Census: 1880 Christiana, Dane Co., Wisconsin: age 59

Harwina Chesebrough (Burdick) Coon 1826-1900
"The Sabbath Recorder", Vol 56, No 35, p 558, Aug. 27, 1900.
Harmina Chesebro (Burdick) Coon was born in Brookfield, N. Y., Sept. 13, 1826, and died at Nortonville, Kan., Aug. 13, 1900.
She was the daughter of Benjamin and Ann (Chesebro) Burdick. On July 7, 1846, she was married to William Henry Harrison Coon, settling at Utica, Dane county, Wis. Mr. and Mrs. Coon were among the constituent members of the Utica Seventh-day Baptist church, continuing their membership until death. They were deeply interested in the welfare of the church, rejoicing in its growth and prosperity. A little more than two years ago, Bro. Coon was called to the better home. In June, Sister Coon attended the session of the North-Western Association at North Loup, Neb., after which she went to Nortonville, Kan., to visit her daughter. The remains were brought to Milton, Wis., where funeral services were held in the Seventh-day Baptist church on Sabbath morning, Aug. 18. Her former pastor, Rev. Geo. W. Burdick, conducted the service, assisted by Pres. Wm. C. Whitford, Rev. L. A. Platts and Rev. Geo. W. Hills. Three sons, Editor G. W. Coon, of Edgerton, Wis., Dayton B., and James H., of Utica, Wis., and one daughter, Mrs. Clara Stillman, of Nortonville, Kan., survive her. G. W. B.

Census: 1880 Christiana, Dane Co., Wisconsin: age 62, farmer and merchant

"The Sabbath Recorder", Vol 54, no 22, p 351, May 30, 1898.
At Utica, Wis., May 15, 1898, W. H. H. Coon. Funeral services and interment at Milton, the 18th, conducted by the writer, assisted by Revs. L. A. Platts, W. C. Whitford and G. W. Burdick.
A more extended notice, in this issue, prepared by Pres. Whitford. S. H. B.

"The Sabbath Recorder", Vol 54, No 22, p 342, May 30, 1898.
by W. C. Whitford, Milton, Wis.
William Henry Harrison Coon
This Wisconsin pioneer died First-day afternoon, May 15, 1898, in the eightieth year of his age, at his home in Utica, Dane Co., of that State. For more than two years, his health has been gradually declining, but his departure was greatly hastened by dropsy and heart trouble, supplementing his long standing disease. The funeral services were held the following Fourth-day, at both his residence and in the Seventh-day Baptist Church of Milton, conducted by Rev. L. A. Platts, Rev. Geo. W. Burdick, and Pres. W. C. Whitford. The burial occurred at the Milton Cemetery, in which the deceased had procured a lot, and erected thereon a substantial granite monument.
Mr. Coon was born Dec. 17, 1818, on the east side of Beaver Creek, in the southern part of Brookfield, Madison Co., N. Y. Here, the eighth of eleven children, all of whom reached their majority, and four of whom are still living, he was reared on a farm, with delightful surroundings. In this vicinity he lived until nearly twenty-eight years old, acquiring the means for the purchase of land and the erection of a home for himself in the inviting West. He gained the respect and confidence of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, and united at conversion with the Third Brookfield Seventh-day Baptist church (now the West Edmeston) whose house of worship was then located very near his birthplace.
His parents were Samuel Hubbard and Olive Brown Coon. The former, usually called Esquire Coon, was the son of Joshua and Margaret Burdick Coon, both lineal descendants of the earliest settlers in Rhode Island. John Macoone, the immigrant, came to that Colony, it is reported, from Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is certain that he was a resident of Newport, R. I., in 1661, where, with seventy-five others, he signed, March 22, articles of agreement with an Indian chief, for the purchase of a large tract of land in the southwestern portion of Rhode Island. Eight years afterwards, he is registered as an inhabitant in the Town of Westerly in that State. Others who signed the articles mentioned moved to the same locality.
It is interesting to notice, in passing, that at least twelve of the families who, by leaving Newport, became neighbors to this ancestor of the Coons among the Seventh-day Baptists of America, had their direct descendants, most of them bearing their old family names, present at the funeral of the subject of this sketch. The fact is also interesting, that to this ancestor was sold, in 1690, one hundred acres of land in Westerly by Robert and Ruth Hubbard Burdick, among the first colonists of that town, and fore-parents of the grandmother of the father's side of the deceased, and of his wife, to be mentioned subsequently.
It seems that many of the Macoones contracted their surname to Coon, about the middle of the last century, and some of them near that time joined the old Westerly (now First Hopkinton) Seventh-day Baptist Church, and their posterity have, in part, had to this day their connection with that denomination. The grandparents of this Wisconsin pioneer very early, and later the parents, were influential members of the First Brookfield (N. Y.) church.
It is related that the father, Squire Coon, emigrated, near the opening of the present century, from Hopkinton, R. I., and reached on foot, with "an axe on his shoulder and a bundle in his hand," the land in Brookfield, which he finally cleared and converted into a productive farm. His wife was daughter of Rev. Daniel Brown, who was a Baptist clergyman from Stonington, Conn., and who finally settled in Pittsford, near Rochester, N. Y. She was a woman of sterling qualities, a most valuable helpmate. Both father and mother transferred their membership to the Third Brookfield church on its organization in 1823, and were staunch supporters of its doctrines and practices. Their home was one of great hospitality.
While living in his native place, the one whose name is the heading of this article was chosen to command a company of State Militia, which met annually for the "General Trainings" in the neighboring village of Brookfield. Then he acquired the title of Captain, which "followed him through his remaining years." He married, July 7, 1846, Miss Harmina C. Burdick, a daughter of Capt. Benjamin and Ann Cheesbrough Burdick, residing in the near vicinity of his father. This captain was born in Brookfield, the son of Elisha Burdick, and his wife, in Stonington, Conn.
The newly married couple started within two weeks after the ceremony for Wisconsin, where, in the previous summer, Mr. Coon had selected and purchased four hundred acres of very fertile land on the beautiful Koshkonong Prairie, at a place where the hamlet of Utica, Dane county, is located. A portion of this farm was obtained from agents of Daniel Webster, the statesman. Here he made his home the rest of his life; and here were born his children, five in number, all of whom but one, Ann Burdick Coon, survive him, viz., Fred W. the publisher of the Tobacco Reporter, at Edgerton, Wis., Clara, the wife of A. B. Stillman, of Nortonville, Kan.; and Dayton B. and James H., both residing at Utica. Their mother retains the old home.
Mr. Coon was honored by his fellow citizens in assisting to organize their town of Christiana, in the forties, in serving as the Chairman of their board of Supervisors, and in being elected as a Justice of the Peace. He was postmaster of the place for many years, the duties being performed in a country store conducted by him. In all his business operations, he was very successful, and accumulated a large property. He often made generous use of portions of this in aiding his neighbors and other pioneers in less affluent circumstances, in contributing to the maintenance of the Seventh-day Baptist church of that place, a great share of which came from his hands, and in upholding the financial standing of the denomination to which he belonged.
He was a constituent member at the formation of the Utica (formerly called Christiana) church in 1850, and served as its Clerk for the next eight years. He has often been sent by that body to represent it in the Annual Sessions of our Seventh-day Baptist North-Western Association, and also in the meetings of the General Conference of our people, when possible for him to attend. His eldest son writes of him: "He has always faithfully followed the precepts of the church in the faith of which he was reared."
On Sabbath afternoon of the day previous to his death he attended the communion service of the church at Utica. He then spoke of his bright hope for the future, his long and ardent interest in the little body of believers there convened, and his cherished wish that the organization might be sustained for years to come and its supporters increased. He closed his remarks with a faint voice, bidding them all an affectionate good-by. It remains to say that in less than a day afterwards he slowly and painlessly breathed his last in the midst of his sorrowing family.

Note: the Utica SDB Church disbanded three years later in June 1901.