Coon, Reuben

Born: 1821-07-22 New Jersey

Died: 1871-11-07 Springfield, Illinois

Reuben Coon was a leather merchant and a boot and shoe manufacturer. Coon married Sarah Lewis in Springfield, Illinois, and they had eight children. In 1850, he was a shoemaker and owned $2,000 in real property. In 1852, Coon was a stockholder in the Mechanics and Farmers Bank in Springfield, Illinois. By 1860, Coon owned personal property worth $5,000 and real estate worth $2,000. Coon's custom-made shoe business employed about eighty men.

Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 29 May 29 1845, 3:1; John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 454; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Springfield, Sangamon County, IL, 111; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), October 30, 1852, 3:2; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Springfield, Sangamon County, IL, 233; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Sangamon County (Chicago: Munsell, 1912), 2:1057.