1890 Buchanan and Delaware Counties History pgs. 599-601

CHRISTIAN COONROD, a farmer, residing in Coffin's Grove township, about six miles northwest of Manchester, is certainly the oldest man in Delaware county, and probably the oldest man in northeast Iowa. He says that he was born September 22, 1780. He would, therefore, at this writing (September, 1890) be one hundred and ten years old. There are no means at hand for verifying the dates, the fact as to the time of his birth resting upon his memory, unsupported by any corroborative evidence. Still, if we grant Mr. Coonrod the same privilege in reference to testifying for himself as to his age that we grant other men, and take his statement in reference to that fact as we take the statements of other men, the date above given must stand in the record as the time when he made his appearance in this world.

 

He was born in Cumberland county, Pa., and comes of ancestry which, according to his statement, was remarkable for its longevity. His father, Jacob Coonrod, lived to be only fifty-five, but his grandfather Coonrod reached the great age of one hundred and six; his grandmother Coonrod was something over one hundred, while his mother died at one hundred and two, and his maternal grandfather at ninety-seven. He is of German and French extraction, his father having been a native of Germany, and his mother, whose maiden name was Catherine Steinbrook, a native of France. Christian Coonrod was reared in Cumberland county, Pa. He served in the War of 1812, taking part in the assault on Queenstown heights and the battle of Fort Erie, witnessing Perry's great victory on the lake, and concluded his military career at Sackett's harbor, where he was discharged, at the end of the War. He remembers events connected with the war quite well, but he cannot fix dates. This, and the fact that he lost his discharge papers years ago, has prevented his getting a pension for his military services at that time.

Returning to Pennsylvania at the close of the War of 1812, Mr. Coonrod took up farming, and followed it until the Erie canal was opened to traffic, when he sought and secured employment on that, running a line boat for several years between the chief commercial points on that water-way. He had previously operated a small boat on the Schuylkill river, when Philadelphia was a place of only a few thousand, Reading, a small country town and Pittsburgh consisted of two stores and a boarding-house.Starting West in 1850, Mr. Coonrod came as far as McHenry county, Ill., where he purchased six hundred and forty acres of land and engaged, on a rather extensive scale, in farming. He resided there for six years, when, losing most of his property by a prairie fire, he decided to sell out and seek a home further west. He came to Delaware county, Iowa, in 1856, taking up his residence at Colesburg, in Colony township, where he resided for some time, moving from there to where he now lives in Coffin's Grove township, about six miles northwest of Manchester. Mr. Coonrod has been engaged for the last forty years of his life in farming, meeting with only fair success. He married about 1830, and his wife, a lady now about seventy-six years old, still abides with him. He has had nine children, most of whom are living, some of them being grandparents.Mr. Coonrod has been a life-long democrat and had he been an active politician he might now with some appropriateness be called one of the "fathers of the party." His political ambition, however, has found ample gratification in the simple exercise of his franchise, he never having held so much as a county office. He is exceedingly simple in his tastes and methods of living, carrying out the democratic principle in its broadest sense. Up to a few years ago he drank freely of ardent spirits whenever he
chose, and says that he does not know that his days have been shortened by his so doing.  He had used tobacco since he was a lad sixteen years old, and he has found much solace in the "weed" and does not believe that his indulgence has ever injured his health.  All in all, Mr. Coonrod is a somewhat remarkable man, and he is one man whose autobiography and personal recollections would make interesting reading matter had he only the ability to "spice" them up and commit them to print.

 

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