The 1880 census shows Edmond G. Coonrod, aged 48, living in
Christian County with his wife Nancy, aged 42 and 4 children: son Edmond D. aged
18, son Orson P. aged 14, daughter Rina B. aged 12 and daughter Mary aged 7.
Everyone in the family were born in Illinois. In 1900 the census shows him and
his wife still living in Assumption. No children lived at home.
The following excerpt is from the Historical Encyclopedia of
Illinois and the History of Christian County, Batemen publishers, 1918, Vol. 2.
COONROD, Edmond G.,
a retired farmer of Assumption Township, who formerly was one of the
most active farmers of Christian County, was born in Greene County, Ill.,
September 5,1832, a son of Stephen and Candace (Lee) Coonrod, natives of
Kentucky and North Carolina, respectively, who were married in Kentucky in 1819,
and then came overland to Illinois.
They settled in Wayne County, where they
were farming for a time, all of that section then being in a wild state. Later
they moved to Greene, where conditions were much the same.
Mr. Coonrod took up
government land, built a log house and improved 160 acres, doing all the
clearing work with ox teams. There he died in the seventies aged seventy-five
years. His wife survived him until 1882, when she died at the age of eighty
years.
In politics Stephen Coonrod was a Democrat. For many years he was a
Baptist minister, preaching on Sundays and farming during the week. There were
ten children born to him and his wife, all of whom grew to maturity.
Growing up in his native county, Edmund G. Coonrod attended the
little log schoolhouse, now historic, and learned farming from his father. When
he was twenty-five years old he came to Christian County, and took up eighty
acres of land in Prairieton Township from the government in 1855, to which he
added by purchase from time to time until he had 320 acres and remained on this
farm until 1893, when he retired to Assumption, build a fine home, in which he
has since resided.
A Democrat, he has served as township supervisor, highway
commissioner, school director and trustee, and has taken an active and
intelligent part in the development of the county. The Baptist Church has in him
a faithful member.
On February 7, 1861, Mr. Coonrod was married to Miss Nancy
Doyle, a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Coates) Doyle, natives of Kentucky, who
came to Greene County, Ill., taking up government land and there dying.
Mrs. Coonrod was born in Greene County, Ill., March 3,1837. Mr. and Mrs. Coonrod
became the parents of the following children:
Edmund D., who died in 1910,
married May Reading, had two children, Rena and Russell, both dead;
Orson P.,
who died in 1911, married Maud Long, had three children,
Hollis, who married
Josephine Robinson,
Helen and Leonore;
Rena, who died aged thirty-eight years,
married Albert L. Moore, had two children, Lillian, who married Lloyd Moore, has
one son, Albert L., and Lena, who married Carl Simcash, had three children
Marion, Virginia and Lillian;
Annetta who died aged two years;
and Mary, who
married George Lovering, who is deceased. They had two children, Glenn and
Clara.
A man of sound ideas and sterling Character, Mr. Coonrod is highly
respected in his community, and advice is often sought in matters of importance.
In a different section of the book is an article on Orson P. Coonrod. I apologize for not copying the whole article, only copied a page for
reference if I want to follow up later. Some information on the page I copied
says he was the son of Edmund G. Coonrod who is the son of Stephen Coonrod, who
was of German descent.
