Census: 1880 New Auburn, Sibley Co., Minnesota: age 13

"The Milton Junction Telephone", Milton Junction, Wisconsin, Thursday, June 10, 1943, p 2.
Funeral services for Durwood E. Coon, who died Oct. 29th, were held at 3:00 p.m. Oct. 31st in the home in Milton. Dr. Edwin Shaw was assisted in the service by Rev. Willard D. Burdick. K. A. Babcock, Edward Rood, Robert Randolph and Sherrill Rasmussen gave the song service.
Mrs. D. E. Coon, Mrs. Henry Babcock and Mrs. Glyde Tuttle accompanied the body to New Auburn [WI] where Rev. Burchard Loofbourrow and Mrs. Minnie Churchward of Chetek conducted the last rites in the S. D. B. church. Douglas North sang "He Knows the Way" and "When I Loon in My Dear Saviour's Face." Burial was at New Auburn, pallbearers being Arthur North, Ray North, Everone Churchward, Alton Churchward, Claude Haskins and Francis Ling.
At the service Oct. 31st, Dr. Shaw said:
"There is something about the passing away of Brother Coon that takes me back to those early days when we were boys in Minnesota. I am thinking of Durwood's father and mother and Willard's, (Rev. Burdick's) father and mother, and my father and mother, and scores of other young fathers and mothers, who as newly married couples here in southern Wisconsin, went out by themselves with little of earthly goods, but with hope and courage - went out beyond the Mississippi river into the great unoccupied lands of southern Minnesota, there to seek out and build up homes for themselves. They settled mainly in three groups: one in Freeborn; one in the region of what is now Dodge Center and one in Sibley county, at Transit Glencoe, and New Auburn, west of Minneapolis.
"Those movements were made mostly between 1861 and 1871, and during this decade these young married people joined with other likeminded pioneers in the hard tasks of subduing the land. Life was a continued struggle, a contest with the forces of nature. The tough sod of the prairie had to be broken up, pulverized and made mellow for raising crops; the blizzards and cold of winter had to be faced with piles of stove wood hauled sometimes for many miles; log houses had to be plastered, and banked with dirt or straw to the eaves. Wells had to be dug and barns to be built, and there were grasshoppers and chinch bugs, and there were hail storms and tornadoes and early frosts. It seemed as though nature was just determined not to submit to the control of man; but at length during these ten to twenty years it did yield, and man became in a way the master.
"It was during this period that Durwood Eugene was born, Dec. 7, 1866, nearly 76 years ago, the son of George and Marion Colgrove Coon, on a farm near the village of New Auburn, and here his boyhood days were spent. Those early pioneer times developed a spirit of sternness, of conscientious convictions. Often there was no time for argument, more often no one with whom to argue, for the farms were large, and there were few new neighbors. People had to be independent and self-reliant, and do their own work and do their own thinking and make their own decisions.
"The Coon home was a Christian home, and it was into this surrounding environment that Durwood came, in which he grew up, and like which he became. As a young man he made quite a public profession of religion, was baptized, and became a member of the New Auburn, Minn., Seventh Day Baptist church. In time, that church ceased to exist and Durwood identified himself officially with the Wisconsin New Auburn church, of which he was a member at the time of his death.
"Two sisters were born at New Auburn, both of whom survive: Nellie, now Mrs. Byron E. Coon, of Milton, and Minnie, Mrs. Geo. Truman of Weyerhaeuser. One brother and three sisters died in infancy.
"Durwood was married on Aug. 29, 1889 to Nettie Hall, of Stewart, Minn., and resided on a farm near New Auburn until 1909, when they moved to New Auburn, Wis. By this time four children had come to their home: Maude, Luella, Claudie and Martha.
"They were farmers until they moved to Milton in 1920. Then Mr. Coon worked in the hardware store with W. J. Saunders in the metal roofing and furnace business until about ten years ago.
"He was a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, a loyal citizen, a helpful neighbor and a Christian gentleman.
"Claude became one of the many victims of the influenza epidemic of the World War in 1918, and died in the service of his country at Camp Grant."
Mrs. Coon and daughters, Mrs. Henry Babcock of Milton, Mrs. Beryl Whitford of Milton Junction and Mrs. Glyde Tuttle of Geneva, Ill., survive. There are eleven grandchildren; one, Leonard Babcock, being in the U. S. Navy; and seven great grandchildren.

Census: 1880 Round Grove, McLeod Co., Minnesota: age 10, Nettie Hall

"The Milton Junction Telephone", Milton Junction, Wisconsin, Thursday, Mar. 21, 1946, p 1.
Mrs. Durwood Coon, a resident of Milton since 1920, died at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the home of her daughter, Mrs. Glyde Tuttle, Beloit. Funeral services will be held at 3:00 p.m. today (Thursday) in the Phelps funeral home with Rev. Willard D. Burdick and Rev. Orville W. Babcock officiating. Friday morning members of the family will accompany the body to New Auburn where another service will be held at 2:30 p.m. in the S.D.B. church where she was a member.
Nettie Irene, youngest daughter of Mitchell and Sylvia Root Sanders, was born Feb. 20, 1870, in Bismarck township near New Auburn, Minn. Her parents died when she was very young and when she was three years old, she and her brother Otto were adopted by Andrew J. and Martha Gardner Hall. When she was 20 she was baptized and joined the Seventh Day Baptist church at New Auburn, Minn., transferring to the church of like faith at New Auburn, Wis., after moving there in 1909.
On Aug. 29, 1889, she married Durwood Eugene Coon who died Oct. 29, 1942. They had four children: Mrs. Henry Babcock of Milton, Mrs. Beryl Whitford of Milton Junction and Mrs. Tuttle of Beloit who survive, and Claude Coon who died in 1918. Other survivors include her brother, Otto, in Portland, Ore., eleven grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren; and other relatives.
Mrs. Coon was a member of the W.C.T.U. at Milton Junction.

Adopted at age 3 by Andrew J. and Martha Gardner Hall.