Joshua B. Coon
Joshua B. Coon, who is engaged in a wood and feed business, on the corner of Market street and Washington avenue, Lima, and is also the owner of a fine farm of 120 acres, situated in Shawnee township, belongs to a family which was established in America before the War of the Revolution. Mr. Coon was born January 23, 1842, on his father's farm in Allen County, Ohio, and is the eldest son of Wesley and Mary (Flynn) Coon.
George Coon, the grandfather of Joshua B., was born in 1783 in the State of Pennsylvania. After reaching his majority he went first to Kentucky and then to Belmont County, Ohio, still later to Logan County, and in 1832, to Allen County. He was a pioneer here, a man of prominence is his day, and when he died in 1873 he left numerous descendants. Wesley Coon, the father of Joshua B., was born in Belmont County, Ohio, in 1807, and there he was reared, under pioneer conditions, and obtained his education in the primitive schools of that locality. In 1832 he settled permanently in Allen County entering 80 acres of land in section 4, Shawnee Township, and there his life was passed, his death occurring in 1866. He was twice married first to Mary Flynn who died in 1856, leaving five children, and second, to Caroline Craft, who had three children.
Joshua B. Coon remained on the home farm until the outbreak of the Civil War. He was one of the first in his locality to think of leaving all personal interests behind to serve his country in her hour of peril. In 1861 he enlisted in Company E. 46th Reg., Ohio Volunteers Infantry; he wore the Union blue through three years and nine months of danger and exposure and , when his services were no longer needed, was honorably discharged. He participated in many of the most serious battles of the great struggle and can speak with pride and knowledge of Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta. Well he remembers the long march through Georgia to the sea and the later triumphal return to Washington where the tattered battle-flags and the old worn-out uniforms testified to the dangers passed, and where the country sought to show, by honors and enthusiasm, a portion of the gratitude it felt toward its brave and loyal defenders.
Upon his return from the army, Mr. Coon purchased his farm in section 5, Shawnee Township, on which he resided, carrying on extensive farming and dairying, until 1899, when he moved to Lima, with the intention of living retired. A few years of inactivity sufficed, and in 1903, he engaged in his present business, opening a wood yard and a feed mill, and demonstrating that he still retains much of his old-time energy and business capacity.
In 1866 Mr. Coon was married to Mary B. Buckley, who is a daughter of William and Eliza Buckley. The father of Mrs. Coon came to Allen County after the Civil War, in which he had been a soldier, serving three years as a member of the 18th Regiment, Michigan, Vol. Inf. He conducted a grocery business for some years on the Auglaize River. He survived until 1901, dying at the age of 92 years. Mr. and Mrs. Coon have three surviving children, viz: Charles, Mary A. and Virgil N. Charles Coon married Maud McClure, a daughter of John McClure, a farmer of Shawnee township, who served through the Civil War as a member of the 99th Regiment, Ohio Vol. Inf. Charles Coon and wife have two sons, Carl and Ralph. Mary A. Coon married R. D. Crites, who is a prominent farmer of Amanda Township and a son of Isaac Crites, one of the pioneers of Allen County. Mr. and Mrs. Crites have these children: Winnifred, Ruth, Harriet, Pauline, Clayton and Robert. Virgil N. Coon Married Edith Judy, who is a daughter of Clay Judy, a well-known paper-hanger, of Lima. They have two children Roy and Herbert. Mr. and Mrs. Coon are members of the Congregational Church, of which he is a deacon and a member of the board of trustees. Politically he is a Republican, but has never been willing to accept offices of a public character. He belongs to Mart Armstrong Post, No 202, G. A. R.
From History of Allen County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, Part 1, Edited & Compiled by Charles C. Miller, Ph. D.; Richmond & Arnold, Publishers, Chicago, 1906