Cousin Joyce Cones Rogers sent me a copy of the History of the Cones Family in America. My mom had a copy of this book which I read through before she died, but I think she told me that she gave her copy of the book to her brother Glen. It is nearly 200 pages long and is mimeographed, which makes it hard to read sometimes. Joyce generously offered me an extra copy that she had. This book was compiled by Chester W. Cones in 1966, and includes chapters by many Cones family members. This book is a charming informal document. I chatted with a genealogist years ago, and he thought Cones was probably a corruption of Kuntz or Koontz. I have also relied on Aunt Phyllis’ memoir, “Here We Go Again”.
Joyce included a note that said the first two paragraphs of chapter one is a great story told many times, but in the research she has done, she could not verify any of the facts. That won’t stop me from repeating it here.
The story of the Cones family in America begins with Christian Cones. He apparently came from a German speaking country and settled near Germantown, Pennsylvania. Most of the people contributing to the history think he was from Holland. He enlisted to fight in the revolutionary war in a German regiment and drowned in a river during the battle of Brandywine.
He apparently left a wife, two daughters, and a son. We don’t know the names of his wife or daughters. One account says that she remarried, but her new husband was killed by Native Americans, and she and her daughters were carried off never to be seen again. It is not clear whether her son was with them at the time of the attack, but he was at that point the only family member left.
Christian’s son Jacob was taken in at the age of four* by an English woman named Grant. It is thought that Christian’s wife’s maiden name was Grant, so she could have been a relative. As an adult, Jacob ends up in Grants Lick, Kentucky living with a John Grant, who is referred to as his uncle. They dug and operated a salt well. Apparently salt water was pumped to the surface and then boiled down leaving the salt behind. They are alleged to have supplied Lewis and Clark with salt as they journeyed west. Grants Lick is about 25 miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio. Jacob also went on a mission to find his mother and sisters. He apparently searched among the Indian tribes in the Great Lakes area and down the Mississippi to no avail.
In 1785 Jacob Cones married Jane McCullough who was born in Scotland but lived on a nearby farm. They bought a farm near Fort Thomas, Kentucky and there raised 10 children. Fort Thomas is across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Jacob and his sons were skilled loggers and carpenters.
John Gregg lived on a nearby farm. Two of the Cones boys married two of Gregg’s daughters. Samuel Joseph Cones, who is my mother’s great grandfather, married Sarah Gregg in 1822 in Kentucky. It appears the Gregg family moved to Shelby and then to Rush county, Indiana, which is southeast of Indianapolis. They apparently moved to Missouri for a short time and came back to Marion county, Indiana. Samuel died in Clinton county Indiana and was buried in Kirklin which is about 18 miles east of Thorntown, where my mother grew up.
The oldest of Samuel and Sarah’s 12 children was John Gregg Cones, my mother’s grandfather. He married Mary Ann Bridgeford in 1847 who was born in Oxford, Ohio. John died in 1917; Mary Ann in 1896. Both are buried in the Brush Creek Cemetery near Thorntown.
The marriage of Mary Ann and and John produced 12 children. My grandfather, Charles Waylan Cones was the second last. The last of the children was my great aunt Florence. She apparently is responsible for a lot of the historical information that appears in the book. She was a genuine character and is worthy of a more lengthy description elsewhere.
Charlie was born in 1861, married my grandmother, Edna Mae Price in 1903. He passed on in 1936. This union produced eight children: Alta, Glen, Mary (my mother), Asher, Charles (Dick), Donald, Jeanette, and Phyllis. Donald died when he was about 12. Aunt Phyllis is the only surviving sibling.
Much less is known about my grandmother. Her original family name was Coffman (Kauffmann); her family is of German extraction. Augustine Kauffmann came to Philadelphia after coming across on the Ship St. Andrew in 1741. His grandson Jacob was born in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Thereafter the Coffmans lived near Thorntown in Boone County.
Mary Coffman, my mother’s grandmother married Andrew Boone Price in 1873. Edna Mae Price was born in 1887 and died in 1959. The Price family was of Welsh extraction.
Aunt Phyllis furnished me with the following from the Thorntown newspaper.
Andrew Boone “Tuck” Price (Henry M.) was born February 05, 1852 in Iowa, and died December 21, 1943 in Thorntown, Boone County, Indiana. He married Mary Coffman December 11, 1873 in Boone County, Indiana, daughter of Peter Coffman and Lucinda McDowell.
Notes for Andrew Boone “Tuck” Price: Betty (Moody) Walker wrote: “Funeral services of Andrew Boone Price, Thorntown’s oldest citizen, is being arranged while waiting word for further information from grandsons in the U.S. Army. Mr. Price died early Tuesday morning at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Edna Cones of pneumonia following an attack of influenza which lasted two weeks. He was ninety-one years old February 5th. The body was removed to the LaFollette and Crain funeral home for burial preparation. Andrew was born in Iowa, came here with his parents at the age of seven. He was married in 1873 to Mary Coffman, who passed away in 1925. All of their married life was spent in Thorntown, giving him the name of being the oldest citizen in town. The greatest part of his life was spent as an employee of the Big Four Railroad, having worked in various departments. He retired on a pension in 1921. His interest was directed to his garden and odd jobs to accommodate his friends. Early in his life, he became a member of the Christian Church and remained so until his death. The survivors are five daughters, Mrs. Lula Smith of Richmond, Mrs. Daisy McDonald of Westport, Mrs. Edith Moore and Dorothy Calkins of Indianapolis, and Mrs. Edna Cones of Thorntown. Two sons, Rufus and Haven of Thorntown , several grand and great grandchildren. (Source: Thorntown Newspaper.) (Betty wrote: “This information is from Mrs. Beatrice Ellison, daughter of Raymond F. Price, granddaughter of Andrew. She said Andrew’s father (Henry Price) was either killed or drown in the Mississippi River during the Civil War.”)
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Indiana was granted statehood in 1816. Thereafter, the native population was subdued and forced to move west. Land was cheap and the white settlers poured in. It seems the Cones and Coffmans were part of the migration as both arrived in Indiana sometime in the early 1800s.
*Jacob Cones was born in 1760 which would make him 17 when the battle of Brandywine was fought. I’ve seen several references to him being four when his father was killed.
Wilson Cones Family History 