreland County, Penn. His parents were George Stamats (whose father was a
Revolutionary soldier) and Ruth Stamats, with whom, in 1815, he emigrated to Muskingum
County, Ohio. Of a family of nine children, four still survive-John George, Elizabeth and
Leah. They remained in Muskingum County Until their decease, he in September 1857, and she
in April 1846. Our subject was reared on a farm, and for three years worked on the Ohio
Canal. On April 29, 1830, in Fairfield County, he married Miss Allis Coons, daughter of
George and Keziah Coons. This union has been blessed with eight children five of whom are
now living. For one year after his marriage, Mr. Stamatz located in Fairfield County. In
1831, he came to Union County and settled in the northeastern portion of York Township,
where he now resides. He has served as Trustee of York Township, and is the owner of 100
acres of land.
MALCHUS F. STAMATS, farmer, P. O. Bokes
Creek, was born April 22, 1836, in Union County, Ohio. After having obtained a good common
school education, he attended for several terms, Hillsdale College, Michigan, and
subsequently, for several terms, taught school in York and Taylor Townships, this county.
On May 7, 1863, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Southard, who was born July 31,
1840; she is a daughter of Sylvester F. Southard (deceased) and Rebecca Southard, his
wife. To them have been born four children, viz. : Dora, a teacher, born July 21, 1866
John O., born May 26, 1868; Sattie E., born October 27, 1871, and Azona, born July 3,
1874. Mr. Stamats is a member of the Free-Will Baptist Church ; he owns ninety-two sad
one-half acres of land, and resides in the eastern portion of York Township.
MATTHEW E. STAMATS, farmer, P. O. Richwood.
The subject of this sketch was born in Union County, Ohio, April 22, 1836. He is a son of
John and Allie Stamats, whose sketch appears in this work. He was reared on a farm and
received a fair English education. In October 1861, he enlisted in Company K, First Ohio
Cavalry, and was attached to the Army of the Cumberland. He participated in the battles of
Corinth, Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Farmington, the siege of Atlanta, and
numerous other engagements, and was honorably discharged in October 1864. On April 3,
1879, he married Miss Mary M. Price, who was born May 5, 1848; she was a daughter of
Thomas R. and Mary J. Price, who came to Union County about the year 1836. Mr. Stomata is
a member of the F. & A. M. Lodge, and Grand Army of the Republic, and the owner of
fifty acres of land.
CYRUS STAMATS, farmer, P. O. Bokes Creek.
The subject of this sketch was born in Union County, Ohio, December 6, 1842; he is a
brother of Matthew E. and Malchus F. Stamats, and a son of John Stamats, all of whom have
biographies in this work. In October, 1862, he was enrolled in the First Ohio Volunteer
Infantry, and was attached to the Army of the Cumberland. He was engaged in the battles of
Chickamauga, Resaca, Mission Ridge, Kenesaw, Mountain, siege of Atlanta, and numerous
other engagements. He endured many hardships while in the service, but has enrolled his
name with the many thousands who so bravely defended the Federal flag, which was about to
be trampled under the iron heel of a most formidable enemy. He was honorably discharged in
July 1864. In January 1873, he married Miss Margaret Fish, who was born January 2, 1850,
in Union County, Ohio; she is a daughter of Cornelius E. and Elizabeth Fish, of Claibourne
Township, this county. They have two children-Carrie, born February 8, 1874, and May, born
October 3, 1875. Mr. Stamats is a member of the Free-Will Baptist Church, and the owner of
126 acres of land.
LEVEN WRIGHT (deceased). The subject of this
sketch was born April 22, 1809, in Maryland, and when nine years of age, with his parents,
James and Hannah Wright, he came to Fairfield County, Ohio, where his parents remained
until their decease. About the year 1834. with his sister Rebecca, he came to Union
County, and settled in the northern portion of York Township, where he remained until his
decease. In 1837, he married Letitia Coons, daughter of George and Keziah Coons. By this
union there was an issue of three children, two of whom are now living, viz,: Rebecca and
James. slue died in March, 1844, and in August, 1844, he married Miss Sarah Thornton, who
was born March 22, 1821 She was a daughter of Jesse and Nancy Thornton, of Union County,
the former a native of North Carolina, and the latter of Virginia. This union has been
blessed with seven children, three of whom are now living-Oscar, Mahlon and Mary. After
spending a life of usefulness, he died November 27,1873. He was a kind and loving father
and an indulgent husband, respected by the large circle of friends that knew him. For many
years he served as Trustee of York Township; was a member of the Free-Will Baptist Church,
and left to his widow, who still resides on the homestead, 166 acres of land.
The Settlement of York Township:
The organization of York Township was completed by the
election of township officers April 7, 1834. The election was held at the house of Aaron
Shirk, and in consideration of this fact, he was permitted to cast the first vote. The
record shows that the following persons were unanimously elected to the several offices;
to wit: Trustees, Heman Tobey, Joseph Miller and Harmon Patrick; Overseers of the Poor,
Charles Miller and John Coons; Fence Viewers, George Coons, Jonathan Miller and Charles
Bennett; Treasurer, William Tobey; Constable, Aaron Shirk; Clerk, William Hartford;
Supervisors, John Stamates, Hiram Parker and Jonathan Shirk. On the 15th day of April
1834, the Trustees met at the house of Heman Tobey, and divided the township into three
road districts.
The first election for Justice of the Peace was held at the
house of Aaron Shirk October 11, 1834, and Jonathan G. Miller was elected to fill that
office. The subsequent Justices, with dates of election, are Thomas Milligan, 1837;
Jonathan G. Miller, 1839; William Tobey, 1841; Jonathan G. Miller, 1841; William Tobey,
1844, resigned in 1846; Jonathan Sterling, 1844, resigned in 1846; William Hartford, 1846;
Archibald G. Brooks, 1846; David Sterling,1849, resigned the same year; William Hartford,
1849; Samuel Hoover, 1849; J. G. Miller, 1852; James R. Smith, 1852; Alonzo Harvey, 1855;
James R Smith, 1855; Alonzo Harvey, 1858; Washington O. Davis, 1858; Archibald G. Brooks,
1859; Washington G. Davis, 1861; Archibald G. Brooks, 1862; A. E. Knox, 1864; Archibald G.
Brooks, 1865; A. E. Knox, 1867; A. P. Harvey, 1868, resigned in 1870; William P. Plotner,
1870; A. E. Knox, 1870; William H. Plotner, 1873; A. E. Knox, 1873; S. Taylor, 1873;
William H. Plotnor, 1876; A. E. Knox, 1876; William H. Plotner, 1879; A. E. Knox, 1879; L.
D. Wright, 1882.
The third settlement in the township was made by George
Coons, in the T. Bowyer Survey, No. 5,289. Mr. Coons purchased 100 acres, about two miles
north of York Center, and in the fall of 1829 came out from his home in Fairfield County,
and built a cabin. During the winter, he brought out several wagon-loads of goods, and in
the spring following came with his family, arriving at the now home April 1, 1834. The
Miller settlement, and the settlement just below the site of Summersville, were the only
portions of the township occupied by settlers at this time, and the labor of cutting a
wagon road to his home in the wilderness devolved upon Mr. Coons, and was performed by
arduous labor. Mr. Coons was a farmer, and spent the remainder of his life on the farm he
first settled. He died October 19, 1856, aged seventy-eight years. His wife, Keziah,
survived him twenty years, and died at the age of ninety-three. The family of the pioneer
and highly-esteemed couple consisted of four sons and four daughters, all of whom became
early residents of the township. The four sons, John, Thomas S., Brice and Harris, and two
daughters, Letitia, who afterward married Levin Wright, and Rhoda who afterward became the
wife of A. G. Brooks, accompanied their parents to the township. The other two daughters
had entered married life in 1829 - Sally with Jacob Bollenbaugh and Allis with John
Stamates. Mr. and Mrs. Bollenbaugh, in 1830, at the same time the Coons family settled
here, moved from Fairfield County to Hancock County; but after a sojourn there of several
years came to York Township, and settled among their friends. Mr. Bollenbaugh was a
straightforward, industrious German, Democratic, and afterward Republican in politics,
and, like the Coons, of the Baptist persuasion. Besides farming, he operated a little
tannery for a time. He died a few years ago, leaving a family of children to possess his
homestead.
Nathaniel Brooks settled in the Coons settlement in 1832. He
was from New York, and was class leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he
was strongly Whig. He died in 1836, leaving a family of four sons, Archibald G., James,
Joseph and Robert, and several daughters. Archibald G. was a man of prominence in the
township, and died recently.
John Stamates, hailing from Muskingum County, came with the
Coons, and lived with them during the first year of his citizenship of York Township. He
then bought a place in the Miller settlement, and is still living there.
Levin Wright came from Fairfield County about 1835, and
settled in the Coons settlement. He remained a lifelong resident of the township. By his
first marriage-with Letitia Coons-he had three children. His second wife was Sally
Thornton, and the children of this marriage still reside in the township.
Not uncommonly, settlements were formed by a number of
pioneers, hailing from the same vicinity. The tide of emigration from a settled locality
would receive its impetus from the success attending the removal of one of the community
to the new country. His neighbors, friends and acquaintances, prompted by a desire to
share in the benefits which are the reward of faithful and persevering labor in an
unsettled region, and preferring the society of old and tried acquaintances as neighbors
to new ones, one after another would leave their old homesteads and purchase new homes in
the vicinity of those who had gone before them. An emigration from Harrison and adjoining
counties to York Township was thus begun by one, who, however, did not live to enter upon
his labors in the township. Duncan McArthur purchased a large portion of the John Bowen
Surveys, in the southeastern portion of York Township, for a small consideration, and
desired its settlement. Samuel Hyde, of Harrison, was slightly acquainted with Gov.
McArthur, who offered to sell him, among others, a farm in that vicinity.
Mr. Hyde was born in Maryland, and when a boy, moved, with
his father, to Pennsylvania. In Washington County, Penn., he married and settled on a farm
in Harrison County, Ohio. Having concluded to emigrate farther west, in the spring of
1832, in a lumbering wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen, he traveled toward the setting sun
till he reached the slight settlement just south of what is now Summersville. Satisfied
with the locality, he fashioned, out of the unbroken wilderness, a small, rude cabin,
cleared about eight acres of land, fenced it in from the surrounding forest, planted it in
corn and returned, by a tedious journey, home. In the fall, he again visited the locality,
this time in company with his young son, John B., and harvested his crop, They brought
with them a load of household and other goods. Mr. Hyde had eight children, one son and
seven daughters, five of whom were at this time married and settled in homes of their own.
One unmarried daughter-Nancy, afterward Mrs. George Davis-was living at the home of a
married sister. In February 1833, Mr. Hyde, with his wife Elizabeth, son John B. and
daughter Rebecca, who afterward married Sedgwick Coons, bade a final adieu to Harrison
County, and, in a four horse team, began their pilgrimage to York Township. At Berkshire,
Delaware County, Mr. Hyde was taken sick. Thinking he would be fully restored to health in
few days, he directed that his family proceed to their new home. They concluded the
journey in two days, and took possession of the cabin which Mr. Hyde had erected. the
summer previous. Rebecca then returned to Delaware County for her father, and upon her
arrival she was greeted with the sad tidings that he had died and was buried, His disease
was lung fever, doubtless induced by exposure and excessive labor. John B. at this time
was seventeen years of age. His father had not yet contracted for the land upon which he
built his cabin, and John B., in his own name, in a short time bought 100 acres of land
paying for it $2.25 per acre. In 1837, he married Eliza Davis, and still resides on the
old place, one and some half miles south of Summersville, enjoying the reward of a
well-spent life, and possessing the highest esteem of his large circle of acquaintances.
In politics, he has been Whig and Republican; in religion he is a faithful adherent to the
Methodist Episcopal Church.
Of the seven daughters of Samuel Hyde, six became residents
of York Township. The eldest, Catharine, settled with her husband, Hugh McAdow, in the
adjoining township of Taylor; Eliza had married Elias Johnson; Ellen had married Charles
Bennett; Margaret war, the wife of John Sterling; Mary the wife of John Johnson. As before
mentioned, the other two daughters, Nancy and Rebecca, afterward married pioneers of the
township.
SCHOOLS
In York township there are now eleven school districts and
eleven substantial, well constructed school buildings. The early schools followed closely
the settlements as they were made in different parts of the township. Although there were
no district Schools in the first years of the township supported by public taxation, yet
the townships were divided into districts for the purpose of apportioning among the
different settlements, in proportion to the enumeration of youths, a small school fund
which probably arose from the sale of school lands. In 1834, two districts reported to the
County Clerk; one contained fifty-four children, the other seventy-one. In 1835, a third
district was formed; and in 1836, a fourth, with a total enumeration in the four districts
of 133.
A small log structure with a huge wooden fire-place and clay
chimney at one end, was erected at Summersville soon after the village was platted. It was
used also as a meeting house for some time. John Johnson taught the first school here,
receiving $8 per month.
In 1834, Elias Johnson taught a school in the little cabin
which Samuel Hyde built during the summer of 1832. A schoolhouse was soon after erected on
the farm of Elias Johnson by the pioneers in the vicinity of Summersville. Elias and John
Johnson taught here for a few years, until the schoolhouse burned. One was then built west
of Bokes Creek and one at Summersville.
A. E. Knox was an old and faithful instructor. He taught many
years in different districts of York. Dr. Joshua Skidmore, when a young man, taught here
also. Miss Barber, Miss Roxy Munger and Miss Elizabeth Whittaker were also early teachers.
Miss Penny, from Darby Plains, taught the first School near York Center in a log
schoolhouse which Stood a Short distance north of the Center, on the south bank of Bokes
Creek. John Sterling soon after had a school about two miles north of York Center, on
Levin Wright's farm. Miss Fenner and Mrs. Mary Johnson were among the earliest of
preceptresses of the York Township youth. The latter received for her services $1 per
scholar for the term, payable in corn, potatoes and coon skins, the latter being rated at
25 cents each.
The following is related of the first school in the Miller
settlement: "In 1838, the children in the Miller settlement had so increased as to
raise the question-how shall these children be educated? A young man in their midst was
willing to teach for moderate pay, but there was no schoolhouse. This difficulty was soon
solved. Mr. Joseph Miller generously offered the use of his residence during the usual
school hours of the day. This offer was accepted. The seminary was opened, and morning
after morning during the term Mr. Miller and his aged companion rose early, did up their
morning work, ate their breakfast, arranged the seats for school, and then left the house
and hied their way to their eldest son's residence, and returned again in the evening
after school was dismissed. Thus, day after day was the laborious, self-denying,
monotonous drudgery performed by this aged pair for the benefit of others.
CHURCHES
The York Township Free-Will Baptist Church was organized at
the house of George Coons, June 29, 1839. The discourse was delivered by Elder David
Dudley, and thirteen persons presented themselves, and entered into a church covenant.
They were George Coons, Aaron Shirk, Thomas S. Coons, Jacob Bollenbaugh, Levin Wright,
Keziah Coons, Rosanna Shirk, Rebecca Coons, Sarah Bollenbaugh, Letitia Wright, Elizabeth
Sowthers, Sophrona Scudder and Nancy Thornton. The early meetings were held at the house
of George Coons. Thomas S. Coons was appointed clerk.