1850 Between Macoupin & Apple Creek Twp, Greene Co, IL. At censustim e George was 23 year old farmer, Frances was 20. They only hadone chi ld, John W, 1 month. Next door neighbors were the Judys andMeltons.
1860 Fayette, Greene Co, IL. In that census, he was 34, Frances was3 2 and they had only the first 3 children: John, 11, Dudley, 8, andEli zabeth, 6. No occupation or property was recorded for George andlivin g with them was Joshua Mahuing, 21, also without occupation.Down the r oad was sister Eveline Grizzle, his mother, and brotherCharles.
1870 Rockbridge Twp, Greene Co, IL. The census taker recorded Georgea t age 43, a farmer renter, Frances was 41. Children in the housewere: D udley, 18; Elizabeth, 15; George Jr, 5; and Stephen S, 3.
1880 Greene Co, IL. At census time, George was a 53 year old farmer.W ife Frances was 51 and they had 3 children: George W, 15; StephenM, 1 3; and Sarah R, 9.
The following is from Joseph Richard Frain at the Frain Family Historyo n the web:
The Ill. Dept. of Archives and Records supplied photocopies from theirr ecords which contains the following information. George D. P.Coonrod w as a resident of Home No. 4033 of the Illinois Soldiers andSailors Hom e in Quincy, Ill. George was from the town of Carrollton,County of Gre ene and the State of Illinois. He was formerly a soldierof the USA in t he war against Mexico and the late rebellion. At thetime of admittance o n May 12th, 1897 he was 70 years old, 5'10" tall,dark complexion, gray h air, and hazel eyes. He was born in the countyof Wayne in the state of I llinois on May 17, 1827. He was enrolled 3times in the USA service, on ce in the Mexican War and twice in thelate rebellion and was honorably d ischarged all 3 times.
He enrolled in the service in Sept. 1847 at Alton, Ill. and wasdischar ged Aug. 1848 at Alton on the expiration of his term. Heachieved the r ank of Corporal in the Cavalry of the Illinois MilitiaVolunteers. He e nrolled in the service at Springfield, Ill. on Oct 7,1861 and reenlist ed on Nov. 10, 1863 at Chicago. He was a private inCo. F., Regiment 12 o f the Illinois Cavalry Volunteers. On Oct. 27,1865 he was discharged a t Memphis, Tenn. still a private in the sameorganization. Reason for d ischarge was a Surgeon's Certificate ofDisability.
He received a pension of $12 per month on pension certificate 1-5808fr om the Mexican War. He had no real property and his occupation isshown a s 'farmer'. He had a wife and 6 children still living at thetime of hi s admittance, ages 45, 42, 36, 33, 30 and the age of child#6 was not r eadable. (This list does not contain John, shown on the1850 Census, wh o would have been 48.)
The person to notify in case of illness or death was Frank P. Cannedyo f Carrollton. He would also receive any personal effects uponGeorge's d eath. (The response from the Greene County Historical andGenealogical S ociety, indicates that Frank was George's son-in-law,married to his da ughter Elizabeth Ann.)
(James and John Cannedy entered Green County at the same time andplace a s Stephen and John Coonrod in 1829. Frank is most likely a sonof one o f them. Will do more research to verify.)
His disability was described as an attack of epilepsy together withlag rippe which had caused general disability.
George died in the hospital at 2:07AM on June 1, 1899. He was buriedwi th military honors on June 2, 1899 at 6:15PM in the Home's SunsetCemet ery.
Additional information on the record's jacket further defines hisMexic an War unit as Littell's Mounted Infantry Co. of the IllinoisMilitia V olunteers. Religion was Protestant. Disease was shown asrheumatism and p araplegia, etc. 2 names were shown on the jacket withno explanation of r eason or relationship. They were; Frank P. Coonrodof Carlinville, IL a nd D.C. Coonrod of Carrollton, IL. D.C. is mostlikely his son Dudley C . (later shown as Douglas C.). I don't have arecord of Frank P. yet (p erhaps it should have said Frank P.Cannedy?).
(A 'History of Greene County' shows that James Cannedy was born inDarl ington, S. C. on March 18, 1790. His father was John Cannedy,also and e arly settler of the county. He is of Irish descent. Hiswife was Scotti sh. He and his parents went to Tennessee in 1807 wherehe married Eliza G rizzle who died on Aug. 16, 1867 aged 69. There ismuch more to write o n the Cannedys' if this link is verified.)
In June of 1963 Mrs. Bessie Kesinger of Lakewood, Ca. sent an inquiryt o the Soldiers Home in Quincy. George D. P. Coonrod was hergrandfather a nd she was preparing a family tree for her grandson.
LETTER FROM GORDON DALE MC CONNELL - re: GEORGE D.P. COONROD
The following letter from Gordon Dale McConnell was written to EvelynK lopfer (nee Cook), the mother of the writer of this genealogy. Hedoesn = t s ay it, but he may be the grandson of Bessie Kesingermentioned in the p rior paragraph. I am printing it verbatim. Itcontains new information a nd corroborates some of the previouslydocumented information. It was w ritten Feb. 10, 1997.
Dear Mrs. Klopfer
I have been reading the genealogy prepared by your son an I = velearne d a lot about the Darr & Coonrod family tree. My mother wasRuth Darr a nd My father is Gordon McConnell. Aunt Cleo let me havethis to read. S he is getting quite old, just turned 86 today. Mymother and father are n ow deceased.
The reason I am writing is that I wanted to contribute what I knowwith r egards to George D. P. Coonrod. I happen to have an oldphotograph or d aguerreotype that hung on my grandma = s walls foryears of him. His na me according to my mother who died in 1988 & AuntCleo was George Danie l Parker Coonrod. Many years ago I sent off tothe National Archives & t hey sent me copies of some of the militaryrecord on file concerning hi s Civil War record. He was in the 12thregiment Illinois Cavalry during t he Civil War. He was at HarpersFerry W/Virginia when on September 17, 1 862 Stonewall Jacksonattacked trying to capture the Federal arsenal th ere. George D PCoonrood as he was known along with other members of ca valry unitsescaped across the Potomic & engaged several battles across t he riverin Maryland. His horse was shot out from under him near Sharps berg &he was captured by the rebels. The muster rolls for the next sev eralmonths shows him AWOL & an officer makes note that he was captured a tSharpsburg. He was later paroled by the rebs & spent in the hospital at Giesburough Point Washington DC. Later he was sent to Camp Douglasin o r near Chicago Illinois. One of the conditions on being paroledby the r ebs was that he could no longer take part in fighting. Hetherefore enl isted as a teamster veteran volunteer till the end ofthe war.
He filed for a pension after the war and only had 1/3 movement in hisl eft shoulder as the result of the war injury. My grandmother SaraDarr, t old my mother that Canedy got his sword & other effects afterhe died i n Quincy, Ill.
In filling out the forms for his pension in the Mexican War he statedt hat he enlisted at Alton Illinois in Colonel Lytells MountedCavalry. F rom there they went to the city of New Orleans. Then fromthere to the C ity of Mexico, (Mexico City). He States we camped onthe Rio Fordo to t he end of the war. The picture I hae is of an oldman and must have bee n taken within 4 or 5 years of his death. If youwould like I = ll try & g et some copies & send you one. The pictureof him is in black & white & i s on like card board, so I think it issomething other than a photograp h. Its also large maybe 10 X 20. Iremember it hanging on my grandma = s w all in a oval frame. Mygrandma died in 1943 so I was just 8 years old w hen she died.
I also wanted to call to your sons attention that today I was readinga b ook about the life of George Armstrong Custer, called The Son ofMornin g Star. The book is a documentary of the life & death of Custerwho was k illed with his men at the Little Big Horn in Montana in1876. They were d escribing how Custer was known to mistreat his men.While he himself at e well, his men starved on some occasions. On page122 the author shows s ome orders from General Custer ordering theProvost Marshal to shave th e head & lash a G. Darr of the 12thRegiment Illinois Cavalry Company D & a nother man. According to thebook the men were slaughtering a calf beca use all their meat alongthe march was full of maggots. Officers protes ted but the 40 lasheswere applied anyway. This occurred on Sept 14, 18 65. Your son mightwant to check it out. The library would have a copy o f the book as itwas a best seller several years ago. I believe the sol dier lashed wasprobably a George Darr. If you noted the 12th Regiment I llinoisCavalry was the one George D P Coonrod was in.
Thanks again for the wonderful work of your son.
Yours Truly
Gordon Dale McConnell
Anaheim, Calif
George was a resident of the Illinois Home for Soldiers and Sailors att he time of his death.
