I have a lot of pioneer ancestors that walked and worked and lived in this area of Nebraska. I am sooooo proud to be a descendant of them. I will feature and honor them -- one couple and a person at a time. Today it is Lebbeus Thaddeus Coons and his wife Mary Ann. They are my great-great-great grandparents.
Thaddeus was born on May 13,1811 in Plymouth, Chenango, New York. He married Mary Ann Williamson on January 24, 1846.
Thaddeus was a prominent man in Iowa -- he was the founder of Coonsville which has been renamed today as Glenwood. We have sister missionaries serving in that area. He was a father, a husband, a farmer, a missionary, a politician, a doctor, a branch president and the list goes on and on. The museum in Glenwood is building a whole display in his honor. (When I get to Glenwood to see it - I will then post most pictures about him).
The Coons family left Nauvoo in 1846. They crossed southern Iowa through deep mud and swollen rivers, eventually reaching the Pottawattamie Indian lands and the area which became Kanesille - which is now known as Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Lebbeus was a branch president of Coonsville from its beginning on 16 Apr 1848. He received numerous other assignments from Elder Orson Hyde of the Quorum of the Twelve, who presided over the Iowa Saints, and from the high council in Kanesville. On Jun 19, 1848, Elder Orson Hyde called Lebbeus on a mission. He was to go east and collect money for schools in western Iowa.
Lebbeus received another major assignment, as a leader of the lower Pottawattamie County. He was to direct the construction of a ferry across the Missouri River at Bethlehem. In 1865, he and his family started their trek to Utah. They settled in Heber City where he continued his practice as a doctor.
Other facts; He married three other woman after Mary Ann.
He was set apart by the Prophet Joseph Smith to nurse the sick.
Thaddeus and Mary Ann's first daughter- Adeline is my great great grandmother -- she married John Buchanan in Coonsville, Iowa on Feb 23, 1851
In 1872, he and his family lived in Richfield, Utah. He died on July 7, of that year. His obituary sums up his life. He was an early convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; was blessed and set apart to nurse the sick, was a member of Zions Camp and of the First Quorum of the Seventy; he endured persecutions and always showed himself faithful to the Church; he was a kind father, neighbor and friend. He served His God, his family and his fellowment. He was buried in the Richfield Pioneer Cemetary.
Mary Ann Wiliamson was born on August 11, 1812 in Springfield, New York.
After she married Lebbeus, she was known to be very supportive as she stood by and cared for their growing family. They received their endowments and sealed together on January 27, 1846 in the Nauvoo Temple. She gave her husband permission to marry two widows who needed care. Mary Ann Williamson Coons left a posterity who called her blessed. She was blessed with 48 grandchildren. Mary Ann was a woman who gave unselfish, and Lebbeus had made their home since their marriage in 1832 in Spafford, New York; Kirtland, Ohio; Springfield, Richards Grove, Camp Creek, and Nauvoo, Illinois; Bethlehem, Coonsville (Glenwood), and Shelby County and Harrison County, Iowa; and finally Heber City, Utah
Lebbeus and Mary Ann had eight children
(all this information was taken from the book written by Hayle Buchanan, Janet Jefferey, Pearl Jefferey and Reed Jefferey -- thank you so much)
This is a letter that I obtained from the historian who works at the Trail Center in Winter Quarters. It is a handwritten letter by Lebbeus to Brigham Young.
I love this couple for their example to me of service, love, unselfishness, courage, perseverance and their love for their Savior. At times I will sit on the grounds of the Winter Quarter Cemetary and visualize them as they lived in this area. I love being here in Nebraska and Iowa and to reap the blessings of this beautiful country that they played such a large role in.
