Coon, William F., M. D.

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

William F. Coon, M. D., whose talents and qualifications have brought him into prominence as a physician and as a citizen of Caney, came to this state from Minnesota, where he was in practice several years, and by birth he is a Wisconsin man.

Born at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, September 20, 1875, he is a son of William F. Coon, and a descendant of ancestors who came from England to the United States in colonial times. His grandfather died in New York State. William F. Coon, Sr., was born in New York in 1825, grew up there, and when a young man went to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, at that time one of the foremost centers of the lumber industry in the state. He was a farmer and also bought and sold horses on a large scale. Politically he was a republican. When nearly fifty years of age he married Emily M. Roberts, who was born in 1853, and is still living at Eau Claire. Doctor Coon was the older of their two sons. His brother, John R., is a resident of Dallas, Texas, and is cashier and adjuster for the Southern Rock Island Plow Company.

It was largely through his own determined efforts that Doctor Coon acquired a liberal education. He attended the public schools of Eau Claire, also Wayland Academy at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and his schooling was then interrupted by two years of work for self-support. In 1899 he entered the medical department of the University of Minnesota, and was graduated M. D. in 1903. Additional experience preparatory to practice was given him during a year he spent as interne in the Asbury Methodist Hospital at Minneapolis. Doctor Coon is a member of the medical profession who is never content with present attainments, and does not miss an opportunity to associate with the leading men of the profession. In the fall of 1908 he did post-graduate work in the Chicago Post-Graduate School, and took another course there in 1916.

After beginning practice he was located for four years at Elysian, Minnesota. In the fall of 1908 he went to Minneapolis and from there in the spring of 1909 came to Caney, Kansas, where he has since enjoyed a large general medical and surgical practice. He has served as vice president of the County Medical Society and is a member of the State Society and the American Medical Association. His offices are at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Spring Street and he owns his home at the corner of Main and Taylor Avenue.

Doctor Coon is a stockholder in the Kansas Life Insurance Company. He is a member of the Caney Country Club, and though reared a Baptist, in the absence of an organization of that denomination at Caney he attends the Presbyterian Church. He filled the chair of master in the Lodge of Masons at Elysian, Minnesota, and is now affiliated with Caney Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and also with Caney Lodge No. 1215, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

On August 2, 1905, at Downers Grove, Illinois, Doctor Coon married Miss May Prescott. Her father, the late Rev. B. L. Prescott, was a Baptist minister. Doctor and Mrs. Coon have one daughter, Zula Evelyn, born June 12, 1907.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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