Archibald Coon and Margaret Rea

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Husband Archibald Coon ¹

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            AKA: [Unk] Coon,2 Archibald Kuhn 3 4 5
           Born: 28 Aug 1771 - Derry Twp, Cumberland (later Mifflin) Co, PA 3 4 5
     Christened: 
           Died: 13 Dec or 17 Dec 1831 - Plum Twp, Allegheny Co, PA 4 6
         Buried: 

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         Father: Michael Kuhn (1747-1820) 3 5 7 8
         Mother: Catharine McClarty (1743-1823) 3 5 9

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       Marriage: 20 Sep 1825 10

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   Other Spouse: Martha Stotler (1781-1818) 4 11 12 - 16 May 1799 - Plum Twp, Allegheny Co, PA 4

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Wife Margaret Rea ^{4 10}

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           Born: Abt 1785
     Christened: 
           Died: 1 Nov 1863 4
         Buried: 

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Children

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General Notes: Husband - Archibald Coon

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He was born in the Juniata valley, Pennsylvania, came to Plum township, Allegheny County, with his father and was married there. He was a cavalry soldier at the time of the whisky rebellion; was a surveyor on the frontier; was justice of the peace from 1809 till 1815; a member of the legislature from 1816 to 1820.

The HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY says that he was born in the Susquehanna Valley, which would be true if we consider that valley as including valleys of all of the tributaries of that river. But it would be more accurate to say he was born in the Juniata Valley, that river being one of the tributaries of the Susquehanna, and the land on which the Coon and Maclarty families lived being only a short distance west of the Juniata.
Although the name of Michael Coon does not appear on tax lists of Derry township before or after 1772-1773, his father and his father-in-law were both taxed there at a much earlier date, and it is probable that he and Catharine Maclarty were married there in 1763 and that the two or three oldest of the children were born there.
Most of the information in HISTORY & GENEALOGY OF THE KUHN FAMILY as well as that in the HISTORY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY, is of the family as told by descendants of Archibald Coon. Another published authority, HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUTY, is the story as told by descendants of Archibald's brother Adam Coon. None of these accounts mention residence in the Juniata Valley, probably because both boys would have been too young when they moved away to have remembered this early home or any of their experiences there. And it does not seem likely that they ever saw either grandfather again.
Probably the first vividly remembered experiences of both boys were of their home in Muncy township, Northumberland (now Lycoming) county, Pennsylvania: of the two small children who went to the spring for water, of the constant danger from Indian attacks, and of the terrible experiences during the "Great Runaway" of July 5th, 1778. His father, Michael Coon(s) was taxed in Muncy township in 1778 and his name is among signers of a Petition dated June 10th, 1778, written by "Distressed Inhabitants of the County of Northumberland on West Branch of the river Susquehanna above the Muncy Hill" asking government for military aid to enable them "to make a vigorous stand"
against the enemy. As the government was not able to send such aid to these petitioners, they were ordered to evacuate the neighborhood, which they did. These families were more fortunate than those on the north branch of Susquehanna who attempted to make a stand, and suffered during the battle and massacre of the Wyoming Valley. The families on the west branch escaped down the Susquehanna river, by boats or rafts on the river, or on foot or horseback down paths on either side of the river. All homes and settlements on the west branch were destroyed by fire except the stone house of Samuel Wallis where these families had been gathered when the petition was signed.
As to where Michael Coon and his family settled immediately after their escape in the "Runaway" has not been proven. The story as told by descendants of Archibald is that they traveled about 10 or 15 miles past Harrisburg and settled near a stream called Swatara until after the Revolution was over, then moved west to what is now Allegheny County. It does seem that Archibald, born in 1771, would have been old enough to have remembered, and related correctly, where the family lived from July of 1778 to about 1784-1786. But no records have been found to show them in the neighborhood of Harrisburg or anywhere else during the years 1778-1786. Some family records later owned by descendants of the son John, say that he and his sister Mary were born in what is now Dauphin County, in 1779 and 1782, and that the children David and Nancy were born in Westmoreland County in 1785 and 1788.
In 1786 we find Michael Coon taxed in Rostraver township of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; and in 1791 Michael Cone was taxed in Versailles township of the newly formed county of Allegheny. These two (the same?) location(s) were near Elrod's Fording on the Youghiogheny, where published accounts say they first lived when they came to the western part of the state.
Sometime before 1800 they moved north into Plum township of Allegheny County, where Michael was taxed in that year. In 1803 he bought a farm in that neighborhood and there the family were raised to maturity, some of them, including Archibald, settling on parts of the original farm, which was patented to Michael in 1810.

1 Helen Kuhn (Jackson) Black, The Kuhn (Coon) Family of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Wichita, KS: Self-published, 1956), Pg 103.

2 —, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 421.

3 —, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 451.

4 John W. Jordan, LL.D, A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People, Vol. III (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1908), Pg 466.

5 Helen Kuhn (Jackson) Black, The Kuhn (Coon) Family of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Wichita, KS: Self-published, 1956), Pg 9.

6 Helen Kuhn (Jackson) Black, The Kuhn (Coon) Family of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Wichita, KS: Self-published, 1956), Pg 9, 106.

7 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 418.

8 John W. Jordan, LL.D, A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People, Vol. III (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1908), Pg 464.

9 John W. Jordan, LL.D, A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People, Vol. III (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1908), Pg 465.

10 Helen Kuhn (Jackson) Black, The Kuhn (Coon) Family of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Wichita, KS: Self-published, 1956), Pg 106.

11 —, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 421, 451.

12 Helen Kuhn (Jackson) Black, The Kuhn (Coon) Family of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Wichita, KS: Self-published, 1956), Pg 10.