Koons, A. J. bio

History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co., Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 920-921, Vermont Township
A. J. Koons, farmer and stock-raiser, sec. 10; P. O., Vermont. Thirty years ago Mr. Koons arrived in Fulton county with only half a dollar, and now has a fine 250-adcre farm with a handsome brick residence upon it, - all from his energy and economy. He was born in New Jersey in 1830; his parents were Jonathan and Elizabeth Koons; he learned the carpenter and joiner’s trade, but afterward worked 3 years on a farm in Pennsylvania; then, in 1848, he emigrated to Ipava; in 1857 he married Margaret Kost; in 1862 he enlisted in Co. B., 84th Ill. Inf.; returned to his farm, on which he has prospered ever since. He was among the first to adopt tile draining, and now has 1,900 rods of 3 and 4-inch tiling on his farm. His dwelling is possibly the finest in the county. He has but one child, Frank, born in this county in 1859, who is a natural artist.