KOONS, William

KOONS, TOMLINSON, DAVIS, RETALLICK, PRINGLE

Posted By: Nettie Mae
Date: 1/19/2003 at 01:20:12

Source: "The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated" published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.

WILLIAM KOONS

For many years prominently associated with the industrial interests of Clinton, William Koons, now deceased, long maintained honorable connection with the business affairs of the city and was held in high regard for his fidelity to duty in both public and private life. The history of such a man should serve as an example and incentive to the young and “fire modest worth to nobler ends.” Self-educated and self-made, he owed his progress and advancement entirely to his own strength of character, his indefatigable energy and his strong determination.

Mr. Koons was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, January 20, 1820, and during his boyhood received but a meager education in the public schools of his native state, as it was necessary for him to earn his own living at an early age. He learned the carpenter’s trade, and throughout his business career was connected with building interests. He remained in the east until 1845, and then removed from Lockport, new York, to Clinton, where he was first employed at carpenter work by the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company. Soon, however, he began contracting and building on his own account, and many of the substantial structures of the city stand as monuments to his enterprise, skill and ability, Success attended his efforts and he acquired a handsome competence, which was the merited reward of his earnest and indefatigable labor.

In his early manhood Mr. Koons married Miss Ann Tomlinson, who died many years ago, leaving two children. George B., the elder, is now a resident of California. He is an engineer by trade and now occupies a position as foreman of the dry docks in the city which he makes his home. When eighteen years of age he enlisted in the Civil war as a drummer boy with an Iowa regiment, and remained at the front until the cessation of hostilities. Sarah, a daughter of the first marriage, is the wife of P. Davis, of Clinton. After the death of his first wife Mr. Koons married Miss Phillippi Retallick, who was born in County Cornwall, England, in 1830, and came to this country when fifteen years of age with her parents, who located in Lockport, New York, in which state her father and mother spent their remaining days. Mrs. Koons was educated in England, and formed the acquaintance of her husband in Lockport, where their marriage was celebrated. They became the parents of three children: Nellie, who graduated with the second class that ever completed the high school course in Clinton, and is now the wife of John Pringle, of Rochelle, Illinois; Charles W., who is mentioned elsewhere; and Frank, who is also living in Clinton.

Mr. Koons never took an active part in political affairs, but devoted his time and attention to his business interests, in which he met with gratifying success. He came to Clinton during the primitive period in its development, and was a prominent factor in its improvement and upbuilding, his labors proving of benefit to the city as well as contributing to his own prosperity. He was strictly just and honorable in all business dealings, and enjoyed the unqualified confidence of the public. As his financial resources increased he made judicious investments in real estate, and was the owner of considerable property, thus leaving his widow in very comfortable circumstances. He passed away in 1889, after forty-four years’ residence in Clinton, and throughout the community his loss was deeply felt, for he was widely recognized as a man, citizen, friend, husband and father of sterling worth.