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THE FOLLOWING IS COPIED FROM THE SHERIDAN COUNTY STAR, THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1977 ON PAGE 4: COON HISTORY HENRY JACKSON COON WAS BORN AT PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, WICONSIN, BUT LATER MOVED WITH HIS PARENTS, BROTHERS, AND SISTERS TO CORRECTIONVILLE, IOWA, WHERE HE GREW TO MANHOOD. JACK COON, (AS HE WAS KNOWN BY HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS), IN THE SPRING OF 1883, ACCOMPANIED BY A COUSIN, LEFT IOWA HOPINGTO FIND A NEW LOCATION WHERE HE COULD ACQUIRE SOME LAND OF HIS OWN. IOWA LAND WAS AWFULLY HIGH IN PRICE AND HARD TO COME BY. THEY CAME THROUGH THE DAKOTA`SON INTO WESTERN NEBRASKA, WHERE LOTS OF LAND COULD STILL BE HOMESTEADED. HE DECIDED THIS WAS WHERE HE WANTED TO LOCATE. HE LATER RETURNED TO IOWA, AND IN THESPRING OF 1884, LOADED A BOXCAR, AND WITH HIS PARENTS, HIS YOUNGEST BROTHER ANDA SISTER, CAME TO VALENTINE, NEBRASKA, WHICH WAS AS FAR AS THE RAILROAD HAD BEEN BUILT. THEY UNLOADED THERE, AND CAME ON THE REST OF THE WAY BY TEAM AND WAGON.IT WAS HERE IN NEBRASKA, THAT JACK COON FILED ON LAND IN THE WOUNDED KNEE PRECINCT, AND HIS FATHER, ABRAHAM COON, TOOK A HOMESTEAD FURTHER SOUTH, CLOSER TOWHERE THE TOWN OF GORDON WAS ESTABLISHED. ABRAHAM COON WAS A VETERINARIAN INIOWA, AND SOON TOOK UP HIS WORK HERE. JACK, AT THAT TIME, ASSISTED IN THE CARE OF THE LIVESTOCK UNTIL HIS FATHER`S DEATH. HIS FATHER WAS BURIED IN THE FIRST CEMETERY IN THE SMALL SETTLEMENT OF GORDON, BUT AS THE TOWN GREW, AND MORE ROOM WAS NEEDED, THE CEMETERY WAS THEN MOVED TO ITS PRESENT LOCATION. THE OLDER GRAVESWERE DUG UP AND MOVED TO THE NEW PLOTS. AFTER HIS FATHER`S DEATH, JACK NEVERDID ANY MORE DOCTORING OF LIVESTOCK. SINCE IT WAS HIS FATHER`S WISH THAT NONE OFHIS SONS FOLLOW IN HIS WORK. HE SEEMED TO THINK HIS SICKESS HAD SOMETHING TO DOWITH A KIND OF POISONING HE ACQUIRED FROM THE STOCK. JACK OBEYED HIS FATHER`S WISHES BUT KEPT THE OLD MEDICINE CASE WHICH IS STILL IN THE FAMILY. TIMES WEREHARD AND WORK WAS SCARCE, AND HEARING BUFFALO BILL WAS IN RUSHVILLE, NEBRASKA,JACK RODE THERE HOPING TO GET A JOB FROM HIM. INSTEAD HE SIGNED UP AS A SCOUT FOR GENERAL MILES DURING THE BATTLE OF WOUNDED KNEE, WHICH ENDED DECEMBER 29, 1890. DURING THIS TIME, THE SETTLERS WERE AFRAID OF ATTACK,SO THEY BUILT A FORT ON ONE OF THE NENDEL`S PLACES WHICH WAS CALLED FORT NENDEL. (NEENDLE), WHERE MISSANNA DORTON, JACK`S WIFE TO BE, WITH MANY OTHER SETTLERS, STAYED AT NIGHT DURING THE INDIAN SCARE. ONE EVENING ABOUT DUSK, THE PEOPLE AT THE FORT RECEIVED QUITE A FRIGHT WHEN THEY HEARD HORSES COMING. THINKING FOR SURE IT WAS INDIANS, THEY GOT READY FOR AN ATTACK, WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE A BUNCH OF HORSES DRIVEN BYA COUPLE OF STRANGERS. THAT DECEMBER 29, 1890 HAD BEEN A REAL NICE DAY BUT BY NIGHT FALL, IT HAD CHANGED VERY RAPIDLY TO SNOW AND HIGH WINDS, WHICH RESULTED INA THREE DAY BLIZZARD. LATER WHEN THINGS HAD SETTLED DOWN, ON FEBRUARY 16,1891, JACK COON WAS UNITED IN MARRIAGE TO ANNA F. DORTON, WHO WITH HER PARENTS, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, CAME TO NEBRASKA IN THE SPRING OF 1885 FROM LAMARS, IOWA. THEY CAME IN COVERED WAGONS, AND WERE ON THE ROAD BETTER THAN A MONTH. IT WAS A LONG AND DIFFICULT JOURNEY SINCE THEY HAD TO BRING ALL THEIR LIVESTOCK AND MACHINERY WITH THEM. THEY ALL SEEMED TO HAVE ONE THOUGHT IN MIND, TO GET WHERE THEY COULD FIND WOOD TO BURN. THE DORTON`S SETTLED IN THE WOLF CREEK VICINITY. WHILE JACK AND ANNA MADE PREPARATIONS FOR THEIR WEDDING, THE DORTON BOYS, ANNA`S BROTHERS, PUT UP A LOG BUILDING FOR THE WEDDING DANCE. MANY FRIENDS IN THE AREA ATTENDED THE DANCE. FIFTY YEARS LATER, WHEN JACK AND ANNA CELEBRATED THEIR GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY, MANY OF THOSE SAME FRIENDS WHO HAD MOVED AWAY, CAME BACK TOCELEBRATE WITH THEM AND ENJOY THE FIFTEEN TURKEYS WHICH HAD BEEN PREPARED FOR THAT DINNER. SINCE THERE WAS NO MEANS OF GETTING MAIL TO THAT AREA, JOHN DORTON, ANNA`S FATHER, WAS THE FIRST TO APPLY AND GET A POST OFFICE ESTABLISHED THERE,CALLED APPLETON. ANNA SERVED AS ASSISTANT POST MISTRESS, AND ALSO TAUGHT SCHOOLUP UNTIL THE TIME SHE WAS MARRIED. THEY THEN LIVED ON JACK`S ORIGINAL HOMESTEAD FOR SEVERAL YEARS. THEIR FIRST THREE CHILDREN WERE BORN THERE. THIS WAS ALSOWHERE THEIR FIRST SON, AFTER A LONG ILLNESS DIED. JACK HAD BORROWED MONEY ON THE PLACE TO PAY DOCTOR AND FUNERAL BILLS AND AS A RESULT, LATER LOST HIS HOMESTEAD. IT WAS ABOUT THE SAME TIME THAT THIS COUNTRY WAS HAVING ONE OF ITS WORST DROUGHTS, AND LOTS OF THE SETTLERS WERE LEAVING. MANY IN THE WOLF CREEK AND WOUNDED KNEE AREA WERE JOINING WAGON TRAINS FOR OREGON. ANNA`S FOLKS, THE DORTON`S, NEENDLES, OSBORNS AND MANY MORE WERE AMONG THOSE WHO LEFT. SOME SOLD OUT FOR A VERY SMALL AMOUNT AND OTHERS JUST LEFT. JACK HAD THE OPPORTUNITY AT THAT TIME TO PURCHASE A FARM FROM ANNA`S BROTHER-IN-LAW JEAN OSBORN, (EUGENE OSBORN), WHICHHE DID FOR THE PRICE OF THREE CALVES AND A PAIR OF BOOTS. IT WAS ON THIS FARM,LOCATED THIRTEEN MILES NORTH AND WEST OF GORDON, THAT MR. AND MRS. COON RAISED ALARGE FAMILY. THERE WERE FIVE BOYS AND FIVE GIRLS: CLARENCE COON, DECEASED 1895, BLANCHE TAUSON DECEASED 1938, ELLA TAYLOR, RAYMOND COON DECEASED 1971, ELVA PARKER NELSON, OLIVER COON, LULU SPINDLER, OSCAR COON, EUNICE PARK DECEASED 1965 AND HENRY COON. THE HOME ON THE FARM WAS THE ONLY FRAME HOUSE AT THAT TIME INTHAT AREA. THERE WAS ALSO A LOG HOUSE ON THE PREMISES, WHICH WAS JEAN OSBORN`S FIRST HOMESTEAD HOUSE. THIS WAS USED FOR STORAGE. JACK ALWAYS DID A LITTLE FARMING, WHICH AT FIRST WAS DONE WITH OXEN. JACK USED TO TELL OF ONE INCIDENT WHENHE WAS IN THE FIELD WITH HIS OXEN. THE SCHOOL TEACHER WAS RETURNING HOME FROM SCHOOL, WALKING ALONG SWINGING THE SHINING LARD PAIL, THAT WAS SOMETIMES USED TO CARRY THE LUNCH. SUDDENLY THE OXEN SAW THIS, BECAME FRIGHTENED, AND WITH THEIR TAILS STRAIGHT IN THE AIR, PROCEEDED TO TEAR OUT THE FENCES AND CORRALS AS THEY MADE THEIR WAY BACK TOWARDS THE HOUSE. JACK LATER FARMED WITH A TEAM OF HORSES.HE RAISED A LARGE GARDEN, CORN AND A LITTLE WHEAT. HE ALWAYS LOADED THE WHEAT IN THE WAGON AND WITH HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN, DROVE TO AN OLD GRIST MILL ABOUT TENMILES SOUTH OF RUSHVILLE. IT TOOK TWO GOOD DAYS TO MAKE THE TRIP, WHICH WAS SORT OF AN OUTING FOR THE FAMILY. WHEN THERE WERE SUCH LARGE FAMILIES AND SMALLHOMES, THERE WAS LOTS OF SICKNESS. ONE WINTER, THE CHILDREN ALL HAD SCARLET FEVER, AND JUST WHEN THE LAW TOOK DOWN THE QUARANTINE SIGN, SOME OF THE CHILDREN CAME DOWN WITH DIPHTHERIA, WHICH RESULTED IN THE LITTLE RED SIGN BEING TACKED BACKUP FOR THE REST OF THE WINTER. THERE WERE ALSO HAPPY TIMES THROUGHOUT THE COMMUNITY. MR. AND MRS. COON WERE VERY DEVOTED TO THEIR FAMILY AND THEY WOULD TRYTO PLAN ALL THEIR ACTIVITIES AROUND THEIR CHILDREN. THIS INCLUDED SUCH THINGS ASPICNICS WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS IN THE SUMMER, AND SLEIGH RIDING DOWN THE NEARBY HILLS IN THE WINTER. ALSO, SINCE EVERYONE HAD TO MAKE THEIR OWN AMUSEMENT,THEY WOULD SEND A RIDER TO THE VARIOUS HOMES TELLING OF A PARTY OR DANCE BEING HELD AT A CERTAIN PLACE AND ALL WERE WELCOME. ANOTHER BIG EVENT WHICH PEOPLE WENT TO OBSERVE WAS THE ISSUING OF BEEF ON THE HOOF TO THE INDIANS. IT WAS EXCITING AND YET SOMEWHAT DANGEROUS WHEN THE MEN AT THE GATES CALLED OUT THE INDIAN`SNAME AND TURNED HIS LONG HORN TEXAS STEER LOOSE. THIS WAS DONE ONE RIGHT AFTERTHE OTHER WHICH RESULTED IN A LOT OF SHOOTING GOING ON. JACK COON WAS ALSO VERY INTERESTED IN COMMUNITY AFFAIRS.HE SERVED ON THE SCHOOL BOARD, WAS COUNTY ASSESSOR MANY YEARS, AND HELPED TO BUILD MANY OF THE ROADS, WITH JUST TEAMS AND SCRAPERS. SINCE THERE WAS NO CHURCH IN THE VICINITY, JACK CALLED IN NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS TO HELP BUILD ONE. THEY ALL PITCHED IN AND SOON HAD A SMALL SOD CHURCH BUILT, WHICH WAS CALLED THE BETHANY CHURCH AND CEMETERY, THE CEMETERY IS STILL THERE AND HAS MANY GRAVES IN IT BUT THE CHURCH HAS BEEN GONE FOR MANY YEARS. ITWAS IN THIS SAME SMALL CHURCH THAT JOHN DORTON GAVE VOCAL LESSONS TO PEOPLE OF THE COMMUNITY. THE PASTOR OF THE CHURCH AT THAT TIME, WAS PREACHER HARRIS, WHO WAS ALSO A HOMESTEADER OF THE AREA. AFTER GOING THROUGH HAIL STORMS AND BLIZZARDS, SUCH AS THE BLIZZARD OF 1888, WHICH ALL THE OLD TIMERS TALKED ABOUT, THE COUNTRY THEN TURNED INTO A DUST BOWL AND THE GRASSHOPPERS CAME. BECAUSE OF ALL THIS, MANY PEOPLE LEFT BUT THE COON`S STAYED ON AND OF COURSE LATER THE RAINS CAME AND THERE WERE BETTER TIMES AGAIN FOR A WHILE. JACK FARMED ALL HIS LIFE ONTHAT SAME FARM HE HAD PURCHASED FROM GENE OSBORN, AND ONE OF HIS SONS STILL OWNSTHE FARM. IN SPITE OF ALL THE HARDSHIPS, HAIL, BILZZARDS AND DROUGHTS, JACKSAID HE HAD EIGHTY YEARS OF A VERY GOOD LIFE BEFORE HE PASSED AWAY IN THE YEAR 1943. HIS WIFE ANNA LIVED TO TO CELEBRATE HER NINETIETH BIRTHDAY. SHE ALSO MADE THE REMARK SHE HAD LIVED A LONG TIME, FROM THE TIME OF THE COVERED WAGON TO THE DAYS OF MEN IN SPACE. SHE PASSED AWAY IN 1965.
Seán
Sloane Johnson
