the parents of six children : Rensselaer, Elizabeth, J. J., Sarah Jane, Samuel and Louisa, but only the subject of this review is now living.
When six or eight years of age J. J. Coon accompanied his parents on their removal to Rochester, New York, and remained a resident of Monroe county until twenty-four years of age. He was with his parents until about seventeen years of age, when he learned the carpenter's trade and started out in business for himself. He then went to Michigan, where he spent one year working at his trade, and in 1856 he came to Story county, Iowa, casting in his lot with the early settlers who were seeking to reclaim a wild and unimproved region for the purposes of civilization. He built the first sawmill of the county and the dam for T. R. Hughes on Skunk river and afterward worked at the carpenter's trade in the employ of others for two years. He then returned to Michigan and was married, after which he brought his wife to Story county. They were fourteen days in making the trip from Iowa City with three ox teams, for the mud was so deep that they could make but little progress. Mr. Coon secured one hundred and ninety-six acres of land, a mile and a half northeast of Gilbert, and in exchange gave one hundred and ninety-six days' work at his trade to T. R. Hughes, its former owner. The land was on the prairie about three miles from any other habitation, so Mr. Hughes felt that he could not live there. Mr. Coon, therefore, made the exchange and also paid one hundred and fifty dollars for his present eighty-acre farm on which he has resided continuously since 1860. He afterward purchased an additional tract of twenty acres and now has a valuable property of one hundred acres on section 23, Franklin township. He has lived continuously in this county since 1856 and is one of its best known and most honored pioneers. At the time of his arrival only one house stood on the present site of Ames. He attended the celebration held by the college when they were plastering the first of its main buildings. The occasion was made a most festive one for all countryside, and Mr. Coon speaks with pleasure of his enjoyment on that day. He has seen the building of the towns of College and Ames and witnessed all of the changes which have occurred. In the early days Iowa City was the nearest railroad point and that was one hundred and forty miles away. The common subject of conversation in pioneer times was introduced with the question, "How did you cross the slough and which way is the best to take ?" Nevada was the postoffice and trading point until the railroad was built to Ames. Mr. Coon managed to get his mail once a week by taking turns with the neighbors in going to the postoffice. There were many hardships and trials to be borne in the early period of development in Story county, yet there were many pleasures to be enjoyed, for the pioneers were hospitable people, whose homes were ever open for the reception of friends and neighbors.
On the 21st of January, 1858, Mr. Coon completed his arrangements for having a home of his own by his marriage to Miss Mary J. Hinchey, who was born in Rochester, New York, June 4, 1838, and when sixteen years