of age went to Ypsilanti, Michigan, with her parents, there residing until her marriage. She is a daughter of William S. and Lucy G. (Davis) Hinchey, who were natives of Saratoga county, New York, and spent their last days in Ypsilanti. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Coon were born five children : Louise A., who is the widow of Lemuel Walters and resides in South Dakota; Elizabeth, the wife of Alvin Van Campen, of Rochester, Minnesota; Mary E., the wife of John Hoover, of Ames; Jennie C., the wife of Seward Mabie, also of Ames; and William P., who is living in Franklin township.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Coon yet enjoy good health and are remarkably active for people of their age. Mr. Coon seems to possess the vigor of a man twenty years younger and still works about the farm although he has passed the eighty-first milestone on life's journey. His wife, too, is splendidly preserved and does her own housework. They are numbered among the worthy pioneer settlers of the county and all who know them are glad to call them friend. Mr. Coon is familiar with the pioneer history of this part of the state and shared in all of the experiences of frontier life. After locating here he killed three wolves, two foxes and one deer within the county and on one morning he caught fifty-six prairie chickens in a trap. In 1877 he caught a pike that weighed twenty-two pounds in a dip net in Skunk river near his home, this being the largest ever caught in this section of the state. It was four and a half feet long and might well be a matter of pride to any fisherman. In his farming operations Mr. Coon displayed an enterprising, progressive spirit and as the years have passed by he has enjoyed substantial success, supplying him with the comforts of life.
W. P. COON.
W. P. Coon, the youngest of the five children of J. J. and Mary Coon, was born in Franklin township, Story county, April 22, 1867. Throughout his entire life he has lived in this township and since attaining his majority has given his attention to general farming. He is today busily engaged in the cultivation of a tract of land of one hundred and thirty-one acres on section 22, whereon he has resided for fifteen years. It is known as the Riverside farm and is a fine property, well improved. He makes a specialty of raising seed corn and is also extensively engaged in the raising of pigeons, selling about two thousand annually to the Des Moines market. He finds this a profitable industry and takes excellent care of the birds, so that good results are obtained.
In 1892 W. P. Coon was married to Miss Nannie Miller, a native of this county and a daughter of R. J. Miller. They had two children : Ernest and Theodore. In 1907 Mr. Coon was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Grace Underhill, a native of Michigan and a daughter of