Just a quick note that four tombstones from the graveyard of Capt. Michael Koonce have been added to the Jones County, NCGenWeb site. Koonce researcher Claude Thomas Hardison Jr. captured the photos and while he didn’t find headstones for the Captain, he found that of grandson Amos Simmons Koonce (1809-1882).
Headstone of Amos Simmons Koonce (1809-1882)
Not a “wordless post” but this is an interesting picture to share. From time to time I’ll run across Native American Koonce families, though I’ve not taken the time to fully research them. Hat tip to John Paul Koonce who sent me the following picture he found. This picture is Mah-nah-ee & Wah-zush Koonce, both Chippewa Indians. This picture, taken by photographer Frances Densmore, shows them seated in a wigwam at Grand Portage Reservation in Minnesota.
The photo is part of the image collection of the Minnesota Historical Society. More details are available here.
Well there’s a Koonce surname variation I’ve not seen before 
While going through the old college yearbooks of Davidson College in North Carolina and came across the photo of Harry Gordon Goodykoontz, a 1927 graduate of the college.
Harry was from Bluefield, West Virginia and received a Bachelor of Arts in English. His page shows he participated heavily in school activities, including Track. I loved the statement that he has a way of “…dashing through the hearts of those who know him with the strange paradox of at the same time staying there.”
Harry was born December 13, 1906 and passed away June 20, 1998 [1]. His obituary states that he was a native of Roanoke, Virginia and was a Professor of Christian Education at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary for 25 years. Harry was an author as well.
He was the son of John F. & Nellie K. Goodykoontz. John worked as a Train Master for the railroad according to the family’s 1920 Bluefield, West Virginia census record [2]. I haven’t done any investigation, but perhaps Harry is part of the Goodykoontz lineage descended from a “Gutenkunst” of Germany. Interesting for sure! Maybe at some point in the future I’ll explore the Goodykoontz family further.
Update: connect with Ancestry user PRICE1073 if you’re researching this family.
[1] Social Security Death Index provided by GenealogyBank.com
[2] 1920 US Census. District 79, Bluefield, Mercer County, West Virginia. (Link access requires subscription).
This is an example of a tombstone gone wrong. The tombstone of William C. Koonce (1838- 1901) of Henry County, Alabama has his death date as July 31, 1901.
Headstone of William C. Koonce. Photo by Find-A-Grave contributor, Don Atwell.
However, William’s obituary was printed in the Macon Telegraph newspaper on July 31, 1901 and the story reporting his death was dated as July 20th. The story reported that he died that same day. Thus, he died July 20th and not on the 31st.
My husband’s family is from Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana and from time to time I come across a mention of Koonce families in records there. This past weekend, while researching a Koonce family lineage of Henderson County,Kentucky, I finally made the connection in my database to who the Koonce families of Evansville were.
This photo is of Sgt. George Small Koonce (1889-1918) who died in World War I. This picture comes from his biographical sketch in the book, Sons of Men, Evansville’s War Record. George was the son of Joseph Lane Koonce (1853-1926) & Idella Ann Thrash Koonce (1864-1927).
Researcher Allen Wheatley has taken hundreds of cemetery pictures and shares them on his personal website at http://teafor2.com/.
One of the cemeteries he’s photographed is Mt. Olivet in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas. There are several Koonce family members buried in the cemetery and I now know how they are all connected. Just these past few months I’ve been corresponding with one of the descendants of Rufus Argyle Koonce (1887-1952) the patriarch of one family branch buried in the cemetery.
Headstone: Rufus Argyle Koonce
There is another cluster of Koonce’s buried in the cemetery though too – family members of Wayland Hoyt Koonce (1891-1982).
Headstone: Wayland Hoyt Koonce
Given the two families, I would have thought they were closely related. Turns out, Wayland & Rufus were quite distant cousins; Wayland was Rufus’ 3rd cousin once removed. Their common ancestors are George Koonce & Susannah “Letty” Franks of Craven County, NC. I wonder if Rufus & Wayland knew each other?
Very early on in my Koonce project, I began searching the full-text newspaper resource of the Library of Congress, their Chronicling America collection. One of the hits that I would often get was to a cafe in Washington D.C. called Delmo Koonce Cafe. I was not able to learn more about the cafe however, but occasionally, I’ll revisit it and see if I can learn more. This last time I searched, I found some new information!
I learned from another newspaper blurb that the cafe was owned by J.S. Koonce. Since the advertisements I’ve seen have been in a black newspaper, the Colored American, I figured that the cafe was for blacks. This is the article I found from 1900 that names the owner.
“Untitled.” Colored American [Washington, D.C.] 9 June 1900: 2. Library of Congress: Chronicling America. Web. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83027091/1900-06-09/ed-1/seq-2/>
I did another Google search for Delmo Cafe and this time I got a new hit. My very own alma mater, Emory University, has an online collection called the Emory Women Writers Resource Project. In that collection, I found online a brochure from a convention held by the National Federation of Afro-American Women in June 1896. The brochure has an advertisement from the Delmo Cafe and I was able to learn more about them.
1896 Brochure of the NFAAM Convention. Emory Women Writers Resource Project. http://is.gd/5muGm
Information in the brochure states that the cafe was operated by J.S. & L.L. Koonce and they offered baked goods. The shop was located at 1905 7th St., N.W. Not surprisingly, this is just down the street from the historically black school, Howard University.
I also found another newspaper mention of them looking for a colored ice cream maker. The address now, in 1900, is now at 1606 M. St. NW, which is now much further away from Howard.
“Untitled.” Colored American [Washington, D.C.] 5 June 1900: 2. Library of Congress: Chronicling America. Web. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85054468/1900-06-05/ed-1/seq-7/>
Armed with the name & the location at two different points in time, I then set off to search the census records. Lo & behold, look who I find in the 1900 census of Washington, D.C. residing at 1606 M . St. NW!
1900 US Census, Washington D.C., District 40, Page 7
26 year-old Jessie S. Koonce, born in November 1873 and his 18 year-old niece Estale who was born in January 1882. Both were born in Alabama with Jessie enumerated as “Confectioner” and Estale enumerated as “Waitress.” This is great! I wonder if I’ll be able to find out even more about them. Is there a connection with the Koonce families that I already know about in Alabama? Only time will tell.
Yesterday, I learned from a fellow family history researcher of the passing of Tunisia Koonce.
Prior to yesterday, I did not know how Tunisia connected into the Koonce line, but with the news of her passing, I did explore it further. Tunisia Abdullah Koonce died Wednesday, October 7, 2009 of breast cancer. She was only 38 years old and leaves to mourn husband George Koonce, daughter Jayla and son George 3rd.
This is a picture of the family that I found on a webpage she’d dedicated to her husband back in 2007.
When I learned who her husband was, I realized that I knew him! Well, now *knew*, but a few months ago, upon learning about George I’d tried to contact him. George is a former football player and now is Director of Athletics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaulkee, but I never heard back from him. I would later learn that at the time I sent my email, he was in the process of transferring to his current position, so it is possible he never received it.
George’s ancestry also goes back to Jones County, North Carolina like my own Koonce family. He is the grandson of Sudie Koonce (1912-2008), a native of Pollocksville, NC and the son of George Earl Koonce Sr. I do not know who Sudie’s parents are at this point but I will further this research over the next few weeks. My thoughts are with the family during these sorrowful times.
(oops! Looks like the theme is actually Black Sheep Sunday, not Monday! I’ll get it right next time.)
Have you ever been pardoned by the President? Phillip O. Koonce was
Washington, Nov. 3 – The President today granted pardons to three prisoners and refused them in the cases of two others convicted of violating the Federal statutes. The fortunate others are: Belle Freeland, convicted of counterfeiting in Illinois and sentenced in March last to three years imprisonment in Joilet penitentiary; Clarence Woodruff, convicted in the District of Columbia of assault and sentenced in March last to 304? das in jail, and P.O. Koonce, convicted in Idaho of embezzling a letter from the United States mail and sentenced to twelve months in the Boise penitentiary. Woodruff was pardoned because subsequent evidence <…> his offense, and Koonce because he is a very young man and was made the tool of an older man. In endorsing Belle Freeland’s application for pardon and denying that of her husband, S.J. Freeland, convicted of the same offensee and given a similar sentence, the President says:
Granted as to Belle Freeland. On the facts presented in this case I am not clear that these convicts should be pardoned on the merits, but aside from any other consideration, I have determined to pardon Belle Freeland, the wife and mother, on account of the child born to her in prison and now less than three months old.
Source: “Pardoned by the President.” The Sun [New York, NY] 4 Nov. 1894. Chronicling America. Web. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1894-11-04/ed-1/seq-4/>
Phillip would have been about 20 years old at this time. He was the son of Kehlin S. Koonce, born around 1842 in North Carolina. I have yet not been able to determine who Kehlin’s parents were. The family lived in Surry County, NC in 1880 and migrated to Idaho to Blaine, Camas & Washington counties.
In my last post about Jeffrey Wayne Koonce, I pondered the question of trying to figure out which white families his family may have been associated. Jeffrey’s ancestors, Henry Koonce & Elizabeth Ellis were from Alabama and migrated to Malone, Jackson County, Florida. I knew there some white Koonce families near there in Alabama and I’ve revisited my database to figure out whom.
This is a map of the area which I’m about to discuss:
John Fordham Koonce (1801-1859) was a pioneer of Henry County, Alabama having moved there in 1819. He and wife Susan (from Georgia) would have 8 children and become established citizens in the community. Their sons Jefferson S. Koonce & William C. Koonce became rather prominent as well. William in fact was a druggist up in Abbeville (see it at the top of the map?).
I checked the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules for Henry County. In 1850, John F. Koonce owned 24 slaves and Thomas Battle Koonce , his 3rd cousin, owned 33 slaves. In 1860, I only found Thomas with the slaves. When I checked black families in the area in 1870 and 1880, I saw many that were born in Georgia. This is not surprising given that Susan’s family was from Georgia.
The descendants of John Fordham Koonce, as well as their likely former slave families, then spread out to Cottonwood, Cowarts, Gordon, & Columbia, Alabama.
I’ve not found a specific association yet, but Jeffrey Wayne’s ancestors were in Jackson County by 1900, near the Malone area later on in the early 1900s. Also, Henry & Elizabeth had a son named Jefferson Koonce, also – same as the family who lived around 30-45 miles away. I am beginning to think there may be some association here.
Additionally, a niece of Jeffrey’s has informed me that their oral history passed down through the generations states that their ancestor Henry was actually white. In the 1900 and 1910 census, he is enumerated as black and mulatto respectively. She sent me a picture of Henry’s son Sidney (Jeffrey’s grandfather) and you can definitely tell that Sidney is of mixed heritage. She also informed me that the family tradition states that at some point, Henry changed the spelling of his name from Koontz to Koonce.
All of this provides more research clues, so more to come as I have time.
